Originally Posted by
dc9703
What days is he flying? I have standby benefit (Z tixs) and am considering using them in a few weeks. Because of the timing of Christmas and new years there is a lot of open space on flights in December.
I would suggest he use myidtravel to check out the # of tickets being sold and then also look at the airline website seat maps to get a gauge of how many seats are available currently. Highly unlikely business travel will occur between 12/22 and 1/1. Non-business travel has likely been booked by now so what you see is probably not too far away from what will be available. Lots of cavets with the airline seat map, but if you see 60 unclaimed seats available 1 week in advance you are likely in good shape.
Also if he is using standby benefits he should consider flying into bigger airports (IAH instead of New Orleans, SFO instead of RNO).
Good luck
Well, you almost never see 60 unclaimed seats 1 week before departure due to AA holding seats for elite members. I don't understand New Orleans? MSP is a big airport, RNO not so much. I guess he should just standby and go for it?
Originally Posted by
MSPeconomist
Does AA allow you to use your Business Extra account for leisure travel, either as an award ticket or to earn?
This is business travel, not leisure travel. We have to drive a commercial vehicle from Minneapolis to Reno (I'm the owner of the vehicle, he is my partner).
Originally Posted by
wetrat0
Relevant parts bolded. This is a silly question. Of course his most cost-effective option is to have you book him a ticket...
Of course it is, but that's not the most cost-effective option for
me.
Originally Posted by
worldwidedreamer
I believe that the only non-stop RNO-NYC is on B6. I'd encourage him to go for that on a zed/ID90 ticket, use your miles as a back-up. If memory serves right it is the last flight of the night so staying at the Grand Sierra Resort would be a great fall-back before taking AA the next day.
There are no SAAver awards available on those dates and I'm unwilling to buy an AAnytime for him.
Originally Posted by
C17PSGR
These two options contradict each other.
One can fly standby ... but needs to accept the need to be flexible in regard to dates and times. Someone savvy with the online system for employees can try to predict better by looking at different options and being flexible.
On the other hand, if you need to fly on the desired dates, that requires buying a ticket.
It's an awkward situation for us as I'm the owner of the vehicle and he's going to be driving it. Our dates are somewhat flexible as we're not carrying revenue passengers, but we can't take forever getting to Reno either. We need to meet at MSP and take it to a shop for some work before going to RNO. The vehicle is operable but I want the work done before going to RNO because there's no such shop in RNO.