susiesan

RickyC, this is the new AA. I'm in a similar situation as you looking for business saver to South America, SCL Santiago and return from EZE Buenos Aries to coincide with a Cape Horn cruise. Some availability in saver econ but absolutely nothing in business for the whole year. If I can't get the seats I need I am going to cancel the cruise. I may also use UA miles but their business availability is also very limited.

if you want to use up your miles go to Asia on JL or CX. You can always get a seat there.

guv1976

The ba.com website often has trouble displaying award availability on itineraries that require a connection on AA. You can certainly try calling the BAEC Service Center to see if they can book both legs on a single ticket. But they might try to charge you a telephone-booking fee, so explain that the connection did not come up on BA.com, and try to get that fee waived. (You can also have a true stopover in the West Coast if desired, since BAEC charges for each flight flown, regardless of whether you stop over, or merely connect.

There is no provision for holding award seats on ba.com.

flyingeph12

Not sure if I agree that you can "always" get a seat on CX or JL.

If you are looking for SA, make sure you check LATAM (which you can do on BA). Also, it's actually cheaper (for J awards in particular) to go through LIM than to go direct to/from SCL/EZE, so make sure to check those options as well. Finally, the IAD-LIM route generally has good availability (although getting to IAD can be a challenge), and I have also had success routing through MEX.

RickyC66

Thank you Susie. I'm in shock. Last time I redeemed a MileSAAver award on American was for a trip Miami to Abu Dhabi on Etihad (Connecting in Dulles) in first then back from Doha on Qatar in business in November 2015, which I redeemed fairly easy about 10 months earlier. It used to be that if you made plans 11 months in advance, there was a good chance of getting your business MileSAAver award tickets. Maybe the issue is lack of availability on AA metal proper so I may take your advice and use my miles on travel to Asia. Though I find strange that there's seems to be little outrage from the flying public about this, especially here in Flyertalk. I perused Flyertalk and people are very casual about this. I feel cheated by AA, especially considering that statement from January 2016 (even though they cover themselves with disclaimers about seat availability.) Maybe things will improve in 2017...Happy New Year!

FlightNurse

There are two separate things being talked about Award on AA and Award on partner airlines.


It's not new that finding Award space on AA is tough but can be found, Last year I was able to find SAAVER Award on the LHR-DFW AA51 in F there was open awards in J too. I found some J awards on the LAX-SYD flight for next year (2017.) But we need to be flexible on the date.

Partner awards seems to be slightly easier to find, but not always.

FlightNurse

Its not the new AA it's been a problem for a while, South American routes seem to be tough to find awards, they can be had, but you might want to look at Partners for better change of getting seats

RickyC66

Unfortunately for me, there is no AA partner that flies from the US to Central America (LATAM has its hubs in South America.) I just checked again and there is not a single MileSAAver business ticket Miami to San Jose, Costa Rica, in all of 2017 and there are MileSAAver business tickets Miami to Panama City, Panama, only on Fridays late March through November 2017. It wasn't this way 3, 5, 10 years ago when I was able to redeem MileSAAver award tickets in business by planning months in advance; there was usually good availability on various days of the week. Like I said, I woke up from a coma to a rude awakening...I'm disappointed in AA.

Happy

Even 3 years ago it is ANCIENT history let alone 5, 10 years ago.

AA has turned to new DL since 24 to 30 months ago and has become MUCH worse than DL since 18 months ago.

Welcome to the reality even though it seems so late for the shocker.

There is actually a thread here to discuss the scarcity of the Saaver award which was started in Mar 2015 when people finally realized how bad the situation had become.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...iscussion.html

RickyC66

Thank you Happy. I see the other thread; very cathartic. I feel numb. At least I know now that it started over a year ago, though it seems worse for destinations only served by AA. Somebody suggested on the other thread just two weeks ago to contact the head of AAvantage; I did contact AAdvantage to no avail. It's unnerving to even read on the AA website "it's best to make your award reservation as soon as possible" when it's not true. At least in my case, there are plenty of MileSAAver coach tickets available on various days of the week...MileSAAver business is the shock I'm living now.

aves17

Searching via AA's website is the easiest way for Australia redemptions. Since the award routing rules require you to fly direct between the CONUS and Australia, all you're seeing is the normal crappy availability on the few routes operated by AA/QF between the two points.

No, not unless you're an EXP and then there is supposedly expanded sAAver space, though only for AA operated flights. On a highly popular route like CONUS-Australia, I highly doubt you'll see any added space.

No. They can see what you can see in this particular instance. In some cases with partners (i.e., CX, etc.) you can call the Australian line if the US line isn't able to see the space you're seeing and have them book it for you.

No, you can't. Just like every other airline, you book with the airline with which you are redeeming (i.e., AA miles for a CX flight means you redeem with AA).

If this is actually a service, I can all but guarantee there is some shadiness going on. AA and their OW partners control their inventory and no one else. If someone is promising you to open up additional sAAver award space for you, it's at best a scam and at worst, fraudulent.


MODERATOR NOTE

This is the ARCHIVE for 2016 posts from the MileSAAver / SAAver Award Availability - Help, Assistance & Discussion thread.