GUWonder

HKG_Flyer1, I guess you can understand why my signature is "This game is a lot less fun than it used to be."

There is one hope for non-EXPlats and that is the FT crowd may have some EXPs willing to engage in Coupon Connection-like exchanges whereby the EXP redeems awards on behalf of the non-EXP (using the additional EXP award inventory) while the non-EXP FTer redeems miles for an equivalent award that is currently available (based on non-EXP award inventory).

This is not unheard of.

21A

If you book for 50k, and "MileSAAver" inventory becomes available later, is there any way to get the extra miles "refunded"? (like shifting to a lower fare)

martin33

carefult, what they are doing is no longer *guaranteeing* to make seats available at the 330-day mark, the way they used to. the new system is that the computer projects what it thinks likely sales can be by flight time-- if the flight you want is projected to be popular enough to sellable outable, then no 330-day seats will be offered. if the projection is for less than full potential sales, then 330-day seats might well be offered. as projections change, award seats can be loaded closer to flight time. which makes searching a lot more complicated...

as the "hot star" file we were quoted a few weeks back indicates, what this changes most is availabiility for resort destinations, holiday seasons, and Friday/Sunday flights... for those it is much less likely that far-in-advance T inventory would be offered under the new regime... which is similar to, but not as draconian as, the CO/DL system..

martin33

not directly. you could book a new 25K award, and simply keep the 50K award for later use, since AAnytime awards are free to change [though not free to re-deposit]. the explicit/direct re-deposit exemption only applies when you trade up for a more expensive award.

card1953

Out of curiosity, I just went through the process of trying to book the same 2 trips (SMF-LGW and SMF-DCA) without logging in, so that my EXP status was not known, and I saw the same availability. I really am beginning to wonder if award availability is better ex-SMF that from other gateways, or when travael originates, say, in DFW.

wanaflyforless

AA told me the extra EXP inventory only applies if the EXP is travelling - not to others the EXP is booking tickets for. Could be wrong....

dancingbear

I've been noticing that it's much harder to find award availability lately - and I'm EXP. One recent example: couldn't find a 25K award for my brother to fly PHL-SMF last weekend; I booked three months in advance and was pretty flexible with the dates. (It wasn't a holiday weekend, and Sacramento isn't exactly a resort destination, nice as it may be to visit.)

So I'm not entirely convinced that EXPs are exempt or sheltered from these reductions in award availability.

I don't see how this could be the case, at least when it's booked via aa.com, since you don't identify who's traveling until *after* you search for availability.

Please count this EXP among the many AA fliers who are upset about the continuing dilution of the value of the miles that we've already earned. I definitely agree with HKG_Flyer1 and others - AA should have given us fair warning when they devalued our mileage balances by increasing the mileage requirements for partner awards (the "partner award simplification" that was implemented with only 30 days' notice last summer) and decreasing the availability of the standard 25K domestic award.