Originally Posted by
Nettik
Trying to do this myself but hear there are "people" that, for a fee, will make sure it happens when it becomes available. Still 350+ days out, so they should post 331 days prior to travel. Also, I have heard that calling into AA will get you one day prior to the dates appearing online. Thanks for any pointers.
DFW to Milan, Rome to DFW. Mid September going, return October 24 or so. Aiming for a month total trip. Thanks,
Welcome to FT. There is absolutely no rush to book something like that right at ~330 days out unless you want to fly BA, of which you can typically find decent availability throughout the year due to the very high fees.
But AA makes virtually every seat available with miles for AA flights, but at very (very) high prices, and this is especially true booking 11 months out to a popular destination like Italy. For example if you booked DFW-JFK-MXP for August 14, 2024 (about the furthest out you can get now) AA wants 400k miles per person for a one-way. That's a complete ripoff and there's no reason at all to book something like that 11 months in advance.
Alternatively you can book BA, like DFW-LHR-MXP, for 57.5k miles but with $700+ in fees each way. Pick your poison.
While there are still some decent deals if you can be flexible and understand the nuances of the program and availability and such, for the casual traveler who wants to take a once a year trip to Europe in business class and wants to book months in advance the current AAdvantage program is awful.