HELP DESK: MileSAAver / SAAver award questions, assistance
May 2, 21, 1:24 am - Wikipost
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HELP DESK: MileSAAver / SAAver Award Availability - Help, Assistance & Discussion
Some of you might have found your thread merged into this "consolidated" thread. If your desire is to become thoroughly familiar with the knowledge that has been accumulated about the process for acquiring MileSAAver awards feel free to read this entire thread. If you only want the assistance from those who have the knowledge your request has been merged at the end. Feel free to wait for a forthcoming answer.
If you have reached this thread by using the search process you have the same choices as above. Read the thread and become knowledgeable or post at the end and wait for a forthcoming answer. thanks ~magic111, Moderator NOTE: for more detailed fare rules, see AA oneworld & Other Airline Partner Award information, rules (master thd) Two award search systems — TWA884 There are two search systems, See: New Award Booking / Search / Calendar on aa.com 2019 — link (FT thread) The Insider Trick to Getting More American Airlines Saver Award Availability
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If you want to make sure that you’re seeing results from both award searching systems, you’ll want to perform an award search starting on each of these: NOTE: “Married segment” issues exist, wherein AA may make a IAH-DFW-XXX award available, but not DFW-XXX; or STL-PHL-LHR, but PHL-LHR may not be available in conjunction with ORD- and others. See More award availability restricted by married segments / connections Award hold period: Awards can generally be held for five days; five day extensions require continued availability of your flights and generating a new award booking and five day hold. NOTE: Holding two simultaneous awards is likely to fall afoul of AA’s “impossible bookings” algorithms, resulting in cancellation of at least one award. Though AA can start releasing awards 331 days from the desired flight date (even though some other airlines might make award seats available to their members 355 days out), it’s very likely award seats may be released a few days after that. If seats aren’t sold and Revenue Management algorithms signify slow sales, more seats might be released going forward. Within 14 days the hold period changes from 5 days to 1 day. And AA has periodically played the game in the past whereby within certain timeframes, usually 7 or 14 days before, they eliminate all sAAver space. Completely route specific. — JJeffrey
="3"%Airlines that can be booked for award travel on aa.com
oneworld alliance airline partners
other airline partners
All others must be requested by telephone; see Note below. NOTE: To search for partner awards, go to advanced search from the awards search or home page and select all airlines.
Full list of oneworld airline partners (and their affiliates)
When using other airline web sites or tools to search for award availability, it’s best to do so by segment rather than by trip. E. g. BA may show availability SAN-LHR and LHR-AMS, but not SAN-AMS. And in some instances (EY, FJ, etc.) AA US may not see availability that AA Australia or New Zealand might see. Full list of additional airline partners offering award redemptions
NOTE: Ticketing
Code:
oneworld Partners Award Fare Codes First-Business-Economy -------------------------------------------------------- AA - American Airlines Z U T -------------------------------------------------------- AS - Alaska Airlines A W -------------------------------------------------------- AY – Finnair U X -------------------------------------------------------- BA – British Airways Z U X -------------------------------------------------------- CX – Cathay Pacific Z U T KA - DragonAir -------------------------------------------------------- IB – Iberia U X -------------------------------------------------------- JL – Japan Airlines (Intl) Z U T JL – Japan Airlines (Dom) Z D S -------------------------------------------------------- AT - Royal Air Maroc -------------------------------------------------------- MH - Malaysia Airlines P U X -------------------------------------------------------- QF - QANTAS Airways P U X -------------------------------------------------------- QR - Qatar Airways Z U X -------------------------------------------------------- RJ – Royal Jordanian U X -------------------------------------------------------- S7 – S7 Airlines U E -------------------------------------------------------- UL - SriLankan Airlines -------------------------------------------------------- Other Partners First Business Economy -------------------------------------------------------- CZ– China Southern Airways (unknown) -------------------------------------------------------- FJ – Fiji Airways U X -------------------------------------------------------- TN – Air Tahiti Nui F for Business U for Economy -------------------------------------------------------- LY – El Al Israel P X E -------------------------------------------------------- EY - Etihad O I N -------------------------------------------------------- HA – Hawaiian Airlines D T --------------------------------------------------------
Other rules that may affect your awards="3"%:
Award Rules American Airlines Awards are valid for travel on flights that are marketed and operated by AA (no codeshares). These awards can be booked online at AA.com. oneworld and Other Airline awards are valid for travel on AA and any of its partner airlines, and can include travel on multiple partners. Some of these awards must be booked over the phone, and will not incur a Ticketing Service Charge (waived for EXPs in any case) if they cannot be booked online. Up to four one-way awards can be booked on a single PNR. Codeshares are not bookable as Awards. MPM or Maximum Permitted Miles: A Fare or award may not exceed the most direct routing by more than 25% (unless the fare routing includes a ticketed point deduction (essentially a miles allowance that extends MPM). See MPM / Maximum Permitted Mileage & Ticketed Point Deductions (merged threads). Stopovers and Connections: Stopovers are no longer allowed on AA awards. Stopovers will require multiple awards. Connections are limited to two connections / three flight segments for domestic awards, and three connections / four flight segments for international awards as of Aug 2017. Link Domestic Connections must be under 4 hours for domestic flights (except Hawaii), with some exceptions: "LIFO" (Last In - First Out connections are generally allowed. Hawaii itinerary: Effective on 14 Jul 2014 on an all-AA-metal award itinerary, you now have up to 18 hours to connect when traveling to/from Hawaii. NOTE: Hawaii interisland connections must be separate awards and can not be included as part of a mainland-island award. International Connections must generally not exceed 23:59 hours. Some leeway has occasionally been granted when connecting flights are not daily. If the itinerary includes an international flight, the rules for international connections apply. Link to these courtesy of JonNYC. If there is a non-stop flight that departs after the 4h / 23h59m windows and arrives at the destination earlier than a connecting flight within the 4h / 23h59m window, the passenger may be booked on the non-stop flight. It may be difficult getting some agents to book this. "Most Significant Carrier" rule: To price as a single award, AAdvantage requires the most significant carrier to publish a cash fare (non-constructed) between the origin and destination. Airline MSC (e.g. DFW-SFO-HKG-BKK, CX SFO-HKG is the prevailing or most significant carrier) would have to have a published fare from XXX to YYY that allows travel on all included airlines, and routing that you want. If the MSC only offers constructed fares between your desired origin and destination, AA will price this as two awards. Constructed fares: Another rule disallows awards where the fare must be constructed (also referred to as "YY"): Using a partner, the trip will require two awards if the governing carrier (e,g. airline operating on the major route, such as transpacific carrier) doesn't publish a through fare that includes the award's proposed origin and destination that allows the carriers proposed. See this thread about examples using TN. Married Segment Logic - a prospective trip may be available when searching segment by segment, yet not be bookable through from origin to destination. When selling seats for through flights and the desired inventory is not available, you cannot opt to sell the flight point-to-point. If sold point-to-point, the error response MULTIPLE SEGMENTS FOR SAME FLIGHT - SELL AS ONE SEGMENT will be received, indicating this booking is not allowed. Overriding the error check by ending the PNR twice is not acceptable. See Award with available segments not bookable? (Married Segment issues)
Resources
Some airlines or areas have different, extra or special characteristics for securing awards. See
aa.com Basic (front page) vs Advanced Award Search Results (abbreviated results for front page search vs. Advanced award search) AAdvantage awards to / from Australia, New Zealand link AAdvantage awards to the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador link AAdvantage awards on Air Tahiti Nui link AAdvantage awards using British Airways incurring (avoiding) high fees link AAdvantage award on Cathay Pacific (and Cathay Dragon) link AAdvantage awards using Etihad Airways link AAdvantage awards using Fiji Airways link AAdvantage awards using Japan Airlines link AAdvantage awards using Qantas Airways link AAdvantage awards on S7 (Siberian) Airlines link
Awards assistance tools: Use at your own risk; may not be up to date. These are not recommendations.
Also see: aa.com Basic (front page) vs Advanced Award Search Results Phantom / false AA award availability with AA partners (consolidated) oneworld and Other Airline (Partner) Awards info, rules 2014 on Help with British Airways / BA surcharge / YQ (AA award on BA, consolidated) (Awards using BA incur significant "YQ" surcharges.) UK APD / Air Passenger Duty charged for UK departures[/quote] (Flights originating in the UK other than INV or BFS - or connections 24:00 or over - incur UK Air Passenger Duty excise taxes.) MileSAAver / SAAver award reduction / scarcity >= Aug 2011 onward (consolidated) Older posts from 2019 have been archived to this archive thread. Older posts from 2018 have been archived to this archive thread. Older posts from 2017 have been archived to: this archive thread Older posts from 2016 have been archived to: this archive thread Older posts through 2015 have been archived to: this archive thread From JJeffrey: NOTE: Now and post Covid-19 may be different in some flight and seat availability.
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Jan 3, 20, 3:44 pm
#2
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 9,020
Originally Posted by bebegirl
Trying to book award travel on AA in business class on May 28th and looking for a good routing... any suggestions will be appreciated.
Trying to avoid BA taxes
Trying to avoid BA taxes
2) AA doesn't fly to Naples, Italy, so searching from NAP will automatically limit your options to connecting through LHR or MAD. Search all other AA gateways (MXP, FCO, ZRH, FRA, etc.), if you find something buy a separate ticket from NAP to there.
3) Take a read through the dedicated threads below...
HELP DESK: MileSAAver / SAAver award questions, assistance
Carrier Imposed Surcharge / YQ: AA award on BA / British (& IB) & avoiding it
Jan 3, 20, 6:09 pm
#4
Join Date: May 1998
Posts: 6,736
Huge devaluation overnight?
Yesterday I was searching for award flights to Europe and back for the coming summer, and found many listed at around 23K to 30K miles each way in economy, and business class seats at 57.5K each way.
This morning I planned to redeem the flights I had chosen, and when I pulled up the site I was shocked to find all Business Class seats priced at 135K each way and even economy seats at 50K or more each way, some economy at over 100K for the seat one-way. All in all, it looks as though prices rose 100% to 135%! I thought my computer may have glitched, but tried another one and got the same result.
Is this a glitch of some sort, or did American actually devalue AAdvantage miles by more than 50% overnight? Suddenly Skypesos look valuable by comparison. I know American went to "dynamic pricing" but this seems ridiculous!
What am I missing?
This morning I planned to redeem the flights I had chosen, and when I pulled up the site I was shocked to find all Business Class seats priced at 135K each way and even economy seats at 50K or more each way, some economy at over 100K for the seat one-way. All in all, it looks as though prices rose 100% to 135%! I thought my computer may have glitched, but tried another one and got the same result.
Is this a glitch of some sort, or did American actually devalue AAdvantage miles by more than 50% overnight? Suddenly Skypesos look valuable by comparison. I know American went to "dynamic pricing" but this seems ridiculous!
What am I missing?
Jan 3, 20, 6:30 pm
#5
Join Date: Jan 2016
Programs: Marriott AmBE ; AA EXP; Amtrak Select Executive; Hertz PC
Posts: 151
Originally Posted by Counsellor
Yesterday I was searching for award flights to Europe and back for the coming summer, and found many listed at around 23K to 30K miles each way in economy, and business class seats at 57.5K each way.
This morning I planned to redeem the flights I had chosen, and when I pulled up the site I was shocked to find all Business Class seats priced at 135K each way and even economy seats at 50K or more each way, some economy at over 100K for the seat one-way. All in all, it looks as though prices rose 100% to 135%! I thought my computer may have glitched, but tried another one and got the same result.
Is this a glitch of some sort, or did American actually devalue AAdvantage miles by more than 50% overnight? Suddenly Skypesos look valuable by comparison. I know American went to "dynamic pricing" but this seems ridiculous!
What am I missing?
This morning I planned to redeem the flights I had chosen, and when I pulled up the site I was shocked to find all Business Class seats priced at 135K each way and even economy seats at 50K or more each way, some economy at over 100K for the seat one-way. All in all, it looks as though prices rose 100% to 135%! I thought my computer may have glitched, but tried another one and got the same result.
Is this a glitch of some sort, or did American actually devalue AAdvantage miles by more than 50% overnight? Suddenly Skypesos look valuable by comparison. I know American went to "dynamic pricing" but this seems ridiculous!
What am I missing?
Jan 3, 20, 6:45 pm
#6
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Pittsburgh
Programs: MR/SPG LT Titanium, AA LT PLT, UA SLV, Avis PreferredPlus
Posts: 29,494
Originally Posted by Counsellor
Is this a glitch of some sort, or did American actually devalue AAdvantage miles by more than 50% overnight? [
Originally Posted by Counsellor
What am I missing?
Jan 3, 20, 6:49 pm
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: MEL CHC
Posts: 18,849
Guessing others grabbed the MileAASaver awards and all that is left is AAnytime
Why did you not book them when you saw them?
https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-p...ward-chart.jsp
USA To EU Economy
MileSAAver Off Peak 22,500
MileSAAver 30,000
Anytime Level 1 47,500
AAnytime Level 2 65,000
USA To EU Business
MileSAAver 57,500
Anytime Level 1 110,000
AAnytime Level 2 135,000
Why did you not book them when you saw them?
https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-p...ward-chart.jsp
USA To EU Economy
MileSAAver Off Peak 22,500
MileSAAver 30,000
Anytime Level 1 47,500
AAnytime Level 2 65,000
USA To EU Business
MileSAAver 57,500
Anytime Level 1 110,000
AAnytime Level 2 135,000
Jan 3, 20, 6:55 pm
#8
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Indianapolis
Programs: Hilton-Diamond Lifetime Platinum AA UA, WN-CP, SPG Gold.
Posts: 7,195
Originally Posted by dunno282
like any good deal. jump on it quick before it's sold out. my assumption would be that they allocated a certain number of tickets at that redemption rate and they were all redeemed. Pretty sure they do that with their regular airfares too.
Jan 3, 20, 7:21 pm
#9
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: California
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, HH DIA, Hertz PC, GE + Pre✓, Amazon Super Special Prime
Posts: 871
Not unheard of.
Just experienced it for West Coast - VCE. Booked at 135k one way for business AAnytime. Looked again this week out of curiosity- now at 300k one way AAnytime. More than double! For shoulder season to boot, not even true “summer peak”.
That’s said....... Saw some decent milesaver availability in economy for the same routing. And on AA metal across the pond, so no YQ charges!
Just experienced it for West Coast - VCE. Booked at 135k one way for business AAnytime. Looked again this week out of curiosity- now at 300k one way AAnytime. More than double! For shoulder season to boot, not even true “summer peak”.
That’s said....... Saw some decent milesaver availability in economy for the same routing. And on AA metal across the pond, so no YQ charges!
Jan 3, 20, 7:24 pm
#10
Join Date: May 1998
Posts: 6,736
Originally Posted by Mwenenzi
Guessing others grabbed the MileAASaver awards and all that is left is AAnytime
Why did you not book them when you saw them?
Why did you not book them when you saw them?
Jan 3, 20, 7:26 pm
#11
Join Date: Aug 2010
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 1,496
Originally Posted by Counsellor
There were multiple routings at that price (57.5K) and I needed to coordinate with my colleague in Europe to find out which was preferable. Probably should have grabbed one just to be safe and relied on the 24-hour rule to cancel it if it turned out not to be a workable schedule. However, we're talking nearly six months from now and I didn't expect all of the seats to be taken overnight.
Jan 3, 20, 7:26 pm
#12
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: DCA
Programs: UA US CO AA DL FL
Posts: 50,269
Limited number of seats at that price. You aren't the only one who saw them and others grabbed them and now they are gone.
There are thousands of people looking for a deal and there were likely few at that price.
No devaluation here.
There are thousands of people looking for a deal and there were likely few at that price.
No devaluation here.
Jan 3, 20, 7:27 pm
#13
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: MEL CHC
Posts: 18,849
Originally Posted by Counsellor
There were multiple routings at that price (57.5K) and I needed to coordinate with my colleague in Europe to find out which was preferable. Probably should have grabbed one just to be safe and relied on the 24-hour rule to cancel it if it turned out not to be a workable schedule. However, we're talking nearly six months from now and I didn't expect all of the seats to be taken overnight.
But many people are looking for USA<--->EU business awards. A lot more than seats available
AAsaver may come back
Jan 3, 20, 7:27 pm
#14
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: DEN
Programs: AA EXP, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 2,102
Originally Posted by Counsellor
There were multiple routings at that price (57.5K) and I needed to coordinate with my colleague in Europe to find out which was preferable. Probably should have grabbed one just to be safe and relied on the 24-hour rule to cancel it if it turned out not to be a workable schedule. However, we're talking nearly six months from now and I didn't expect all of the seats to be taken overnight.
See something you like: put it on hold now, think later.
