pushback

I just took a look at award travel in F or J, KSFO<->KJFK, for the next couple of months and it is nil. So I looked between here and the end of the year ... and it is nil. When I've looked in the past (past being more than 3-4 months ago) there's always been something I could pick out to make work but zero through the end of the year and beyond? Has AA had a significant policy change on award availability while I was napping?

Sidenote: Southwest Airlines does not limit availability of awards and AA does. Paradoxically my LUV stock keeps going up and AAL goes sideways at best.

3Cforme

Uh huh. How many flights a day with F and J cabins does WN operate non-stop between NYC and SFO?

pushback

So, what you're saying is you don't know the answer to my question.

Anyone have an answer that is actually useful?

enviroian

What he's saying is your not comparing apples to apples since WN doesn't serve that mkt with an F or J cabin.

That being said AA award availability is lowest of the low out there.

sdsearch

Wrong!

The only way that Southwest does not limit availability of awards is if you don't care what the cost (in Southwest points) of the award is. Awards prices at Southwest can shoot up drastically (more than even 2x or 3x) between "Wanna Get Away" at the low multiplier vs last-minute-seats only at the high multiplier.

Meanwhile, AA makes AAnytime Awards available on any of its own metal flights as long as it has seats in that cabin for sale.

So how is that so different????

Yes, it may feel different because at AA you have to select a different of award, and at Southwest is changes to the higher price automatically. Or it may feel different because Southwest is a "frog put into water that's slowly turned up to boiling" while AA makes a big jump (from SAAver cost to AAnytime cost).

But the bottom line is that if you include AAnytime awards, AA has just as much availability as Southwest does. And if you exclude Southwest awards that aren't from the low-multiplier Wanna Get Away bucket, then Southwest also doesn't have availability all the time.

So the differences IMHO are more of perception than of reality. (And of brilliant Southwest marketing hype.)

cheaptom

Uhh, yes. Thus we have this new forum specifically devoted to how AA has made its award travel so scarce.

JonNYC

You should most definitely be having someone else handle your money if this is your level of understanding of the markets.

elc2414

My wife and I have been traveling to Hawaii for years for our anniversary almost exclusively on AA outbound (a few times have been AS or HA) and 100% exclusive on AA in Business/First return via HNL/OGG-DFW. I've never had much trouble finding seats/flights for the return until this year. It seems the HNL/OGG-DFW route has been eliminated for MileSAAver awards, whether it be in Coach or First. I search every day - nothing shows up. I already have the trip for this year (in September) booked, but it's going to be a nightmare. Routing is XNA-ORD-LAX-HNL (all AA) outbound and HNL-PDX-DFW-XNA (AS and AA) return - all in coach. What MileSAAver first class seats do show up are mixed - coach from HNL/OGG to mainland and first on the "domestic" leg. I'm hoping something might open up on the HNL/OGG-DFW route between now and our return, but not holding my breath.

My wife and I have currently 400,000+ AAdvantage miles together - which we use mostly for travel to Hawaii. If we can no longer use them to travel in First, it may be time to rethink whether or not this program has any value for us other than traveling occasionally (to see the grand-kids) domestic in coach.

Don't really have a question as much as just venting over my frustration as to what has happened with this program over the last year.

Big_Foot

Really? Now it "may be" time to rethink?
AA has been garbage, how come it's news to you?

There is nothing easy left, some partners are still possible,
but always require lots of pain. Something as simple as an Etihad F/J ticket
requires several calls and prays your agent will see it...
And if you don't live in NYC or LA, you are screwed
as there is no F domestic connections available, ever.

The biggest change is the earning cost/burning value ratio.
It costs so much more to earn miles (chase 5/24, amex once/lifetime etc),
but the value of your redemptions is so much lower with
all the business class deals floating around.

If you value your time, there is no point to play that game anymore.

Colin

AA miles offer value when used for:

1. travel on AA partners in J/F
2. travel booked at end of schedule in J/F, usually Saturdays only, between LAX/JFK
3. last minute travel, usually at anytime pricing, when the alternative is an expensive cash ticket
4. travel on AA booked during the unicorn windows once or twice a year when AA seems to open the sigots for milesaver inventory for a day or so

Big_Foot

Not such a long time ago, until sometime last year,
LAX-JFK in F used to be widely available for last-minute travel.
It was so reliable we were going to NYC without any return reservation
and 3, 4 days before flying back we could book any flight we wanted in F.
We used it so many times, we knew all the F crews on the flagship flight...
Sorry, but it's hard to call "value" what's left now.

JonNYC

But if you notice, he doesn't-- the poster -specifically- references:

hurnik

There are some (assuming you mean the 40k Business/FC milesaver awards). However, it appears that they mostly seem to be on Saturday (for some reason--at least when I was looking) and only ONE seat. I believe that's the clincher that you're (and myself) trying to find two seats.

Ironically I did find two seats at 40k on the same day. Quite a few times. However:

a) This was at 330 days out (Mostly in Dec. of 2017, hardly nothing in Jan 2018, and then Feb. 2018 more seats show up).
b) They were different itineraries which would've required person A to fly two diff. segments separate from person B. Until both (hopefully) met in SAN for the same Alaska Air flight to OGG. (I think it was OGG, might've been HNL).

At least for cabins that were FC all the way through.

Obviously less than ideal. But it's better than Delta where there were no "saver" awards at all for one person, let alone two. Cheapest DL seat I could find was 90k each way/pp (again, coming from East Coast).

Although apparently if one has REALLY flexible travel plans and is traveling from the West coast (not East like me), you can usually find a low Delta award about 3 weeks prior, and sometimes even 2 Alaska Air partner/milesaver awards via AA as well. But waiting until the last minute for "potential" isn't my idea of fun, given that accommodations in Hawaii are expensive and difficult to get into sometimes (unless you have lots of moolah).

What annoys me the most is AA's website for booking.
It "lies" and tells you there's a 40k saver award, and then you go to book it and find out it's mixed cabin and the "long" flight into Hawaii is in coach.

I'm not defending AA, just saying it seemed to me that compared to Delta there was "better" availability.

enviroian

We know "what" is happening but do we have any ideas as to "why" Tempe is doing this to their award availability?

no1cub17

Just a guess but it sure seems like Dougie and Co just don't care about maintaining a strong/generous FFP. His goal is cheapness - cheap product, cheap ticket. In isolated cases where his hand is forced (HKG, SYD), he'll enhance the product and make it just good enough - otherwise this is what we're going to get. Somehow my wife and I keep flying AA this year - 1) because we already have status and 2) they seem to be very aggressive in undercutting their competitors in price. Granted we live in a city that hasn't been infiltrated by the likes of NK, F9, etc., but AA is consistently cheaper than UA, DL or WN. AA will make just enough saver award space available so that we don't totally ditch disaadvantage, but until the banks start paying AA less and less for their increasingly worthless pesos, nothing will change.