Aruba

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...c28370271a.jpg

I don't think they are particularly stingy. I'm sorry to see the bump in the number of miles for redemption, but you are seeing the same thing that AA fliers would see if they were booking a Saver Award. When you see that unicorn all segment business award show up, book it. I think Alaska has the most liberal change/cancel/redeposit policies for mid and upper tier fliers.

I've been having this problem trying to book award tickets on AA metal to the Caribbean using AS miles, and came across this thread. BA.com stills matches AA milesaaver availability, but AS.com no longer does, with only a subset of the available flights show up on AS.com. Definitely hoping this is just a temporary glitch, and not a sign of a permanent change in how award availability on AA metal works.

Did you see post 9 in this other thread, about Aruba availability:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alas...n-members.html

? The issue is that it's for about one week out, from Boston to Aruba. So availability may differ depending on how for you you're looking, which cabin you're looking for, and from what starting city to where in the Caribbean?

I booked an AS award on AA metal, and called yesterday to change the date. I could see on the website that only F was available for my desired date/flights, but the agent on the phone kept saying there were no seats in any class. Eventually he had to cancel the original ticket and issue a new one... he explained this by saying that different systems are used under the hood for booking new award tickets or agents making changes to existing ones. Not entirely sure about that, but it does seem like something weird is going on IT-wise regarding what seats are available to whom.

I'm looking at St Louis to St Kitts, just under 11 months out -- there is plentiful availability in coach using Saaver awards on AA.com (for 15k) and using Avios on BA.com (also for 15k), but much of that availability doesn't show up on AS.com. There is some availability, but it is much more limited than on AA.com/BA.com. And in the past, AS.com would always exactly match AA's availability for Saaver and for what shows up on BA.com using Avios, so I could search on any of the three and the exact same availability would show up. Like I said, I'm hoping it's just a glitch in what AS.com is seeing in AA's availability that will be fixed, and not a sign of a deeper change.

I was looking for business class-pdx-lax-lhr feb 2 and it never showed up until last night at 3 am. I got two seats for 57k miles. It is in 2 weeks, so it is possible to get just you have to keep checking. What I usually do as mvp75k, I buy Y tickets and just cancel them if business class becomes available.

I am seeing a problem as well... Below is a search on both AA and AS for availability HTS-PVD in June:

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...6b5fcf260e.png
Though there is wide open saver availability showing on AA in Y class, AS shows none. Only availability in F. The only one stop routing for HTS-PVD is HTS-CLT-PVD... I checked those legs individually and they both had non-stop availability in Y wide open on AA with nothing on AS.

That is weird. I got 2 of 3 to come up on 6/1 but only when doing a multi city search. no idea why its not seeing the space as a one way search

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...a5d6942aad.jpg

It used to be you could find international First Class award seats on AA via AS MP without much trouble. Not any more. I haven't seen any AA F award availability in over a year - and I've plugged in a good number of dates and destinations.

There are hardly any remaining int'l AA flights with an F cabin, and the remaining cabins are quite small (F8).

I just got back from flying HKG-LAX in F on AA, but it basically took me finding a winning lottery ticket on my exact travel date (completely wide-open AA premium class availability EVERYWHERE). And yes, you have very, very few routes left with AA international three-class F (and the AS award price for three-class international F was jacked up in the interim).

With the Flagship Dining Room in LAX and getting access to Pier F in HKG, plus a great crew, I'd say it was worth it at a mild mileage discount to CX F even if the onboard product, while nice enough, is not as nice as CX's F product. Two good meals at sea level beats nearly anything in the air IMO, and the showers in the Flagship Lounge + a meal and a cocktail in the dining room were a great tonic for a mostly sleepless, turbulence-filled ride over the Pacific. However, I can't say I'd be wanting to pay 110k miles if CX F is 40k miles less for the same itinerary I flew, even if it got me Flagship Dining again. I'd probably have a soup and a beer in the Alaska Lounge instead. :p

Just confirming, CX F does not grant FlAAgship lounge access? Or does it?

Flagship Lounge access? Yes. (Even CX — or any other oneworld — J now grants Flagship Lounge access.) But you have to be in AA F ago get Flagship Dining within the Flagship Lounge.