Jan 25, 2014, 2:56 pm
Last edit by: JDiver
Be sure to check the lengthy http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...elections.html and oneworld and Other Airline (Partner) Awards info, rules 2014 on threads, as many members have posted questions - and useful answers - there. See the wiki posts for informative summaries.
Also be aware - AA have reduced capacity and apparently chosen to make MileSAAver flights significantly less available during predicted periods of high demand and high demand flights, undoubtedly keeping seats available for those willing to pay higher fares and use the new tiered AAnytime awards.
Older posts as of 1 Jan 2015 and later may be found in thd archived thread ARCHIVE: MileSAAver / SAAver award reduction discussion post 2015 AAdvantage merger
Older posts may dating from Aug 2011 through the AAdvantage program merger January 2015 be found in the archived thread here.
MileSAAver / SAAver award reduction / scarcity discussion
Apr 4, 2017, 1:33 pm
#751
Join Date: Sep 2009
Programs: AA Gold, 1MM; Hyatt Explorist; MR Gold; HH Diamond
Posts: 535
Whenever AA announced the saver award price increases about a year and a half ago, didn't they state they would also allow more award space to be available? It seems like the opposite happened and it's only getting worse...
Delta used to be the worst of the big 3, but I feel they've made a conscious effort to improve their rewards program.
Delta used to be the worst of the big 3, but I feel they've made a conscious effort to improve their rewards program.
Apr 4, 2017, 1:52 pm
#752
Join Date: Jul 2001
Programs: AA EP
Posts: 2,203
No aware of any statement saying there would be more availability. BA said something like they wouoe out x seats on each flight at their lowest rate. (Maybe that was just J).
Whenever AA announced the saver award price increases about a year and a half ago, didn't they state they would also allow more award space to be available? It seems like the opposite happened and it's only getting worse...
Delta used to be the worst of the big 3, but I feel they've made a conscious effort to improve their rewards program.
Delta used to be the worst of the big 3, but I feel they've made a conscious effort to improve their rewards program.
Apr 4, 2017, 3:07 pm
#754
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: TPA
Programs: BA Silver; Hilton Gold; IHG Diamond Ambassador; Marriott Gold
Posts: 2,811
I had somewhat of an epiphany today.
I've been looking for DSM>XXX>SYD for sometime early next year, and have given up, since the DSM leg is impossible. Planning on paying for that flight.
Just now, I searched DFW>HNL, and there is nearly wide open First availability in Feb on the 772. Then, I searched HNL>SYD, and again, nearly wide open on HA. Am I missing something here, or is this round-about way the best way to get down to Oz now? Obviously I'm adding travel time, but it saves me nearly 50k miles.
EDIT: Looks like HA HNL>SYD would not be lie flat, but I think I would be willing to deal with that.
I've been looking for DSM>XXX>SYD for sometime early next year, and have given up, since the DSM leg is impossible. Planning on paying for that flight.
Just now, I searched DFW>HNL, and there is nearly wide open First availability in Feb on the 772. Then, I searched HNL>SYD, and again, nearly wide open on HA. Am I missing something here, or is this round-about way the best way to get down to Oz now? Obviously I'm adding travel time, but it saves me nearly 50k miles.
EDIT: Looks like HA HNL>SYD would not be lie flat, but I think I would be willing to deal with that.
Apr 4, 2017, 6:32 pm
#755
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: XNA
Programs: AA Gold, AS, HA, CX, AF, BA, UA, HH
Posts: 164
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.
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.
As far as the "expensive and difficult to get in to" accommodations, I'd have to take issue with that. We spend the majority of our time on Kauai, mainly because it's so much cheaper and (for us) more enjoyable. We can stay at either the Marriott Courtyard or Hilton Garden Inn (we never do resorts) cheaper there than we can here in our home town.
My original post was mainly directed at the issue of MileSAAver awards in First/Business on the HNL/OGG-DFW leg have disappeared. Been doing this for 10 years now at least once a year, and occasionally twice, and have never had a problem getting those MileSAAver seats until now.
Last edited by elc2414; Apr 4, 2017 at 6:50 pm
Apr 4, 2017, 6:40 pm
#756
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: XNA
Programs: AA Gold, AS, HA, CX, AF, BA, UA, HH
Posts: 164
I guess it is "news" to me because it hasn't really affected us and our traveling except for our trips to Hawaii. AA hasn't been "garbage" for any of our travels up to now. I would guess it really depends on where you fly, when you fly, why you fly and how flexible you are.
Last edited by elc2414; Apr 4, 2017 at 7:01 pm
Apr 5, 2017, 8:43 am
#757
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 1,536
Yeah, the 2 seats together is the tough part. Day of week doesn't matter to us. Just don't enjoy the overnight back home unless we're up front.
As far as the "expensive and difficult to get in to" accommodations, I'd have to take issue with that. We spend the majority of our time on Kauai, mainly because it's so much cheaper and (for us) more enjoyable. We can stay at either the Marriott Courtyard or Hilton Garden Inn (we never do resorts) cheaper there than we can here in our home town.
My original post was mainly directed at the issue of MileSAAver awards in First/Business on the HNL/OGG-DFW leg have disappeared. Been doing this for 10 years now at least once a year, and occasionally twice, and have never had a problem getting those MileSAAver seats until now.
As far as the "expensive and difficult to get in to" accommodations, I'd have to take issue with that. We spend the majority of our time on Kauai, mainly because it's so much cheaper and (for us) more enjoyable. We can stay at either the Marriott Courtyard or Hilton Garden Inn (we never do resorts) cheaper there than we can here in our home town.
My original post was mainly directed at the issue of MileSAAver awards in First/Business on the HNL/OGG-DFW leg have disappeared. Been doing this for 10 years now at least once a year, and occasionally twice, and have never had a problem getting those MileSAAver seats until now.
I thought that the "milesaaver" were the 40k awards for FC/Business, yes?
And I thought that those were only if you were going via partner (like Alaska).
Does Alaska Airlines go DFW to OGG? I know when I was searching I think it was SAN to OGG (or maybe it was SAN-> HNL).
So if my thoughts are correct, maybe Alaska doesn't do the DFW to OGG flights anymore via partner awards with AA?
Apr 5, 2017, 8:59 am
#758
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,392
I'm "new" the whole AA and award travel, so pardon my stupidity here:
I thought that the "milesaaver" were the 40k awards for FC/Business, yes?
And I thought that those were only if you were going via partner (like Alaska).
Does Alaska Airlines go DFW to OGG? I know when I was searching I think it was SAN to OGG (or maybe it was SAN-> HNL).
So if my thoughts are correct, maybe Alaska doesn't do the DFW to OGG flights anymore via partner awards with AA?
I thought that the "milesaaver" were the 40k awards for FC/Business, yes?
And I thought that those were only if you were going via partner (like Alaska).
Does Alaska Airlines go DFW to OGG? I know when I was searching I think it was SAN to OGG (or maybe it was SAN-> HNL).
So if my thoughts are correct, maybe Alaska doesn't do the DFW to OGG flights anymore via partner awards with AA?
Apr 5, 2017, 9:07 am
#759
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: XNA
Programs: AA Gold, AS, HA, CX, AF, BA, UA, HH
Posts: 164
I'm "new" the whole AA and award travel, so pardon my stupidity here:
I thought that the "milesaaver" were the 40k awards for FC/Business, yes?
And I thought that those were only if you were going via partner (like Alaska).
Does Alaska Airlines go DFW to OGG? I know when I was searching I think it was SAN to OGG (or maybe it was SAN-> HNL).
So if my thoughts are correct, maybe Alaska doesn't do the DFW to OGG flights anymore via partner awards with AA?
I thought that the "milesaaver" were the 40k awards for FC/Business, yes?
And I thought that those were only if you were going via partner (like Alaska).
Does Alaska Airlines go DFW to OGG? I know when I was searching I think it was SAN to OGG (or maybe it was SAN-> HNL).
So if my thoughts are correct, maybe Alaska doesn't do the DFW to OGG flights anymore via partner awards with AA?
The HNL/OGG-DFW route is on AA metal, and I have flown Business/First MileSAAver many, many times on those routes.
Just as an example, the trip I have booked for September is a MileSAAver economy XNA-ORD-LAX-HNL on AA metal (used to be able to get MileSAAver economy XNA-DFW-HNL/OGG practically anytime I wanted - but no longer) and the return is MileSAAver economy HNL-PDX-DFW on AS metal and DFW-XNA on AA metal. It seems AA has relegated the majority of their MileSAAver awards to Hawaii to AS, but total AA itineraries can be found if one has the patience and time to search. Or just subscribe to Expert Flyer.....
Last edited by elc2414; Apr 5, 2017 at 11:44 am
Apr 5, 2017, 9:29 am
#760
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: XNA
Programs: AA Gold, AS, HA, CX, AF, BA, UA, HH
Posts: 164
I might add, since you are new to AA award travel, that once you have an itinerary booked, if a better routing comes available (which in my example would be XNA-DFW-HNL) you can change to the better itinerary at no charge as long as the departure/return airports are the same. That is why as soon as I can find MileSAAver awards going to wherever it may be on the dates I want to travel, I book the trip regardless of the routing. Then I keep a watch out for better routing and simply call up AA and change it. We always go to Hawaii in September and many times I have booked the next year's trip in October as soon as inventory opens up at 330 days out. That way I have 11 months to find a better itinerary and at least I know one way or the other the trip is booked.
Apr 5, 2017, 9:37 am
#761
Join Date: Feb 2000
Posts: 6,546
plus, AA will for sure have some schedule changes on a reservation booked at end of schedule. while it seems to take a few calls now days to effecuate, you can use the schedule change to get confirmed on your most desired AA flights without being constrained by saver award inventory.
Apr 5, 2017, 9:49 am
#762
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: XNA
Programs: AA Gold, AS, HA, CX, AF, BA, UA, HH
Posts: 164
plus, AA will for sure have some schedule changes on a reservation booked at end of schedule. while it seems to take a few calls now days to effectuate, you can use the schedule change to get confirmed on your most desired AA flights without being constrained by saver award inventory
Apr 5, 2017, 10:44 am
#763
Join Date: May 2007
Programs: UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 5,459
+1 to the points made above. I just put a BOS-ITM (Osaka) itinerary over Christmas weekend on hold. I was thankful to be able to find one J seat on JL's DFW-NRT flight, but, as expected, finding AA domestic award space from BOS to DFW was much harder. I ended up booking BOS-DCA-DAY-DFW after an hour or so of combing through EF and looking at Wikipedia for possible connecting points. BOS-DCA-DAY are in Y for now (DCA-DAY is a one-class CRJ). Given that this trip is 8+ months out, I'm willing to wager that I will not end up traveling on this domestic itinerary, and something more favorable will work out between now and December!
Apr 5, 2017, 11:17 am
#764
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,762
It depends on the routes.
Last year I used Avios to book a MIA-LAX Y Saaver at the end of schedule as a place holder due to the cancellation on Avios booking is very cheap at $5.60 per ticket to be exact. I was banking on AA would release the J seat on the transcon as we got closer to travel time.
Well the reality was, the BA place holder was the one we traveled on as AA not only never released any J seat, but also no Y seat on the direct Transcon thru the whole 10 months!
Right now I am periodically checking a SLC-DFW-MIA flight in Sept out of curiosity if we could move from Sat to Thur (Friday has been no Saaver from day one). It has been almost 2 months now and nothing ever changes.
Last year I used Avios to book a MIA-LAX Y Saaver at the end of schedule as a place holder due to the cancellation on Avios booking is very cheap at $5.60 per ticket to be exact. I was banking on AA would release the J seat on the transcon as we got closer to travel time.
Well the reality was, the BA place holder was the one we traveled on as AA not only never released any J seat, but also no Y seat on the direct Transcon thru the whole 10 months!
Right now I am periodically checking a SLC-DFW-MIA flight in Sept out of curiosity if we could move from Sat to Thur (Friday has been no Saaver from day one). It has been almost 2 months now and nothing ever changes.
Apr 5, 2017, 1:21 pm
#765
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 1,536
No, your thoughts are very, very wrong (but understandable if you're not familiar with AA). AS has never flown a DFW-OGG nonstop. OP is talking about AA Milesaaver awards on AA metal. The entire purpose of this thread is to lament that AA has reduced available awards on AA metal.
So I assumed (apparently incorrectly) that the 40k awards were only on partner airlines since I could never find 40k awards on anything "aa" all the way through.
But now I see that is exactly the point, that if you want/need AA metal all the way, you just can't seem to find it. Fortunately I was able to find 67.5k awards (each way), which is still better than Delta (165k each way). Didn't have enough United Miles to check.
But it's good to learn these things.