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MileSAAver / SAAver award reduction / scarcity discussion

Old Jan 25, 2014, 2:56 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
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.

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MileSAAver / SAAver award reduction / scarcity discussion

Old Mar 17, 2017, 3:29 pm
  #706  
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Programs: AA PLT, SPG Gold
Posts: 2,401
Originally Posted by cheaptom
I'm new to the EF game and want to use it for an upcoming AA flight. I couldn't find the right forum, but I'm looking for some type of FlyerTalk beginner's guide to using EF wiki. Can someone point me in the right direction? Thanks.
EF is pretty easy to use IMO - what specifically are you trying to do? Ask and we'll be happy to help!
no1cub17 is offline  
Old Mar 17, 2017, 3:58 pm
  #707  
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: San Diego, Ca
Programs: AA 2MM LT PLT; AS MVP Gold75k; HHonors Diamond; IHG PLT
Posts: 3,489
Originally Posted by hurnik
I'm new to this, so here goes:

So far it seems that every Business/first milesaver award that I *can* find with AA and partners is on mixed cabin. Specifically looking from East coast to Hawaii, as usual, the longest part (LAX to HNL for example) is economy. Is this normal for AA?

So you have to like punish yourself and search through the calendar and then check every single flight (their search options don't seem to get it when you say "business class").

Granted, I'm looking at like Feb 2018, so maybe it's too far in advance.
Premium cabin saver awards on AA metal are tough, unicorns to Hawaii. Also keep in mind that most flights to Hawaii from the mainland are on narrowbody aircraft, with mostly domestic premium cabins (no lie-flat seats). AA has, for the most part, delegated its saver award redemption to AS, so you are better off focusing your search on connections through AS Hawaii gateways - PDX, SAN, SEA, SJC.

Invest in an Expert Flyer account. AA revenue management screws up every now and then, releases a bunch of premium saver awards, EF will let you know if/when something of interest becomes available.
diver858 is offline  
Old Mar 17, 2017, 4:01 pm
  #708  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 1,435
Originally Posted by no1cub17
EF is pretty easy to use IMO - what specifically are you trying to do? Ask and we'll be happy to help!
Well, this is nothing urgent, because I was able to re-book to a more favorable itinerary. But originally, I booked sAAver award LAX-ORD-LHR for 57.5K miles. LAX-ORD was Y, and ORD-LHR was J. I wanted to sign up for alerts on EF, like a lot of you guys talk about, to see if I could get the LAX-ORD segment in J was well.

I saw J seats available on my flight for cash or for 110K miles. I wanted to set some kind of EF alert to tell me if those 110K seats became available under sAAver 57.5K, so I could call in and snag them.
cheaptom is offline  
Old Mar 17, 2017, 7:06 pm
  #709  
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 1,509
Originally Posted by diver858
Premium cabin saver awards on AA metal are tough, unicorns to Hawaii. Also keep in mind that most flights to Hawaii from the mainland are on narrowbody aircraft, with mostly domestic premium cabins (no lie-flat seats). AA has, for the most part, delegated its saver award redemption to AS, so you are better off focusing your search on connections through AS Hawaii gateways - PDX, SAN, SEA, SJC.

Invest in an Expert Flyer account. AA revenue management screws up every now and then, releases a bunch of premium saver awards, EF will let you know if/when something of interest becomes available.
thanks, will look into that. Lie flat outbound is not a deal breaker. What sucks is AA's website that tells you business award is available, but then gives you mixed cabin.
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Old Mar 17, 2017, 10:07 pm
  #710  
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: BNA
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 766
Just scored 4 sAAver business awards for mid June, happy. AA metal.

BCN (Barcelona)-JFK-XXX. 772 on the TATL.

For some reason, when searching around, June 13 has some availability.
oysterhead43 is offline  
Old Mar 23, 2017, 11:31 am
  #711  
Suspended
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Bay Area
Programs: DL SM, UA MP.
Posts: 12,729
Just saw an analyst on MSNBC tout AA. He upgraded it to a Buy with a $95 price target which is over double what it is currently.

He said the market doesn't appreciate how lucrative a "marketing" business within the airline it has of selling miles to Citi and Barclays.

He values the Loyalty Program at $78 and the airline operations at $17 a share. Says the FF program has $2.5 billion in revenues per year, growing at 10% a year with 65-70% margins.

So I know it's easy to get miles from credit cards but there must be enough redemptions from those to keep moving those credit card deals?
wco81 is offline  
Old Mar 28, 2017, 10:34 am
  #712  
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Programs: American Airlines
Posts: 4
Originally Posted by diver858
... AA has, for the most part, delegated its saver award redemption to AS, so you are better off focusing your search on connections through AS Hawaii gateways - PDX, SAN, SEA, SJC.
...

What does the acronym 'AS' stand for?

Thanks
flowersrj is offline  
Old Mar 28, 2017, 10:45 am
  #713  
 
Join Date: May 2007
Programs: UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 5,342
Originally Posted by flowersrj
What does the acronym 'AS' stand for?

Thanks
Alaska Airlines.
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Old Mar 28, 2017, 2:56 pm
  #714  
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,927
Originally Posted by flowersrj
What does the acronym 'AS' stand for?

Thanks
It's not an "acronym", it's a two-character IATA* airline code. Every commercial airline has a two letter code. American is AA, United is UA, and those might seem obvious. But the Delta is DL, Alaska is AS, Southwest is WN, and Jet Blue is B6.

Here's a chart which shows all of them:
* IATA = International Air Transport Association
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Old Mar 29, 2017, 1:06 pm
  #715  
 
Join Date: Nov 2016
Posts: 812
So, my wife is sitting on 215k miles, and I have 155k. We're trying to get down to Australia at some point next year, minimum J. I'm planning on booking AA one way, and DL the other way. Should I just book the first date I see that has sAAver available? I'm going DSM>XXX>SYD, or SYD>XXX>DSM. Would also be willing to do DSM>XXX>AKL or the reverse.

Problem I have found is the DSM<>XXX leg is nearly impossible, combined with needing to book two seats I'm having serious trouble. Almost to the point I'm going to pay a points travel service to figure it out.
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Old Mar 29, 2017, 4:30 pm
  #716  
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Wesley Chapel, FL
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Posts: 29,757
Originally Posted by shimps1
points travel service to figure it out.
Interesting. Can you elaborate?
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Old Mar 29, 2017, 4:53 pm
  #717  
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,337
Originally Posted by enviroian
Interesting. Can you elaborate?
  • Find blogger that started out on FT
  • Read sidebar on blogger's website
  • Notice they have link to award booking service run by blogger
  • Use service, pay fee, don't waste time obsessively searching, outsource work to blogger's company.

Any questions?
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Old Mar 29, 2017, 4:57 pm
  #718  
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Originally Posted by enviroian
Interesting. Can you elaborate?
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...e-reviews.html
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Old Mar 29, 2017, 5:10 pm
  #719  
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Wesley Chapel, FL
Programs: American Airlines
Posts: 29,757
Originally Posted by eponymous_coward
  • Find blogger that started out on FT
  • Read sidebar on blogger's website
  • Notice they have link to award booking service run by blogger
  • Use service, pay fee, don't waste time obsessively searching, outsource work to blogger's company.

Any questions?
No.

Thanks
enviroian is offline  
Old Mar 29, 2017, 5:11 pm
  #720  
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Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,731
Originally Posted by shimps1
So, my wife is sitting on 215k miles, and I have 155k. We're trying to get down to Australia at some point next year, minimum J. I'm planning on booking AA one way, and DL the other way. Should I just book the first date I see that has sAAver available? I'm going DSM>XXX>SYD, or SYD>XXX>DSM. Would also be willing to do DSM>XXX>AKL or the reverse.

Problem I have found is the DSM<>XXX leg is nearly impossible, combined with needing to book two seats I'm having serious trouble. Almost to the point I'm going to pay a points travel service to figure it out.
If you just pay for the DSM-XXX, you would find it much easier.

The DSM-XXX is termed as position flight. From smallish places like DSM, it is exceedingly hard to have that segment incorporated into the award, but not that difficult to buy a ticket to get to XXX or return from XXX.

As you can see from the Wiki, DSM does not have a whole lot of options when it comes to flights. ORD seems to be your best bet. Then from there you get to a gateway city for flights to SYD.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Des_Mo...tional_Airport

The award travel booking service certainly would be helpful, but they too, could not find you a flight with award seat for DSM-XXX if there is none available. Chances are, for secondary airports, award seats are very hard to come by. The solution is a position flight that may even involve a connection at ORD or DFW or PHX to get to LAX if using AA, or if you are lucky to find QF DFW-SYD, then you only need DSM-DFW. QF also flies JFK-LAX-SYD, but then it is the "long way" due to backtracking. AA does allow you to do that but it is not easy to find QF seats. Or DSM-ATL-LAX if using DL.

Here is SYD airport info on which airlines fly from where to SYD.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Airport

You can go thru the DSM and SYD wiki and figure out HOW you can get to the US gateways for the flights to SYD. As you can see, LAX is the primary US airport to use.

Not sure if DL allows you to go thru Seoul on KE, that can also be a possibility as KE serves quite a bit of US cities and then you go thru ICN to SYD.

Last edited by Happy; Mar 29, 2017 at 5:26 pm
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