Booking two award tickets to get same seats
 

I want to book two award tickets from USA to Singapore in Thanksgiving. The problem is I only have enough miles for one ticket now. I expect to get the rest of the miles in 1-2 months. Should I wait 1-2 months and book the tickets then so we can get seats together? Or should I book one now and do the second one later, in the hope I will still be able to get seats together, or at least get the same flights? Is one bird in the hand better than two in the bush?

I am also concerned that in 1-2 months aa.com might start slapping on some higher fees for award tickets given the unstable situation ...

I wouldn't worry too much about being able to get 2 seats together for a flight in November. I think the bigger problem will be getting 2 award tickets. If there is one available now and you book it, what will you do if there is no more availability when you get the add'l miles.

I have flexibility with my dates, so can book the second ticket a few days off. From what you are saying , I think Ill just wait 1-2 months and book the two tickets together. I am assuming that when I book the tickets together, I will have a very good chance of getting seats together. Or is award availability usually just one seat per flight?

I think the solution in that case, at least in my mind, is just risk the $100 redeposit fee. Nabbing the seat that's available now is, IMO, worth putting $100 at risk.

Is having one ticket better than having zero tickets? It's entirely possible that you will not be able to get the same dates/flights as the first ticket, if the first ticket is booked now. In that case, does one free ticket and one paid ticket suit your needs?

If the requirement is two free tickets or not to travel at all, you should wait.

Hasn't that been increased to $150 now?

A few questions -

1. Is this in F, J or Y?
2. How are you planning to route to SIN? Via NRT or HKG or ?
3. Which airline - AA, CX or JL (or a combination)?
4. How "short" of miles are you - a couple of thousand or most of the miles for the second ticket?
5. If no second award ticket is available, would you buy the second ticket?

As for seats, obviously if you get both tickets at the same time, you hope the seats would be together (depending on the load). If they're done separately, then the seat next to the first seat may or may not be available, who knows? In any event, you could change the first seat assignment, depending on availability.

As for fees, probably the only thing you can count on is that they won't go down. Fees are fees and none of us like paying them but the fee going up $25 or $50 is, I would suggest, the least of your problems.

Premium cabin tickets are usually harder to find, so if you're planning on F or J, then maybe there's more incentive to take what's currently available. Conversely, if it is F or J, then I would assume you're willingness to pay for the second ticket may be somewhat less. Would you do one J ticket and one Y ticket if that was all that could be found?

If this is two Y tickets, have you asked AA what availability looks like around the dates you want to go? If there is "lots of availability" on "most days", that's very different from "only the odd seat" on "only some days".