garygleck

May 19 have disappeared as of this evening. It does not seem to matter where the departure in the U.S. or arrival in Europe. Throughout the month, there has always been at least one seat on almost every date at least for the first day of availability. Now none exist. Any theories, thoughts, or ideas? Thank you in advance...

tjbrooks

Just came to find out if anyone else saw this too. As of two days ago they were opening up 5+ seats everyday. Pulled all of that inventory overnight. Not cool.

mquinton

What is going on with American Advantage? Yesterday I discovered no regular awards are available for international flights?

onetess

Specifically which international destination are you looking at, and in what class? I see plenty of Milesaver awards available for certain destinations, while others are typically much more difficult to get.

FOX85

It is probably just peak season for the destination that you are looking into.

Like trying to find a cheap Europe award in June.

JDiver

Maybe Revenue Management is playing it close to the vest with MileSAAver awards (and cheap seats) with the 2012 Olympics in London?

miamigrad

That was my guess, too. And, I'm one of those people heading to the Olympics hoping to score (2) MileSAAver awards in a premium cabin (willing to be flexible on dates, airports, all that... and I still think it will be a big uphill battle )

clacko

may dates have been bookable for 2 mo's, june for 1 mo....perhaps the early bird got the deal!....better luck next year....

3Cforme

Maybe, but certainly impossible to diagnose with any accuracy as the OP is willing to generalize this to a eleven AA-served award destinations from all U.S. gateways.

johndunn2

Snagged 2 Biz saver tickets from BRU>SFO in late May earlier this week. SFO>FCO was 100K's only

tjbrooks

Nope. Just two days ago there was availability for about 50% of days in June, with connections in through ORD/DFW/JFK. This was an overnight across the board change. From what I can tell it's all of US-Europe.
Perhaps they're going to change to a SkyPesos system of only offering cheap award tickets when they know for sure they won't sell? Funny to have a peak season 20k upcharge when they're going to be this protective of them.

If so, why would they started the blocking of seats 12 weeks in advance of the opening ceremonies? Airfare is far more flexible than accommodations when it comes to big sporting events. Airfare was only slightly elevated for Vancouver 2010. Dropped to dirt cheap right before ($199 all-in from LAX, during the whole two weeks). Rental car companies tried price gouging, $120/day for an economy car in December. One week before the games? $9.95/day on Hotwire. I wouldn't doubt the airlines trying it, especially to get the anxious trying to book 331 days out.

My friend chose to get married two weeks before the Olympics....now we may not go. Hawaii peak is still untouched...in fact, First is still available for all but four days in June.

garygleck

I would appreciate (if anyone has the time), to find one seat at 30,000 miles, one way, from anywhere in U.S. to anywhere in Europe from May 19 on. I tried LAX, SAN, NYC to LON, MAD, BUD, FRA, BCN, ROM, CDG, ZRH,MXP, BRU,DUB..I may add that I was fortunate to nab three June flights a few weeks ago and as of Monday, there were flights (if you logged on to AA early in the morning) as I assisted a friend in getting one of them.

spellbound2

you're right they have been pulled. we have 2 biz seats that have been on hold for 5 days that we need to ticket today, but even those are very difficult to get and you need to have a patient agent to manually check each day, each partner, each possible city. I'd really like to know what's going on...

OWdevotee

I just got 2 Business Class MileSave awards (100k roundtrip) DFW-DUB for May 21st - May 30th. Got them online, didn't even have to call the EXP desk and ask for the supposed expanded award availability through that channel.

balima

I noticed the same thing. I've been watching seats trying to get award bus for next early June. We actually needed 4 seats and had been finding 4 seats open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays that seemed to open 6 weeks or so after the desired booking dates. We were lucky to nab 4 business seats for June 5th last week. I have been checking daily for return flights every day and noticed this week that the 12th and 13th opened up. We wanted to return the following week. awards have been opening after Thursday. when I checked today EVERYTHING was gone. Only 2 seats apiece were available for 62.5K in first for the 26th and 27th. Not even coach was available. I figure we will get back some way. I can sit tight till the last minute and if I have to go with coach anytime I will.