Originally Posted by
handspring088
Is there a better way to check Business Extra award availability other than booking dummy Aadvantage awards, and checking Expertflyer? I have used those tools, but there has been Aadvantage availability , but no Business Extra availability in the same fare class (BE Plan Ahead Business and AAdvantage Business Milesaver). Both should book into U class. Expertflyer is showing no U class when I could book AAdvantage Business Milesaver. Is there another way?
In these cases who is telling you that there is no Business Extra availability? The inventory and availability for awards using AAdvantage miles is the same as BE points, you're just using a different currency to pay for it. When booking awards using BE points this is the procedure I follow:
1) Find award availability at aa.com and put itinerary on hold
2) Log in to BE website and claim relevant BE award
3) Call Meeting Sevices, give them PNR for award on hold, and tell them you want to ticket it using the BE award
The Meeting Sevices people can sometimes be equally as ill-trained and/or cluless as normal AA phone reps, so relying on them to do your BE award searches is a recipe for disaster. If you put a flight on hold and they say they can't book it using a BE award, HUCA.