League

Apologies if this has been discussed at length, but I did try to search for similar threads and didn't turn up anything.

Is it now just impossible to book AA Saver seats with Alaska miles? I've ran many searches on AA's own website and seen, for example, 4 RT saver award tickets for the price of 25,000 AA miles / each. I go search on Alaska's website for those same seats (actually, even reducing it to 1 seat vs 4!), and ... *nothing*. This has been the case for every search I've ran on Alaska's website for AA awards. (Of course, Alaska still has AA seats available at super high Anytime prices.)

So what's up with that? Is it just impossible to get saver awards on AA with my Alaska miles now? Would calling in help?

sfozrhfco

Doing a simple search SFO to LAX, there are plenty of AA award flights available. So it is not a system-wide issue. Without knowing where and when you are trying to travel, nobody here will be able to help much. Try calling if you have a specific destination and don't want to reveal the city pairs and dates online.

owflyer

AA has reduced inventory on many of the "Economy Mile Saaver" reward routes of 12.5K each way. They have instituted "Economy Web Specials" that are at times less than the 12.5K and at other times more, as they are subject to yield management. it seems AS can not "see" the Web Specials rewards and display them properly.

CDKing

I used to be able to get a lot of last minute saver business availability (less so in Y) but yes there has been a steep decline in saver. Seems to be the same though if one were to book with Avios so its not AS related.

flytoeat

Mileage Plan only has access to standard AA saver awards, not to "super high Anytime prices".

guv1976

AA has been offering MileSAAver domestic awards with connections of up to 18 hours. I wonder if AS' system allows AS to book those itineraries, or if AS is only able to book domestic awards on AA having connections not exceeding four hours.

sfozrhfco

That is something only for those with AA miles.

guv1976

Then it's possible that those are the AA SAAver award seats that the OP is finding on aa.com, but not on as.com.

CDKing

The 4 hour connection rule is the killer on domestic itins.

Flying for Fun

It isn't just domestic flights. AA has saver availability on international flights too that can be booked with other One World Partner but they release exactly Zero, Nada, None to AS. Just because you can book it on AA does not mean you can also book it on AS. I have seen U7 on DFW-HKG this month. For Alaska, none! However, I did book close in and recently flew YLW-SEA-PHX/2 nights/PHX-GDL in F for 27.5K.

James

Flying for Fun

Yet, booked on AS you could do a stopover instead.

James

audio-nut

Does Alaska search for AA award availability connections as married segments or leg by leg?

Flying for Fun

I can't say with certainty, but it appears from my searches on AS for AA awards, it appears that it is segment by segment. About 10 days ago I was looking to see what was available from SEA-HKG on the QF website. I saw 1 Saver AA J space available routing SEA-DFW-HKG for June 25th. I confirmed it on AA. Checking Expertflyer segment by segment, SEA-DFW was U0, DFW-HKG was U7. Checking SEA-HKG there was U1 so the AA award were definitely married segments. The same flights on AS yielded nothing above Y, even on the DFW-HKG segment that was U7.

Similarly, I was following a saver J SCL-MIA-LAX in late May for October 14th. Again U7 on SCL-MIA and connecting MIA-LAX on the 777 with lie-flat J. On AS they had SCL-MIA in Y and MIA-LAX in J.

I called AS and they said that Y was all that had been released to them and to try again after June 1st. I contacted AA and they said to call AS. The AA inventory dwindled to zero and not a single seat was ever released to AS. I could have booked it in J all the way through on AA but I wanted to use LAX as a stopover and add flight to Canada for a later trip.

I guess the lesson here is that if you see Saver award space on AA don't assume any of it will be released to AS and bookable there.

James

nerdbirdsjc

Things have indeed gotten worse. Earlier today, I tried to redeem AS miles for a multi-city FRA-CLT, CLT-BWI Eco award with both segments available in T class. The reservation would not ticket with both segments online, so I reserved FRA-CLT and called AS. During the course of a two-hour call, an AS agent, partner desk specialist, and supervisor all tried to get both segments to confirm within the record (they could confirm the CLT-BWI as a standalone in its own PNR, but not in tandem with FRA-CLT. Exasperated, the supervisor finally reached out to the AA Liaison.

The AA Liaison informed him AA is progressively rolling out tighter segment availability checks inhibiting partners (such as AS) from booking award options not available to AA's own members at a comparable pricing level. This means, for example, an AS FFer should not be able to book a 22.5K Y TATL FRA-CLT-BWI award using point-to-point availability if AA is not offering a similar FRA-BWI thru-pricing option to AAdvantage members. Until now, AA essentially ignored married segment availability checks on AS-issued (and some other partner airline) awards, but the shift to dynamic award pricing likely prompted a different attitude by American.

PDXPremier

I've noticed the exact same thing....the ability to "build" AA award trips with AS miles is more difficult. I've even been given availability on the "change flight" feature and go through the seating and confirmation prompts only to be given the dreaded red message that partner flight availability is no longer available.