cheaptom

We've been trying to book Biz Class tickets from LAX to Rome in October or November 2016. We made the same trip a few years ago, and there were plenty of flights on AA, with one connection at LHR, when using 50K miles each way for Award travel. That was perfect.
This time around, almost all the flights are two or more stops on AA. We can get one stop only if we fly BA, which we don't want to do because of the $1,000 fee.
In addition, even if we fly AA, the red warnings are appearing that say "your requested cabin is not available for one or more flights." Meaning, we'd have to fly coach to London, and then get Biz from LHR to Rome. Uh, no thanks.
Our dates are very flexible from mid-October to mid-November.
Are there any tips or tricks I'm missing?

guv1976

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

The only trick is to call AA and see if there is award space on IB via MAD.

lobo411

Be a lot more flexible. A quick search shows at least one date in October (the 12th) when you can get a 50k milesAAver with 2 connections in J, or a 62.5k milesAAver with 1 connection in F. These days, you have to book what you can get.

Sounds like you're a couple, so maybe finding 2 seats is what's stopping you. Consider traveling on individual arrangements and meeting up in Italy. If you're a couple, 24 hrs apart isn't going to kill you.

sosfo

Saver availability is atrocious all next year. I've been very flexibly looking at east cost to Germany and there aren't even saver Y on AA metal no matter how many stops. The best advice is to pony up for an expert flyer subscription and set up alerts for when potential seats open up.

flyingeph12

It may just be me, but I feel that Saver awards to Europe on AA metal has actually been a little bit easier to find recently than in 2014/early 2015. Now, I am usually looking for just 1 seat, and the drastic decline in AB availability means that transatlantic awards may be just as hard, if not harder, to find on net, but in terms of AA metal flights, I can usually find something around the dates I want with a little bit of creativity. Being NYC / east coast based definitely helps, too, I think. Just my 2 cents.

flyingeph12

Have you looked at PHL/CLT to FRA/MUC? In terms of Saver Y, I see at least 1 seat on pretty much every day the flight operates in the next three months.

3Cforme

Contemplate a destination airport served by other than BA metal (MXP and VCE come to mind) that could be interesting on its own and with good fast train service to Rome.

Yes, perceived absence of saver (especially long haul Business) inventory has been a constant theme for the past ~two years.

Are you sure you can't get some Delta/AF/KLM/Alitalia miles for the non-stop Alitalia LAX-FCO? This seasonal flight is in the schedule eastbound until Oct. 29. There is availability in Business for two on a few dates in October. DL miles redemptions will avoid the 'fuel surcharge' LAX-FCO-LAX.

aznac84

I was checking for award flights from HNL-LAX in April that could be booked using Avios, and found a non-stop MileSAAver flight that was perfect for booking. I figured that it was available at the time and decided there wasn't a huge rush to book.

However, I noticed today that the flight has now been changed from MileSAAver to AAnytime, meaning that I can no longer book this flight using Avios.

What's your experiences been with American Airlines changing flights from MileSAAver to AAnytime and vice versa? Is there any hope that this flight that was changed to AAnytime will eventually be changed back to a MileSAAver type? In what timeframe within the flight time do these changes often happen, if they do happen? Thanks for your help!

jeremykjtan

Hi there,

First time looking to book an award flight using AA since the merger with US Airways - I'm looking to book a flight on CX from NZ to Europe for later this year in J and hoping someone might please be able to help with some clarification. My issue with the booking is that the date may need to change closer to departure, but I would ideally like to book something in to lock in availability provided everything goes correctly.

From what I can tell/have read, Award changes once an itinerary has been ticketed are free provided there is no change to the departure and destination airports? Can someone please confirm that if I ticket a flight, say from AKL-HKG-LHR but need to change the date later on, this is fine to do so provided there is availability on CX or another OW carrier? Can someone advise what options there are if there is no flight/seat availability in J to change to?

Thanks for your help in advance - Appreciated!

flyingeph12

Yes, date changes and routing changes are free, as long as your origin and destination remain the same and (if route/carrier changes) the routing is still legal. Note that redemption rates are increasing after 3/22. While date changes should not incur a reprice, I am less sure a significant routing change would not incur a reprice.

You have a number of options, including CX, JL, QF and QR. Hopefully there is something on one of those carriers on the day you ultimately want, but if nothing opens up, I would probably either see if your travel dates are a little flexible or push the date out to some time in the future that might be better (your ticket will be good for 1 year from the date of ticketing).

JonNYC

For this portion of your query, what option(s) would you be thinking of?

tortellini

Hello all,

I usually fly MAD-PTY-MAD on Iberia (direct flight). Can this flight also be booked by redeeming AAdvantage miles??

I do not see any chance to do this on AA.com

Would it make sense to take advantage of the discount lasting till tomorrow?

Thank you!!°

flyingeph12

Yes, you can use AA miles to book this. However, you cannot search IB award space on AA.com. You can use BA's search tool to find space and then call in to AA to book.

jeremykjtan

Thanks flyingeph12, that helps to clarify things a lot. I'm thinking that it would be best to lock in availability while it is there and hope for the best; but it is good to know that the penalties are low with AA if there is a need to change.

I wrote this a little late last night (local time) and was thinking if there was no J award space if it would be possible to book standard J space. Now thinking about it that doesn't make sense, so i guess it would be down to finding award space across different carriers/dates if the need to change arose. Thanks for your help!

3Cforme

That was a poor call. Fortunately, ExpertFlyer alerts can automate searching and tell you when award inventory on a short set of dates/flights/award classes is again available.