jridge

Yes, I have done it often. This is pretty standard if F is available on one segment but not all.

If F is not available on ANY leg, then it is a different story. But OP suggests that F is only unavailable on the "initial leg".

My assumption here is that OP means "initial leg of a single award".

If OP is confusing "initial leg" with "outbound journey", and in fact F is available only on the return, that would also be a different story since there are two separate awards involved. Similarly, if OP intends flying to another region (e.g. ORD-HKG-DEL) then two awards would be involved anyway. In these cases, the J and F awards would price separately anyway and no "voluntary downgrade" is required.

Note this is not commenting on the wisdom of such a voluntary downgrade. Personally I would not pay F for ORD-HKG only to fly in J, irrespective of what the second segment might be.

smurov

Hi all,

This is my first post here, so I hope it is in the correct section.

I'm trying to take my girlfriend to London and Paris for her birthday in May 2016. I have enough SPG points to stay at the Park Lane in London entirely on points - so I'm already happy with that!

We wanted to fly ORD - LHR on May 20 and then CDG - ORD on May 30 with non-stop flights, but for Economy MileSAAver there are no non-stop flights.

Currently, we have 120K AA miles, which we know is enough for 2 RT tickets in economy to Europe (90K in my account and 30K in her's). I know that transferring from her account to mine would be costly, so I would just book 3 tickets on my account, and she would book the 4th one on her account.

On the way home, there is only Economy MileSAAver space for 1 person on a flight from CDG - HEL - ORD, which is the flight that works best for us.

My questions are:

1. Is there a way for me to get 2 Economy MileSAAver seats opened up on a non-stop flight on May 20 and/or May 30, still for 30K per person? They are currently available as Economy AAnytime, but they are 65K per person...

2. Is there a way for me to get the additional Economy MileSAAver seat opened up on the flight from CDG - HEL - ORD?

Any help that anyone can provide would be extremely helpful - thanks!

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

1. No.

2. No.

You might consider calling AA and asking about availability from CDG/ORY to ORD via MAD, utilizing IB flights. There will be some cash surcharges payable, but they are not too bad.

Another option is to use your SPG points for transfer to an FFP that has low-tier award seats available for your return flight. You and your girlfriend can then each apply for the Chase/Hyatt and/or Chase/Fairmont cards, which would award you two free nights in London each, after meeting the cards' minimum-spend requirements.

Welcome to FT!

WillTravel4Food

I have the following dilemma. I am researching a one-way flight ARN-SEA for next fall. We already have the outbound on a SAAver J award. After several weeks of tracking availability, I've found there will likely be 3 options available - two of which are award. Option #1: BA ARN-LHR-SEA with fees totaling ~$530 (14 hours travel time). Option #2: BA-AA-AS ARN-LHR-PHL/LAX-SEA with fees totaling ~$280 (21-23 hours travel time). Option #3: Icelandair ARN-KEF-SEA with a total fare of ~$850 (12 hours travel time).

Aside from the huge devaluation of the 40K miles used if we chose option #1, is BA work the expense vs. either of the other two options? Is a full day on B757s tolerable enough to make it worth saving the miles for another day? I'm AA PLT and will have access to lounges if on a OneWorld award. I know nothing about Icelandair. I don't even know the two character airline code!

JJeffrey

Forget about all 3 options and just buy a roundtrip home from ARN (not one-way). Thanks to Norwegian, fares ex-Scandinavia are super competitive. For example, a roundtrip on BA ARN-LHR-SEA is only $600-$700 depending on your dates next fall. Book the return at a date in the future you might use, or just throw it away.

flyingeph12

The fees on 2 seem high, considering you are connecting in LHR and the BA surcharges for the ARN-LHR should be about $40-50 per person. I can't imagine Swedish taxes are that high. Have you looked into the possibility of AY, e.g., ARN-HEL-JFK/ORD-SEA?

WillTravel4Food

We're flying AY in J on the outbound SEA-JFK-HEL-CPH. The total fees were $24.80. There is absolutely no availability on AY in Y on the return. We are looking at Oct 31 through Nov 2 for the return.

The fees, if I could find a Y seat on AY, avoiding LHR would be around $60 per person. The fees going through LHR flying AA on the TATL leg, including the UK passenger service charge ($46) plus BA YQ fees ($32) (ARN-LHR), total $141 per person.

flyingeph12

Not entirely sure this routing is legal, but there are multiple Y seats on AY 7 HEL-MIA on 11/1 and then on the AA or AS nonstop to SEA the next evening on 11/2.

britishcanuck

Sorry if this has already been asked, haven't seen it posted.

I have an F award booked for after 3/22, for DFW-NRT-HKG-DPS. I'd prefer to switch it to a better day and hopefully something like DFW-LAX/SFO-HKG-DPS. If something opens up close in, after 3/22, will they want to charge the new price in miles (110 vs 67.5) or is it likely they'll honor the original award level?

Paulchili

It should be at the original price (in miles) as long as you don't downgrade to J which would invoke a redeposit and a new booking.

DalAA21

I`m looking for AA saver award (I have 100k) for return on first class on the 3 april (date not flexible) but availability is limited. I haven`t had chance be able to book on aa different route like CDG-PHL-DFW. Could someone help me with this ? Thanks

flyingeph12

I think it's actually a bit of a gray area. While I would agree there is no fee to change from DFW-NRT-HKG-DPS to DFW-SFO/LAX-HKG-DPS, I am not as certain the ticket would not need to be reissued and thus not repriced post-3/22, particularly since the governing carrier is changing (JL to CX). I think the only change that for sure will not trigger a reprice is a date change.

JDiver

This being the end of December, your flying with an inflexible April date it's going to be challenging, IMO. And the routing you mention has no First class. If you've read the wiki post, you've noticed your F possibilities are very limited - AA 77W or BA with considerable YQ fees.

britishcanuck

Yes, this was exactly my concern. However, I'm flying AA from DFW-NRT and CX from NRT-HKG-DPS if that may make a difference?

flyingeph12

I don't believe that it should make much difference since in either case you are switching governing carriers. If it were me and I absolutely wanted CX on the overwater segment without being willing to pay the new prices, I would lock it in before 3/22 (even if dates are not ideal). I would not count on being able to make major routing changes without a reprice after 3/22.