susiesan

I called AA this morning to get 2 award seats for Feb. 9, 2016 flights to CMB. I can only go as far as Hong Kong with today's booking, will call tomorrow for the HKG-CMB leg.

Saw the flight I wanted on JL site, CX 883 LAX-HKG, 1 F seat. When I called AA I fed her the flight number, she put it on hold for me and was going to book the other seat in J. She said another F seat just popped in so I had her grab it. Then I fed her the MCI-LAX segments I wanted on US flights. These are on hold until March 21 at midnight. Interesting to note that there are lots of MCI-DFW-LAX flights on AA metal but not a single one available for award booking at 330 days out.

I will call tomorrow to add the HKG-CMB segment. I also would prefer to travel Feb. 10 so I'll try to change to the same flights the next day. I was surprised how easy it was to get the seats I wanted. Must be a slow time of year.

seawolf

From what I've seen, CX does not release the last F seat even to it's own FFP members. Your only chance is if one of the two passengers currently in F cancels.

seawolf

Should be very easy to get transpacific for 7/8/9 FEB 2016 as it is Chinese New Year. Getting flights within Asia.....that might be a different story.

tng11

There was lots of availability TPAC for CNY 2016. I got 2 F seats from ORD for Feb 4th next year.

JFK had quite a few flights open - but only one seat.

BOS interestingly enough didn't have F availability around those dates.

Flights within Asia have looked pretty good around that time too - could see lots to BKK, SIN, TYO (but they're disappearing quickly.)

dkerr

I have seen this before, though it was a different airline and quite some time ago. Basically they are prepared to release an award one-at-a-time up to some maximum (in this case likely two).

I've seen it with paid tickets as well, just happened to me last month on AA... wanted four seats to Orlando in April for the family but the cheapest fare bucket was down to only 2 seats, so the reservations system would price out all four of us at the higher fare bucket that had 4 seats available. I figured I would split us into two separate PNRs and get at least two of us at the lower fare. Well guess what, after booking two of us, there were still 2 seats at the lower fare, so the second PNR priced out at the lower price as well. After booking all four of us I went back and checked and the lower fare basis was still showing 2 seats available! The fare difference was in the order of $100 per person, so it was worth while going through the hoops... The games that the airline industry plays to get the unsuspecting to pay more.

By next February everything should be AA metal... or at least AA flight numbers as the paintwork will not be done by then.

DAK

susiesan

By next Feb. there will have been many many schedule/flight number changes. I have no idea what flights we'll be on from MCI-LAX. As long as we are on something that gets us to LAX in time for CX 883 I don't care if we go through Dallas or Phoenix.

jamienbaker

I have seen F revenue and F awards match at the partner level (and have booked successfully), but only inside of 24 hrs. Last summer ORDHKG was F3 with 3 awards, which we booked via AA, only to change to JFKHKG when that was F3/3 awards. So there's reason to be hopeful.

CX841 now showing F2, so either the OP split the party or somebody jumped more quickly. Lesson is: never sleep T-48 if hoping for an award.

greasy

Hi all, I have a routing question I apologize in advance if this is the wrong thread.
My and my wife will be travelling from LAX-HKG in July on CX using AA miles, departing 7/1 and returning 7/10. Currently we're booked in different flights hours-apart, but I'll keep checking for additional F openings.
While in Hong Kong, we're planning to take a short 4 days trip to Bangkok.
And here are my question:
1. If we do HKG-BKK round trip 7/6 -7/9, can this be combined into one award with the LAX-HKG ? Essentially ~3 days layover in HK outbound and ~1 day layover in HK return. (LAX-HKG-BKK/BKK-HKG-LAX)
2. If 1 is not allowed can we book outbound be LAX-HKG, and return BKK-HKG-LAX with quick stop. And all I have to do is buy 2 one-way ticket HKG-BKK. (LAX-HKG/BKK-HKG-LAX)
3. On return, in the past I always get HKG-LAX-JFK with like a 6 months layover in LA. Sort of like a free ticket to visit NY. But I heard the last round of change this is not possible anymore. Am I right or missing something ?
4. Any other suggestion for routing that I miss ?

jamienbaker

1&2) The segment to and from Bangkok will be included for the same number of AA miles as long as the connecting time in HKG does not exceed 24 hours. So based on the way you asked the question, looks like HKGBKK would need to be funded with miles, whereas BKKHKG could potentially be combined with your return to the US on the 10th.

3) Correct, no longer allowed.

4) If HKG and BKK are the only destinations you want to visit, CX is the way to go.

Good luck - Jamie

greasy

Jamie, Thanks for your guidance.
If I do combine the return as BKK-HKG-LAX, which carrier would be allowable on BKK-HKG? Any chance I get do emirates? Sure would like that A380 F experience.

jamienbaker

Emirates is not a OneWorld or AA partner. The BKKHKG sector will therefore need to be ticketed on Cathay. Note this sector is notorious for equipment swaps, meaning if you are booked in CX F, it could very well turn into CX J and you wouldn't be entitled to compensation (though in some cases I believe travelers may have received a small amount of cash - I've never been subjected to the downgrade myself).

You can book EK independently, if you care too.

Jamie

PWMTrav

I wasn't entirely sure where to put this question -

I am flying an AA (award) as follows:

AA BOS-JFK Y
CX JFK-YVR J/F

That outbound segment is in Y as a voluntary downgrade since there wasn't Z space available on any flight that day (and we didn't want to fly to LGA just to sit in F for an hour).

In this case, whose luggage allowance applies? The tickets are on 001 stock. Normally the overwater carrier's allowance would apply IIRC, but we're getting off at YVR. We're not planning to bring a ton, but will I have to pay for a bag?

While we're at it, the layover at JFK is about 10 hours - not overnight. Will we have to claim our luggage, or can they check it through and hold on to it? Everything's on one ticket, but I wasn't sure if there was a limit to how long they'd hold the luggage other than overnights.

The AA agent that I booked with thought CX's allowance would apply, but I wanted to see if anyone had practical experience as to whether I'd be forking over $25 as a newly minted non-elite.

shore9

Has award availability in the past 6 months been significantly reduced?

The route I've been watching is YVR/JFK, which traditionally has lots of availability, especially at the last minute. I've been watching it for the past couple of weeks and there's nothing. Was hoping for a quick getaway to NYC for Easter weekend. Is this normal now or just seasonal?

seawolf

Your eticket receipt email from AA should list baggage allowance.

Orwaid

Hi -

A combination or Spring Break + Easter.

Also CX will oversell Y and op-up people.