Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Miles&Points > Airlines and Mileage Programs > American Airlines | AAdvantage
Reload this Page >

Award Flight to Anchorage using multi-city option

Award Flight to Anchorage using multi-city option

Old Dec 5, 2014, 5:22 am
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan
Programs: Platinum AA, LatinPass Million Miler
Posts: 259
Award Flight to Anchorage using multi-city option

I have been looking to try to book flights to Alaska in August using miles. When I plug in GRR (or DTW, ORD) to ANC for the dates I need, there is no availability. I did check out how the available award seats on other dates are constructed. Many fly GRR - DFW - SEA - ANC. They price at either 12.50 for saver or 25,000 for business saver.

I can construct an award ticket using the multi-city option for the dates I want GRR - DFW - SEA - ANC for either saver or business saver awards, but the ticket prices out at 2-3 times more award miles. Why would it do that? If I call an agent, will they be able to ticket the award at the lesser price?

Thanks for your help. This just doesn't make sense to me. I don't think I'm trying to break any rules.
vandykes44 is offline  
Old Dec 5, 2014, 6:04 am
  #2  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Jun 2001
Programs: DL 1 million, AA 1 mil, HH lapsed Diamond, Marriott Plat
Posts: 28,190
If you have saver availability by segment (T for coach, U for business) but not for the itinerary origin-xxx-destination, you may have:

1. Connection times too long (and so a stopover, not a connection)

2. An invalid routing origin to destination

3. An example of married segment availability applied to awards

I believe one can dismiss #2 on the basis of this allowable routing from ExpertFlyer for an AA fare GRR-ANC.

MAP CONSTRUCTED LEFT TO RIGHT AND RIGHT TO LEFT
1. GRR-DFW/CHI-PHX/LAX-PHX/LAX-ANC
2. GRR-DFW/CHI-PHX/LAX-SEA/PDX-ANC
3Cforme is offline  
Old Dec 5, 2014, 7:56 am
  #3  
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: BOS
Programs: AA EXP/2mm, SPG Gold
Posts: 424
If you're mixing and matching award types (e.g. some segments in business and some in coach), you will need agent help to do the voluntary downgrade on the coach segments and use the business award for the entire itinerary.

This is assuming the points 1-3 above.
emcat is offline  
Old Dec 5, 2014, 8:00 am
  #4  
Moderator: American AAdvantage
 
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Matre-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
We'll move this to the proper forum. As it says in the top-of-page "Announcement: PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING: NEW AMERICAN / AA and US Pre-Merger FORUM STRUCTURE", AA and US continue operating as separate airlines for the moment. /Moderator
JDiver is offline  
Old Dec 5, 2014, 10:41 am
  #5  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: May 2001
Location: MSY; 2-time FT Fantasy Football Champ, now in recovery.
Programs: AA lifetime GLD; UA Silver; Marriott LTTE; IHG Plat,
Posts: 14,509
Originally Posted by vandykes44
I have been looking to try to book flights to Alaska in August using miles. When I plug in GRR (or DTW, ORD) to ANC for the dates I need, there is no availability. I did check out how the available award seats on other dates are constructed. Many fly GRR - DFW - SEA - ANC. They price at either 12.50 for saver or 25,000 for business saver.

I can construct an award ticket using the multi-city option for the dates I want GRR - DFW - SEA - ANC for either saver or business saver awards, but the ticket prices out at 2-3 times more award miles. Why would it do that? If I call an agent, will they be able to ticket the award at the lesser price?

Thanks for your help. This just doesn't make sense to me. I don't think I'm trying to break any rules.
Originally Posted by 3Cforme
If you have saver availability by segment (T for coach, U for business) but not for the itinerary origin-xxx-destination, you may have:

1. Connection times too long (and so a stopover, not a connection)

2. An invalid routing origin to destination

3. An example of married segment availability applied to awards

I believe one can dismiss #2 on the basis of this allowable routing from ExpertFlyer for an AA fare GRR-ANC.

MAP CONSTRUCTED LEFT TO RIGHT AND RIGHT TO LEFT
1. GRR-DFW/CHI-PHX/LAX-PHX/LAX-ANC
2. GRR-DFW/CHI-PHX/LAX-SEA/PDX-ANC
#1 could also be too short a connection. But if the exact same flights are available as a single award on other days, that would indicate that the problem is not #1 or #2.

And I thought married segments resulted in A-B being unavailable when A-B-C was available, not preventing an otherwise valid routing when the segments were available individually?
swag is offline  
Old Dec 6, 2014, 5:45 am
  #6  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan
Programs: Platinum AA, LatinPass Million Miler
Posts: 259
I called American this morning I walked through the itinerary with an agent. She agreed that it didn't break any rules and couldn't say why it priced the award as high as it did. She told me to reserve and hold the segments online and then call them back to have the award repriced correctly. Hopefully, that will work.
vandykes44 is offline  
Old Dec 6, 2014, 8:03 am
  #7  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,364
Originally Posted by vandykes44
I called American this morning I walked through the itinerary with an agent. She agreed that it didn't break any rules and couldn't say why it priced the award as high as it did. She told me to reserve and hold the segments online and then call them back to have the award repriced correctly. Hopefully, that will work.
When you build an award itinerary using multi-city, aa.com will automatically price each segment separately, whether it should be one award or not. So even a simple itinerary such as LGA-DFW-LAX with a 1 hr. connection would price as 12.5k + 12.5k if built using multi-city.

What the AAgent suggested should work, I've done similar things several times when aa.com couldn't price the award correctly.

Another options is to find one of the other dates where aa.com offers GRR-DFW-SEA-ANC correctly as a single award, and put that on hold. Then call and switch to your preferred date. That way, there's no question about what the award price should be.
JJeffrey is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.