LowLevelElite

Pardon me if this has been asked and answered before, but... I had booked a O/W in F from US to DEL using AA miles. I was happy to snag a seat on the EY 380 from LHR-AUH and onwards on a 330 to Del. All was confirmed, I had picked my seat and then moved on to other things. This was 2 months ago. I logged in today and it said "on request." I was like hmm that's strange so called AA. They told me there had been a "schedule change" on the 2nd flight and had to put me in biz instead of F. I checked on the EY website - same time, same equipment, no nothing has changed... AND it's still showing 2 F seats available from AUH-DEL. Calling EY the agents say they can't even talk to me since it's booked through AA. What's caused this arbitrary boot? Can I do anything about it? When I called the AA agents they said that they can only see the F seat in the last flight for a "new booking" but not for an "existing booking" - another agent said it was due to "married segments" - but like, I already had an F seat which was arbitrarily downgraded... yes, first world problem, but is there any solution?

kmzandrew

I had the most annoying experience booking an award from NYC>CAI today. An agent at the Australia call center refused to book the ticket and was extremely obnoxious. She insisted I call the US call center, because I'm based out of the US and wouldn't even create an itinerary with a record locater that the US center could find. In the end I had to call the US call center 4 times until I got an agent who could recreate the itinerary.

Guy Betsy

EY is right. They can't do anything for you as you must talk to AAdvantage about your reservations.

cmd320

100% HUCA

gottaluvNW

Agree.

Americans are not exactly popular with Australia right now.
Well, President Cheeto is not, at the very least.

LowLevelElite

Uh so is there any solution to the boot I experienced?

SeeBuyFly

You will have to try to get AA to fix it, of course. Some agents are more knowledgeable and helpful than others. Be polite but firm, explain what happened and gain their understanding of the fact that what happened isn't right. Ask them to contact their EY liaison if needed. It will be difficult to restore the booking because of the way EY prevents bookings from being changed; but it is not impossible if EY cooperates. Ask to speak to an AA supervisor if needed. Don't refer to it as "the boot", because that is not standard terminology, plus it is German for "the boat". What else can we at FT say?

LowLevelElite

It's funny... I didn't read this til now, but that's exactly what happened! I got hold of a nice gentleman agent who took it up and said it isn't right, himself offered to bring a case to EY liason.. only thing is I'm traveling this week so it's cutting it close even if I do end up getting some cooperation from EY

HMPS

Been there done that got zip for it ! Twice I ahd confirmed F on A380 JFK AUH. Both times got dropped / cancelled by EY due to a schedule changes...placed on a 9 W configured A300 + . No thanks.
Had to resort to ORD AUH in J ( 2 class only).

redsoxfan027

Hi All -

Just curious if you felt the MLE-AUH leg in J would open up for 2 on 1/2/18 in a few days? I realize this is the first day of the booking window, and it is showing as sold out. Wasn't sure if that was a common occurrence, or if it was because it is a busy time of year?

Chuvash

Sorry if this has been asked before but I'm trying to redeem my first AA award.
I'd like to go from AMM to Broome, WA next June routing via AMM-AUH-SYD-BME, and I'm a little confused about the published fare rule, specifically the following:
1. EY does publish a cash fare for this routing but it says the last leg SYD-BME should be on VA. I am wondering whether flying this leg on QF instead would be allowed under AA rules.
2. I'd like to try the apartment on the AUH-SYD flight but a cash fare only exists is J for this itinerary. Would that be a problem?

Thanks for your help.

Kremmen

That routing is impossible on VA. VA has no direct SYD-BME flights. They would have to be SYD-PER-BME. QF has no SYD-BME direct flights for much of the year (e.g. now), but at peak times runs up to 2 per week. (Yes, week, not day.) Even if it's allowed, your choice of dates will be very limited.

wanderlust4life

You'll definitely be able to do this if you can secure QF flights for the SYD-PER-BME. The main issue will be finding U space on the QF flights. You won't have a problem with stopover restriction because you are allowed to have more than 24 hours stopover if the absolute next available routing of scheduled flights to BME via whichever ports is greater than 24 hours past your arrival into SYD. I imagine you could get on the SYD-PER transcon and hopefully the PER-BME flight would be the same day or following day. You will have no problem with the fare value calculation as well as most direct routing as you aren't zig zagging from SYD-PER-BNE etc.

I just completed an AA award on Qatar, Etihad and QF using 100K miles flying QR F for Al Safwa lounge access and then Etihad Apartment and then QF business. I flew Doha-Abu Dhabi-Sydney-Melbourne-Adelaide with overnights in each city under the maximum 24 hour stopover rule since theres ample scheduled flights between all of the city pairs in Australia so I wouldn't be able to stay in one port for >24 hours. I also was able to secure U space too. And i was following a pretty direct routing going Westbound. I did request to route from SYD-BNE-MEL-ADL but the agent said I was pushing it and sure enough the QF liaison rejected it when it was on request so I revised accordingly. I feel tremendously content with maximizing the value of the 100K miles. I know many spend 100K miles just for one segment between AUH and Australia. Why not stretch it to the absolute limit?!

One side note that I also learned was that if I had booked a separate award just for Australia domestic flights on QF, the maximum stopover time is only 4 hours (exception is if next scheduled flight is >4 hours)! Therefore, its a huge bonus to have a full 24 hour stopover allowed when connecting to or from an international flight on the same award. I learned this when I flew SYD-MEL-ADL with a night in MEL and it was asking for double miles. Agent confirmed the case. So basically make sure to book all flights on one award.

JonNYC

I don't agree with your methodology of comparing and determine award validity. Your DOH-AUH-SYD-MEL-ADL award may or may nor have any relevance to the award being asked about. It depends on published revenue fare routing not # of transits nor "zig zagging" -- it's far more precise than that.

So, specifically:
IF this is the case (and I've in no way checked) then that could potentially be an issue right there as far as getting this as a single award.

wanderlust4life

From someone who actually lives in Australia and has done over 20 of these EY/QF combo awards, it works. I have actual official documentation from AA from just last week stating the rules that QF enforces when using AA miles for QF award flights. QF prioritizes "the most direct route" and no zig-zagging primarily before even considering whether the actual award exceeds the fare value by >20 percent. I have been there done that and flown this type of itinerary only 5 months ago. CMB-DOH-AUH-MEL-PER-PHE. No issue whatsoever. 100K miles flown on Sri Lankan J, Qatar F, Etihad F, Qantas J plus $136.