FlyingEgghead

There is a thread here, in which I posted and also linked to some other threads where this came up.

dc9703

the next morning I got that 4th biz seat. Looks like I get to join the family in first. The beds are more for the kids who have not done widebody tatl in premium class. I doubt I ever find 4 awards saver tix for biz on long haul.

pathologist

Looking at booking award travel (business mileage saver) for September. In looking at what's available, it appears that mostly everything is only business or first for the US (west coast) part of the trip and economy from east coast to Europe but still charging the same amount as if the whole trip was business class. There's also awards that the trip takes 2 days to get there (no thanks). I haven't used miles in a few years, so I'm rusty on how to do this and actually quite surprised that they are charging the same amount of miles when the trip is only partially business class.
Any help would be appreciated. We are flying from San Diego to Dubrovnik (9/22) and then Budapest to SAN (10/8) on the return. I've checked LAX, SFO and PHX.
Will more award seats be released as the time gets closer? So frustrating. Found a "not optimal" flight last night but when we went to book, it said it was no longer available. GRRR!
Any suggestions?? Thanks so much.

knit-in

Yeah, that's the way it's been for some time now.

Try searching for partner awards on BA/ QF/ CX, and then call AA to ticket when you find something that works for you.

JJeffrey

Yes, this is an aa.com "glitch" (if you want to call it that) that can be real annoying, depending on the combination of cities you're searching for and what's available. The domestic connecting flight will be in business, with the long-haul segment in coach. Keep an eye out for this, as you've seen.

Europe travel really takes a nosedive come September, so it's highly likely more options will open up as the time gets closer. Also, try to find availability on the long haul segment first, then piece together the connecting flights. Both DBV and BUD have somewhat limited service by oneworld carriers, so try to find availability to any gateway in Europe, then see what you can find from there.

How many pax are you looking for? On 9/22 I see availability in business (for one) for both LAX-MIA-MAD-DBV and LAX-ORD-MAD-DBV...it's not going to get to look any better than that, I'd put it on hold immediately then work on your return. All AA awards are technically one-way, so you can book the outbound now, then the return sometime later if availability improves. You can also book one in business and one in coach, same flights, and hope a second business seat opens up later on.

pathologist

Knit-in: What does QF/ CX stand for?

Jeffrey: There will be 2 of us. The flight out of LAX that you mention is business from LAX to MIA or LAX to ORD and then the Europe leg is ECONOMY. I almost booked the flight you mentioned and then noticed that the major leg of the trip was economy. You don't think it's gets better than that? I don't want to spend an extra 27,000 miles to fly economy most of the way.

Thank you for the suggestions. I'll keep looking.

Austin787

Most infamous example I've seen is: AUS-DFW-SYD where AUS-DFW (35 minute hop) is in business or first and the DFW-SYD (one of the world's longest flights at 16-17 hours) portion is in economy, and yet the whole itinerary prices at business or first mileage amount.

knit-in

I've seen this happen with AS, DL and UA as well, although they all (including AA) have some kind of warning in the search that you might be in "Mixed" cabins.

That being said, when you say aa.com glitch, do you mean that by calling in, you can get a lower mileage redemption price for mixed cabin flights?

knit-in

Sorry... Qantas and Cathay Pacific. I've never tried Qantas, but you have to sign up for Cathay's program "Asia Miles" to use their award search engine.

Austin787

On UA, I only see that warning if the domestic flight is in economy and the long haul flight is in business, not the other way around

knit-in

Interesting!

I have only searched for international flights going east from NYC, so I guess I have never come across domestic options while searching on UA.

Sounds very much like misrepresentation.

JJeffrey

Looking for 2 seats definitely makes it harder, although not impossible.

There is availability for one person in business all the way LAX-MIA-MAD-DBV. So you could book one business and one economy on the same flights, and keep looking for an add'l business seat to open up.

You could also book that one seat on the LAX-MIA-MAD-DBV routing, and another on something completely different. I see one business seat on JFK-HEL-DBV on Finnair, so it should be possible to get LAX-JFK-HEL-DBV. If another business seat opens up on either one, then call and switch the other person, which is a no fee change.

The key point is to take what's available now, as a starting point, and work towards something better as more availability comes and goes.

caburrito

If your schedule is flexible, consider flying into a different destination, like Prague or Venice, spend a night or two there and take a flight to Dubrovnik. Volotea offers very low fares out of Venice to DBV, less than $100 for two people, a little more if you have to check luggage. They sometimes run ridiculous fares that dip into the teens $ (of course it goes up to double that if you want to sit closer to the front and have checked luggage, still cheap imo). They also have a generous carry-on weight limit compared some domestic European carriers like Austrian, which I would not fly unless I have to.

carlosdca

Do you really want to fly in business? Or are you looking at business just because that's what the system is showing up?
If you don't mind economy, you may want to try an aaward only for the international flight and then pay for your "positioning flight" to the AA hub.
This with the assumption that many times the problem with economy availability is in the domestic flight but not the international one.

ashill

Note that on the US end (SAN-hub), this advice may not be valid any more. AA is now pricing awards using married segment logic, so there may be availability on (for example) SAN-DFW-LHR even when there's no availability on the DFW-LHR segment as a standalone option. In that case, you'd only see the availability if you search SAN-LHR; if you search DFW-LHR, there wouldn't be anything. See this thread.