Accumulated miles of questionable value
 

I have nearly 500,000 miles and wanted to book RT first or business class to Viet Nam in September. Even though the AA web site showed at least 15 possible flights, none were available for mileage use. Even worse. The lowest business class fare was $11,000. Fortunately, I used my standby search and was steered to a Business RT class fare of $4,600 on One World which I booked through the AA website and will get miles. But what good are they?
I used to use my AA Executive card extensively. No more. The latest Economist points out the MidEast airlines are moving in with lower fares and better service. Its time for the US to allow them to compete in the United States.

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You do understand that aa.com is not capable of displaying available award seats on CX and JL, right? To book award seats on those partners (and several others) you must call AA.

Why can't they compete with U S airlines? There is a number of U S airports you can catch them at. But, which Middle East airlines will get you comfortably and fairly directly to Vietnam anyway?

My suspicion is if you searched a bit more adroitly (or posted a request for assistance in http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...iscussion.html you'd have found some business awards to Vietnam, on at least one AA partner or combination of AA and partner - remembering there are airlines' awards you can not see on aa.com.

I've been able to get good use of my miles, as long as I remained flexible and persistent, given the information available here on FT - even as airlines reduced capacity.

I would class the middle eastern airlines as being able to get there with a better service than that offered by a US airline

Depending on where in the US the departure point is , it can be quite direct. From new York , New York to Vietnam via Dubai on Emirates is only 16% over the non stop distance for example.

I would as well, though JL and CX provide good service and for many of us a transpacific routing would prove shorter in time. And there's no reason to wait, the ME airlines already fly to the USA.

Paso Fino, get a British Airways account and search for availability on Cathay Pacific or JAL out of SFO and LAX to Vietnam. You will see that there are many business class seats available on these two airlines. Next, use the AA website to find connecting space on AA or US, which should be plentiful out of PHX if that is your origin.

Then call Aadvantage and request the specific flights that display as available on the BA and AA websites. There will also be plenty of F seats, especially on Cathay, loaded in the week before departure. You can see these seats for the week following today and chances are they will continue to be loaded in the week before your departure.

One thing to keep in mind is that just because BA website is showing availability of a particular flight on a particular day, it doesn't mean the AA agent is going to see the same flight. I learned it the hard way when I did the same about a few weeks ago. Fortunately for me, the AA agent was able to find another flight on the same route by the same airlines only two days later than my original planned date.

Trying to book a ticket five months out and then declaring miles worthless is a bit ridiculous. Closer in tickets are always trickier. Making plans more in advance will always make things easier.

I did. Talked to the Emerald telephone person. No luck

They are very useful for booking hotels. That's our primary use for them and it works very well.

Cheers.