Kurt

I was looking at an award ticket SBA-DEN for Dec. 26. Only AA flights were offered, with very sparse availability and none on that day. But SBA-SEA and SEA-DEN show availability. SBA-DEN is also available for revenue flights. I called and was told that because AS is actually selling me two fares (SBA-SEA and SEA-DEN), SBA-DEN must be booked as TWO awards and twice the miles. So 40K one way in Y or 100K in F. I pointed out that I have booked this route for 20K as recently as last January, only to be told that the policy has since changed. For comparison, SJC-DEN is still priced as usual (also BUR, SNA, just to check a couple of others). I'm of course irritated and a bit confused to the point of wanting to quit AS altogether.

Tracer_SEA

That is odd. I also see SBA-SEA and SEA-DEN, both at what appear to be Saver rates, but not SBA-DEN. I would call back and try again. It may be that is not a valid routing for an award -- but I would think you could talk an agent into constructing that for you. Or you could book SBA-SEA and then within 24 hours ask for a free change to add SEA-DEN. And if they refuse, then just tell them to cancel it.

sfozrhfco

AS does not file any fares from SBA-DEN. The only way to book AS between those two cities is to piece together two separate fares from SBA-SEA and SEA-DEN. Thus you are not going to be able to get it with a single award.

aCavalierInCoach

That is a garbage policy.

formeraa

What I would suggest is a note or call to AS Customer Service (not Reservations). Obviously, someone made this decision in the Pricing department and it needs to forwarded directly to Pricing. Believe it or not, it is relatively easy to get something like this reversed.

Focus only on the route at hand. Be concise, not overly emotional. It may have been the decision of a single analyst in Pricing, not some grand scheme to "rob you of points".

lg20

Or just as likely an oversight, something that fell through the cracks.

Kurt

Thanks for the replies. I sent a note to Customer Care. I understand the "published fare" rule, but booking a revenue ticket is completely normal for the layperson, the fact that it is two fares combined is a non-issue. I think it might indeed be an oversight; especially when I can book an award ticket from other cities in the area, plus having been able to book an award ticket from SBA twice in the past year. One agent did mention that she would report the issue to the rate desk, so I'm hopeful. In the meantime I will probably just book nonstops on United and be done with it.

Kurt

So I guess it must have been a glitch since SBA-DEN is now available again for award booking. I grabbed a seat so now my Christmas planning is done.



I would have tried Burbank or Los Angeles (the drive up to Santa Barbara is a bit of a pain but not unbearable), but for my six day trip the best car-rental rate I could find was $509 at LAX, $510 at BUR. In SBA is is $230 (for a nicer car class).

metallo

Just curious... do you have a large stash of miles you're trying to use? It appears the cheapest revenue fare one way is about $260. If it were me, I'd rather pay $260 and save the 30k miles and use them toward an international partner redemption (but to each his own, of course). I don't think I'd even use 12.5k miles for a W class award ticket when the revenue price is so low.

eponymous_coward

You can buy miles at around 2 cpm when AS is having sales (read: almost all the time), so 2 cpm starts being a point where redemptions are viable alternatives to cash because you might actually save money on the deal.

metallo

True. In this scenario, however, 30k miles is not a deal. If you buy 84,000 miles at the current "promotional price" of $1,773.75 (which is the offer I'm seeing in my account), 30k miles would cost you $633.48.

I must therefore agree with the OP that being forced to buy two separate awards, as he originally thought would be necessary, definitely would not have been a good deal!

Kurt

I actually booked F for 50K miles. Probably not great value, but I do have a large cache of miles and the F seat is coming up at $1,383. I could have done the 30K and probably gotten the upgrades at some point, but again, sometimes it's OK to splurge. I need to fly on that day and I'm done with my G75 qualification for 2020 so I bit the bullet and ponied up the miles. I did buy an F seat on the way there on UA, which was a much better value at $435 and includes a 777 ride and a visit to the Star Alliance lounge at LAX, but that's another story.

Flying for Fun

You are still offsetting the F fare at 2.76 cents per mile. Given your circumstances, I think it is a reasonable redemption. While the 50K can get you a CX J to Asia, sometimes we just need to get from here to there on this exact date and want to do it comfortably without playing upgrade roulette. Just consider it as a complimentary F flight from AS for the 50K bonus RDM received for 75K requalification.

James

Kurt

That is exactly how I thought of it Even better, I was mistakenly double-credited miles for a trip that put me over 90K, so I got my bonus early this year. (The miles were since taken back and I'm at 88K, but the bonus stuck; they must have seen the flights I have booked and knew I would make it soon.)

We will be booking an Asia trip soon so I will be getting better value from my next redemption.