AGS

I am trying to book award tickets on AA from Dayton to Kona for this December. I managed to find four MileSAAver tickets for the outbound leg from Dayton to Kona, so put them on hold. Tickets for the return leg haven't been released yet, and I'm new to this, so I'm not sure how to proceed. I've read several threads, but there seem to be different answers to my questions, so I'd appreciate some guidance.

I would like to keep the outbound tickets on hold until seats for the return leg become available, will AA allow me to do this?

If not, I could pay the 90K miles, but then if I'm unable to get anything for the return, can I cancel the outbound tickets and get the miles back? Is there a fee for this?

I was surprised that I was able to get MileSAAver awards going out on December 19th. Maybe I just got lucky. What are my chances of getting MileSAAver award seats returning on December 30th or 31st?

Thanks!
AGS

jw3putt

I would call AA reservations and ask the agent how long you can hold your outbound ( I am guessing 5 days) and what is the penality to redeposit your miles (I am guessing $150) if you have to cancel. However, keep in mind that there will be ALOT of options for your return if you go return from HNL rather than KOA. Call since guesses on my part are not a way to make plans.

jw3putt

Go to AA.com and check out FAQ on award travel. Courtesy hold is indeed 5 days but change/cancel is vague. ( "Changing award reservations online is not an available feature at this time. Please contact AAdvantage Reservations at 1-800-882-8880 to make any changes to an award travel reservation. Any changes made to your reservation after ticketing may result in a charge." ) I just realized that you have 4 tickets so I guess the cost of flying to HNL from KOA may not be realistic.

ckpeter

Congratulations on getting 4 tickets to Hawaii.

My suggestion is for you to hold the tickets for as long as possible (5 days hold possible online, and you can call in to extend the hold, assuming the award seats is still available), then ticket it.

If the return never becomes available, and you want to cancel your outbound, you will pay $150 + $25 for each additional ticket, so $225 to cancel (or, you can just hold the tickets hoping there be a schedule change, then you can cancel for free. You can also cancel for free if the miles are from a EXP elite account).

As another poster noted, you may have more options to return if you return from HNL instead of KOA. Remember that Hawaiian Airlines is a partner, so you may be able to fly KOA-HNL-XXX-DAY. However, since partner awards have to be booked over the phone, you will have to call AA to do it (and incur the $20 phone booking fee, per ticket).

Happy

Interisland flight can be had for less than $60 one-way. You may want to consider this as well.

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

If the OP flies KOA-HNL-XXX-DAY on an award, he will not only have to pay the $20/ticket telephone booking fee, but would also have to cough up an additional 5,000 AAdvantage miles per person: inter-island segments are not included on All-Partner awards between Hawaii and the mainland.

Yet another option for the return would be to check for seats on AA partner AS from KOA to SEA, PDX, or SJC, then to XXX and DAY on AA or AS/AA. The OP would still incur the $20/ person telephone ticketing fee, but no additional miles would be required. (Some routings on AS might require an overnight connection at the transit point.)

chicaloca453

Another option is to look into one way prices from say Hawaii to Portland. Then try to book one way tickets on awards from Portland home. The HI-PDX market tends to go for under $200 per ticket one way. I just got a one way between HNL-PDX for $159+. Of course it depends on the time of year you want to return, but it might be an option to make the trip more affordable.

mvoight

Aside from what's been said, you might also check on partner award availability on AS. You have to call for this.

AGS

Thanks for the help, I will call AA and try to extend the hold. In the event I have to cancel, I never would have thought of holding the tickets until the schedule changes to avoid paying the fee; the schedule will inevitably change.

Is there any reason NOT to have two sets of one-way award tickets? Could I just keep the outbound leg (DAY-KOA) as one-way awards, and then try to get the return (KOA-DAY) as separate one-way awards? I can't see a disadvantage to doing this (other than the possible nonavailability of a return award), but maybe there is something I'm not thinking of.

Thanks,
AGS

ckpeter

You can certainly book all the one-ways separately.

Typically, people consolidate the segments into one reservation, if they need to book over the phone (save on the phone ticketing fee), or if they want to make changes/cancel all in one group (the fees double if you have two reservations).

AGS

Thanks, I knew that it was possible, but was looking for any disadvantages, such as the extra phone ticketing fee or change fee that you mentioned. I hadn't thought of those, so thanks.

But as far as the travel itself, it's all the same, right? No difference between two one-way awards and a round-trip award? I think that's the case, but there's always something I hadn't thought of.

AGS

Austinrunner

All awards are one-way. If you want a round-trip, you book 2 one-ways.

coh1rnl

One ways to Hawaii are usually best due to availability. You are traveling during a peak time so grab what you can when you can. If it were me, I would book the outbound 331 days out. Then book the KOA or HNL return to the mainland 331 days out. Most of the time you will be taking the redeye so adding DAY just adds another day to the 331. Book the KOA or HNL to LAX, DFW, ORD 331 days, call back the next to add on DAY. If you add DAY to the return it is actually the next day pushing back the 331 mark. Someone else may grab your award tixs! Think of it as just adding an additional leg to the award travel on your return flight.

This all assumes you have plenty of money or are EXP. These fees would add up quickly if not EXP.

AGS

This is very helpful, thanks, I hadn't thought of this. The outbound is already booked and paid for (with miles) as I was unable to extend the hold.

So, I think the best approach for the return is the following, but please tell me if I've missed something. I subscribed to ExpertFlyer, and will check availability of MileSAAver awards from KOA to LAX. As soon as those are available, I should call and put those seats on hold. The following day, when LAX to DAY becomes available, I should call back and add those legs.

True indeed, but not nearly as fast as actually paying for four DAY-KOA tickets!

One final question: For the four of us (Dad, Mom, two kids), I plan to pull the 90K miles for the KOA to DAY flights out of the kids's accounts (45K from each). Can I hold all four seats together while I'm putting the flight segments together and then just pull the miles from the two kids' accounts at the end, or do I need to plan ahead and have two separate reservations?

Thanks!
AGS

Happy

How old are your kids? If they are minors, you need to have an adult to be on the same PNR.

If you need to use miles from different accounts, each account would be 1 PNR.

The easiest way I believe is to put TWO reservations on hold, each reservation contains 1 adult + 1 kid.

Since you have to pay the taxes using credit card in the same name as the AAdvantage Account owner from whose account the miles are pulled, you have no choice but call to ticket as I assume the kiddos dont have CC in their names to pay for the taxes. Only phone agent can take a CC in different name to pay. Then ask the agent to LINK the 2 PNRs together by notate them - it really does not do a whole lot as all the info is in the notation segment which does not have no real effect, but it would help each time you need to change or get seat assignment, ask the agent to check the notation and the Linked PNR info for consideration.

You may want to call ahead and talk to the AAdvantage Desk about your unique situation as it may involved Minors as which way is the easiest.