Originally Posted by
richarddd
AA is often letting flights go out with empty premium class seats, so they could make those seats available if they wanted. I wouldn't bet on the account shutdowns resulting in more availability, although they may release some more seats for a short amount of time if they feel they must for PR reasons .
While that is true, it doesn't help people like me. I am not in a position to book premium class class tickets on short notice. American is releasing some small number of premium class frequent-flier tickets months in advance. American is holding the rest to try to sell them. Some number of them have been snapped up the people who are gaming the system.
I for example have already bought a premium price ticket on another airline to New Zealand for July because there is nothing reasonable available on American with frequent flyer miles. I was about to buy yet another premium class ticket on a different airline for may for the same reason. Last summer I was able to find good availability to Europe on Delta months out but not American.