Last edit by: Prospero
oneworld and other airline Awards Rules, Information 2015 on
NOTE: Check AA award charts for current awards costs.List of airlines you can use in redeeming awards:
oneworld airlines (and their oneworld affiliates) are:
- AA - American Airlines (and American Eagle)
- AS - Alaska Airlines
- AT - Royal Air Maroc
- BA - British Airways (and BA Cityflyer, BA Euroflyer, Sun Air of Scandinavia) (incurs high YQ surcharge)
- CX - Cathay Pacific
- AY - Finnair (and Norra)
- IB - Iberia (and Air Nostrum, Iberia Express) (incurs YQ surcharge)
- JL - Japan Airlines (and J-Air)
- MH - Malaysia Airlines
- RJ - Royal Jordanian
- QF - Qantas (and QantasLink, Jetconnect - not Jetstar)
- QR - Qatar Airways
- UL - SriLankan Airlines
Non-oneworld airlines one can redeem (MileSAAver) awards on are:
- TN - Air Tahiti Nui
- CZ - China Southern
- EY - Etihad Airways
- FJ - Fiji Airways (oneworld Connect partner)
- HA - Hawaiian Airlines - except mainland - islands
Airlines that can be booked for award travel on aa.com:
oneworld alliance partners and other partners
- TN - Air Tahiti Nui
- AA - American Airlines
- AS - Alaska Airlines
- AY - Finnair
- BA - British Airways (awards incur YQ airline imposed surcharge)
- FJ - Fiji Airways
- HA - Hawaiian Airlines (not interisland not North America - Hawaii)
- IB - Iberia (lesser YQ surcharge)
- MH - Malaysia Airlines
- QF - Qantas Airways
- QR - Qatar Airways
- RJ - Royal Jordanian Airlines
- UL - Sri Lankan Airlines
All other airlines have to be requested by telephone; calling to book awards that cannot be booked online no longer incurs telephone service fees.
Routing assistance, etc.
Check this oneworld interactive map and timetable by Innosked to see potential routes, and you can sign up for British Airways Executive Club or Qantas Frequent Flyer to use their sites to find awards (look for the lowest level awards) you can't see on aa.com. Also see this link to AA.com listing oneworld airlines with information about each.
Awards may be put on hold for five days. Awards may take time to be verified by the operating airlines. Once approved, they will proceed to a booking queue for ticket issuance; the sooner the trip, the faster the process - and vice versa. See link to thread, below.
Booking for, or changing an award to, travel sooner than 21 days out requires an early booking fee (waived for Executive Platinum members). One can not book farther out, change to closer in and evade this fee any longer (as of 16 Feb 2012)
Booking Business or First awards with JL / Japan Airlines one will only be able to fly in Economy domestically in Japan, but upgrades are quite inexpensive at ¥1,000 or so per flight.
See more below in "General Rules"
Latest changes:
- As of Aug 2017, Connections are limited to two connections / three flight segments for domestic awards, and three connections / four flight segments for international awards. Link
- Nov 2016: MH can now be used on AA or CX transpacific awards to India subcontinent via HKG in addition to CX
- May 6, 2016: Regions split (Indian Subcontinent, Middle East)
- As of 7 April 2014, the "free stopover" discussed can no longer be used as free award stopovers at international North American gateways have been eliminated.
- Airlines are normally precluded from writing tickets with more than 16 segments.
AA Region Definitions*
Region definitions changed again May 6, 2016. Link
Links and resources:
- See (AA) oneworld and other airline partner awards chart
- See (FT) AA's current One-Way Flex Awards(May 9, 2009, including new stopover rules)
- See (AA) AA Award Reservations
- dealing with BA and IB surcharges
- For the older, archived very long (but information-rich) thread, see here.
_________________________________________________
updated April 2021. Modified and updated from JonNYC's original post in the archived thread (please feel free to update):
Introduction
There are two types of awards discussed below, AA Awards and oneworld and Other Airlines Awards, which are targeted to passengers traveling to a single destination.
As of 1 October 2010 awards may be redeemed for travel on all British Airways flights, including previously excluded flights between the U.S. and U.K. Note that additional British Airways high YQ surcharges, as well as Iberia's lower YQ surcharges, apply based on class-of-service and market flown: see Earning and redeeming AA miles / upgrading on BA/IB; BA fuel surcharge (Oct 1, 2010)
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. Many 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.
General Rules, Routing and Connections
Passenger has 4h on domestic / 23h59m international travel to connect. If there are no scheduled flights within this timeframe, regardless of availability, the passenger must take the next scheduled flight but, may not exceed 24 hours. If the connection exceeds 24 hours, it will be considered a stopover may require two awards).
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.
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 [[URL="http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/25730421-post993.html"]Ref]
The particular carrier's Maximum Permitted Miles / MPM + 25% on a particular route. (The MPM by itself often exceeds the distance between the origin and destination airports because connections may be required.)
Or, the "most significant carrier" (e.g. DFW-SFO-HKG-BKK, CX SFO-HKG is the prevailing or most significant carrier) must publish a non-constructed fare between your origin and destination.
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 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.
Stopovers
None allowed.
Partner award inventories
Award booking inventory classes for each carrier in the AAdvantage Award program are listed below and may be useful when on the phone with an AA rep or when checking availability. See also the Award Booking Codes page in the FlyerGuide wiki for updated information.
Code:
oneworld Partners First Business Economy -------------------------------------------------------- AA - American Airlines Z U T -------------------------------------------------------- AY – Finnair U X -------------------------------------------------------- BA – British Airways Z U X -------------------------------------------------------- CX – Cathay Pacific Z U T -------------------------------------------------------- IB – Iberia U X -------------------------------------------------------- JL – Japan Airlines (Intl) Z U T JL – Japan Airlines (Dom) Z D S -------------------------------------------------------- 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 -------------------------------------------------------- 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 --------------------------------------------------------
General Routing Rules
Routing
General Rules
Passenger has 4h / 23h59m to connect (depending on domestic or international travel). If there are no scheduled flights within this timeframe, regardless of availability, the passenger must take the next scheduled flight but, may not exceed 24 hours. If the connection exceeds 24 hours, it will be considered a stopover.
If there is a non-stop flight that departs after the 4h / 23h59m window 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 is not necessary to check every flight/carrier to ensure passenger is booked on next scheduled flight.
Must meet 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.
If the partner airline doesn’t sell an unconstructed ticket for the desired routing, it won’t offer an award using that routing.
Within North America
- Awards wholly within North America are valid on all partner airlines that market and operate their own service within North America.
- Travel between two cities in the United States via Canada/Mexico is not allowed.
- Travel between two cities in Canada/Mexico via the United States is not allowed.
- Passenger must travel the most direct routing.
- Connections of more than 4 hours are considered a stopover unless the passenger is taking the next scheduled flight and it is outside the 4 hours.
- Any connection of 24 hours is always considered a stopover.
- Award travel between Hawaii and North America does not include inter-island flights.
- Inter-island award travel will allow a maxium of 2 flight segments.
North America To/from Other Regions
- Award travel to/from North America is allowed on any combination of carriers that service the applicable region except as noted below.
- Passenger must use most direct routing.
- Hawaiian Airlines is not valid for these awards.
- As of Oct 1, 2010, British Airways is valid for all routes, including transatlantic flights between the U.S. and U.K.
- Travel to Europe, Africa and the Indian Sub-Continent/Middle East must be via the Atlantic only.
- Travel to Asia 1, Asia 2 and the South Pacific must be via the Pacific.
- Travel to/from Fiji/Papeete cannot be via Australia/New Zealand.
- Travel to Easter Island (IPC) must be via Papeete (PPT) or use two awards.
- North American travel to/from Guam or Saipan, the transpacific segment must be on AA.
- Passenger has 23h59m to connect, regardless of availability.
- A connection with more than 23h59m will be considered a stopover.
Travel Wholly Within or Between All Other Regions
These awards do not allow a connection via North America and therefore, do not include travel on American Airlines.
- Passenger must travel the most direct routing.
- Connecting travel is not allowed outside the region or regions.
- Passenger has 23h59m to connect, regardless of availability.
- A connection with more than 24 hours will be considered a stopover.
Travel Via a Third Region
Travel via a third region is not allowed (note the exception table below).
EXCEPTION TABLE:
To/From Via
- North America to/from Africa can connect in Europe or in DOH if connecting QR-QR
- North America to/from Indian Sub Continent/Middle East can connect in Europe
- North America to/from Asia 2 can connect in Asia 1
- Central/South America to/from Africa can connect in Europe
- Central/South America to/from Indian Sub Continent/Middle East can connect in Europe
- Central/South America to/from South Pacific can connect in South America 2
- South America 2 to/from Africa can connect in DOH if connecting QR-QR
- South America 2 to/from Indian Sub Continent/Middle East can connect in Europe
- Europe to/from Asia 1 can connect in Asia 2 or DOH if connecting QR-QR
- Europe to/from Asia 2 can connect in DOH if connecting QR-QR
- Europe to/from South Pacific can connect in Singapore or Bangkok only. Note: this may have been updated to include Bangkok, Doha, Hong Kong, Osaka, Singapore or Tokyo.
- Africa to/from Asia 1 can connect in Asia 2 or in DOH if connecting QR-QR
- Africa to/from Asia 2 can connect in DOH if connecting QR-QR
- Indian Sub Continent/Middle East to/from Asia 1 can connect in Asia 2
- Indian Sub Continent/Middle East to/from South Pacific can connect in Asia 2
- Asia 1 to/from South Pacific can connect in Asia 2
Regions:
- Asia 1 = Japan, Korea, Mongolia
- Asia 2 = Bhutan, Brunei, China, Guam, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Saipan, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam
- South America 2 = Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile (excluding Easter Island), Paraguay, Uruguay
Travel on LAN direct flights between North America and South America Region 2 are allowed. Currently, only one market, Miami to/from Buenos Aries, has direct service. These can only be booked by the liaisons. Contact support for booking assistance.
For permitted changes and fees, see this post
- Check this oneworld interactive map and timetable by Innosked to see potential routes.
- British Airways Executive Club: You can sign up for British Airways Executive Club, Japan Airlines JAL Mileage Bank or Qantas Frequent Flyer to use their sites to find awards (look for the lowest level awards) you can't see on aa.com. Can show "phantom" availability.
- Award Nexus: It's easy to do your experiments for some free browsing (click "more signup options" under the green Purchase button to sign up with your FlyerTalk login info). You might want to run each segment rather than origin to destination. [/quote]
Links to other threads of interest:
MileSAAver / SAAver Award Availability - Help, Assistance & Discussion (consolidated)
Help with British Airways / BA surcharge / YQ (AA award on BA, consolidated)
UK APD / Air Passenger Duty charged for UK departures
Award with available segments not bookable? (Married Segment issues)
MileSAAver / SAAver award reduction / scarcity >= Aug 2011 onward (consolidated)
Ticket or Award status: On Request, Pending, Purchased and Ticketed (consolidated)
Link to archived older posts from this thread.
Thanks and a tip of the hat to aktchi, eponymous-coward, guv1976, hillrider, iztok, JonNYC and others who have contributed to this wiki.
- AwardAce: Compare Award Redemptions Across Airlines In Second
- AwardHacker: "a tool we build to tell you how to travel with the least miles"
- Award Nexus: which can search availability but can't determine cost, with FT member free limited use
- Economical Excursionist's Tools: compare Frequent Flyer Mile Redemptions
- ExpertFlyer is a common tool used on FT. There is a $99.99 annual fee, monthly fee and five day trial
- Great Circle Mapper is useful for calculating distance and MPM (Maximum Permitted Mileage)
- You can try PEX+ (currently in beta), which will even tell you how many miles you'll need, though it draws data from aa.com and S7 so it can't reveal awards that can not be seen on those sites.
- Travel Codex Award Maximiser commercial blog
AA oneworld & Other Airline Partner Award information, rules (master thd)
#196
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,581
Married segment availability works both ways for availability - may be that it is not available as a through booking but available individually or only available as a through booking
Looking on EF, the fare fro CHQ-VNO shows as a constructed routing with CHQ being an addon to ATH-VNO which may also be a reason for higher fare
Looking on EF, the fare fro CHQ-VNO shows as a constructed routing with CHQ being an addon to ATH-VNO which may also be a reason for higher fare
#197
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 10,904
It looks like this is pricing as a round trip (open jaw) rather than a connection? The direction of the arrows seems to indicate that.
Also, as Dave indicated, the carrier must publish a non-constructed fare between the endpoints for it to price as a single award.
Also, as Dave indicated, the carrier must publish a non-constructed fare between the endpoints for it to price as a single award.
#198
Join Date: Nov 2010
Programs: AA EXP (owe), BA Silver (ows), AB Silver (owr), WN A+/CP, IHG Spire AMB, Avis First
Posts: 1,414
Married segment availability works both ways for availability - may be that it is not available as a through booking but available individually or only available as a through booking
Looking on EF, the fare fro CHQ-VNO shows as a constructed routing with CHQ being an addon to ATH-VNO which may also be a reason for higher fare
Looking on EF, the fare fro CHQ-VNO shows as a constructed routing with CHQ being an addon to ATH-VNO which may also be a reason for higher fare
It's only the 11am that has this issue, even though there's clearly X availability on both the CHQ-HEL and HEL-VNO segments. If it was due to the fare, the 8:40pm flight wouldn't work.
Why would married segment logic apply to a flight at a particular time of day?...
#199
Join Date: Nov 2010
Programs: AA EXP (owe), BA Silver (ows), AB Silver (owr), WN A+/CP, IHG Spire AMB, Avis First
Posts: 1,414
#200
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,466
I mean I don't think it's a fare reason. The 8:40pm CHQ-HEL-VNO shows up just fine, single award, 12.5K miles
It's only the 11am that has this issue, even though there's clearly X availability on both the CHQ-HEL and HEL-VNO segments. If it was due to the fare, the 8:40pm flight wouldn't work.
Why would married segment logic apply to a flight at a particular time of day?...
It's only the 11am that has this issue, even though there's clearly X availability on both the CHQ-HEL and HEL-VNO segments. If it was due to the fare, the 8:40pm flight wouldn't work.
Why would married segment logic apply to a flight at a particular time of day?...
#201
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,581
I mean I don't think it's a fare reason. The 8:40pm CHQ-HEL-VNO shows up just fine, single award, 12.5K miles
It's only the 11am that has this issue, even though there's clearly X availability on both the CHQ-HEL and HEL-VNO segments. If it was due to the fare, the 8:40pm flight wouldn't work.
Why would married segment logic apply to a flight at a particular time of day?...
It's only the 11am that has this issue, even though there's clearly X availability on both the CHQ-HEL and HEL-VNO segments. If it was due to the fare, the 8:40pm flight wouldn't work.
Why would married segment logic apply to a flight at a particular time of day?...
Looking on Expert Flyer for 6 July, searching for CHQ-VNO on AY shows X0 for AA1856 and AY1105 - for the evening departure, there is plenty of award availability on both segments
Checking AA1856 CHQ-HEL on its own and checking AY1105 on its own, there is economy award availability
As such it is correct that AA is booking it as 2 separate awards and charging 25,000 miles
#202
Join Date: Nov 2010
Programs: AA EXP (owe), BA Silver (ows), AB Silver (owr), WN A+/CP, IHG Spire AMB, Avis First
Posts: 1,414
Why wouldn't it apply ?
Looking on Expert Flyer for 6 July, searching for CHQ-VNO on AY shows X0 for AA1856 and AY1105 - for the evening departure, there is plenty of award availability on both segments
Checking AA1856 CHQ-HEL on its own and checking AY1105 on its own, there is economy award availability
As such it is correct that AA is booking it as 2 separate awards and charging 25,000 miles
Looking on Expert Flyer for 6 July, searching for CHQ-VNO on AY shows X0 for AA1856 and AY1105 - for the evening departure, there is plenty of award availability on both segments
Checking AA1856 CHQ-HEL on its own and checking AY1105 on its own, there is economy award availability
As such it is correct that AA is booking it as 2 separate awards and charging 25,000 miles
CHQ-HEL is X3/X9 for all flights that day
HEL-VNO is X9/X6/X6
and yes, as you point out, CHQ-HEL-VNO shows X0 for AY1856/1105 (the morning flight) while X9 for the evening flight
I guess some magical amadeus logic is deciding X3 also means don't sell a connection or something.
#204
Join Date: Nov 2010
Programs: AA EXP (owe), BA Silver (ows), AB Silver (owr), WN A+/CP, IHG Spire AMB, Avis First
Posts: 1,414
yes, it is up to AY to configure it, but I highly doubt AY has any clue the reason for some of the weird rules and restrictions their configuration generates
this is why things like fuel dumps and mistake fares existed in the first place.
#205
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: ADL
Programs: QFF, AAdvantage, All
Posts: 1,137
#206
Join Date: Jul 2009
Programs: Miles and Smiles Elite Plus, Hilton Gold, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 474
I see Finnair award availability on Alaskan and on Finnair's website but the same flight is not available on AA's website. Any idea if the same seats is redeemable on AA's or is it restricted to Alaskan or Finnair
#207
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 10,904
AA's web search will often not show availability through to your final destination if you are connecting at the partner hub and there are AA metal options (it will only show the AA metal options). Search for the flight through to HEL (or ARN; wherever the gateway is for the connection you are seeing). Put it on hold, and call in to add the connecting segment.
Note that, unlike AS (which allows 1 stopover per direction on their awards) if using AA miles, your connection must be less than 24hr.
#208
Join Date: Jul 2009
Programs: Miles and Smiles Elite Plus, Hilton Gold, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 474
If you see it on Alaska's site it should also be bookable on AA.
AA's web search will often not show availability through to your final destination if you are connecting at the partner hub and there are AA metal options (it will only show the AA metal options). Search for the flight through to HEL (or ARN; wherever the gateway is for the connection you are seeing). Put it on hold, and call in to add the connecting segment.
Note that, unlike AS (which allows 1 stopover per direction on their awards) if using AA miles, your connection must be less than 24hr.
AA's web search will often not show availability through to your final destination if you are connecting at the partner hub and there are AA metal options (it will only show the AA metal options). Search for the flight through to HEL (or ARN; wherever the gateway is for the connection you are seeing). Put it on hold, and call in to add the connecting segment.
Note that, unlike AS (which allows 1 stopover per direction on their awards) if using AA miles, your connection must be less than 24hr.
#209
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: PHX
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 1,377
AA's web search will often not show availability through to your final destination if you are connecting at the partner hub and there are AA metal options (it will only show the AA metal options). Search for the flight through to HEL (or ARN; wherever the gateway is for the connection you are seeing). Put it on hold, and call in to add the connecting segment.
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#210
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 10,904
A couple of days ago I had a similar problem with JL. There was DFW - HND and back on JL for 60k each way. The was also first class saver space on PHX-DFW and back, but the search of PHX-HND only showed me AA options for 170k+ miles. So I put the JL long hauls on hold, called in, and the agent added the PHX-DFW and back segments.
I'm not completely sure what's going on here but I think that if your itinerary is connecting and AA can get you there on their metal, they will not show the partner options. I'm not sure if there's more to it than that.