A rant on AA award options
Sep 1, 2018, 2:10 pm
#106
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,574
As far as I know, you can book and then drop a domestic leg connecting to/from an international leg. No charge. Agents aren't always aware of the rule, but chapter and verse are available on other FT threads, and I have done it (dropped Indian domestic 9W leg ahead of flight back to US).
HOWEVER, a common reason for what you are reporting may be that you are searching for J, and only the US domestic leg is J while IB is Y. aa.com regrettably lists such mixed class itineraries in J searches.
HOWEVER, a common reason for what you are reporting may be that you are searching for J, and only the US domestic leg is J while IB is Y. aa.com regrettably lists such mixed class itineraries in J searches.
If there is avaialbility A-C via B , but not B-C on its own, you cannot book A-C via B and then drop A-B
Sep 1, 2018, 2:28 pm
#107
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: MSY
Programs: AA Plat Pro, UA Plat, VS Silver, Marriott Titanium, Hyatt Explorist
Posts: 2,531
And for the record, I am about to fly on a sAAVer award ticket, I found one that actually works for me, but , the routing/timing of the flight is less than ideal and the cash value for the points at time of booking was still a measly 1.2 cents/pt. I haven't found a better way yet to get my miles to get me anything better.
I'd add to other posters that when Parker and the US gang took over AA, the FF program and awards reflected their approach at US: lots of sales of miles at discounted rates paired with almost impossible to find SAAver awards. The elimination of the 40K offseason RT coach rate to Europe hurt someone like you, for sure. I suspect UA will eventually adopt this approach as well, however, given that some of Parker's people are now helping to run the show there.
Sep 1, 2018, 3:01 pm
#108
Join Date: May 2011
Location: NYC (LGA, JFK), CT
Programs: Delta Platinum, American Gold, JetBlue Mosaic 4, Marriott Platinum, Hyatt Explorist, Hilton Diamond,
Posts: 4,893
I just flew AMS - DFW - LGA in saver for two seats. I booked the flight about two months out. Initially, the DFW to LGA leg was in coach. I was able to switch the flights to first class about two days before departure as domestic saver space opened up.
With the new DFW and PHL to Europe flights, I wouldn’t be surprised if saver inventory opens up a bit closure to departure as a rule (a couple months out). With AA abandoning NYC, you will have to connect in Dallas, but this particular redemption was worth it (the 777 is nice in business). I used Flying Blue to get to Europe though, and it seems like Delta/Flying Blue or United will be better ways to get to Europe going forward.
If things keep going like this, someone is going to adopt the strategy of buying sale tickets in J to Europe/Asia (especially with people revenue based earning and class bonuses) and redeeming miles domestically.
With the new DFW and PHL to Europe flights, I wouldn’t be surprised if saver inventory opens up a bit closure to departure as a rule (a couple months out). With AA abandoning NYC, you will have to connect in Dallas, but this particular redemption was worth it (the 777 is nice in business). I used Flying Blue to get to Europe though, and it seems like Delta/Flying Blue or United will be better ways to get to Europe going forward.
If things keep going like this, someone is going to adopt the strategy of buying sale tickets in J to Europe/Asia (especially with people revenue based earning and class bonuses) and redeeming miles domestically.
Sep 1, 2018, 3:19 pm
#109
Join Date: May 2005
Location: PHX
Programs: AA Gold, WN A+ & CP, HH Diamond, Hyatt Platinum, National Executive Elite
Posts: 3,245
So my 'rant' and reason for leaving AA was that their miles IMHO are harder to use for my travel than other airlines I can patronize (particularly UA and SA), understanding fully that flexibility and creativity need to be used for all mileage award use (except for class leading WN).
Sep 1, 2018, 5:58 pm
#110
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: ORF
Programs: Amex Plat, AA, BA Silver, Marriott Plat, Choice Gold, HHonors Gold, IHG Diamond
Posts: 3,749
Although they were sometimes there, I found the US awards mostly vaporware with many biz awards normally priced higher in the dynamic fashion that US brought to AA; in contrast, it was fairly easy to get the 40K AA coach ticket on a number of routes.
Sep 2, 2018, 8:11 am
#111
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 130
Agree they only fly to 15% of destinations but WN probably reaches 85% of where I want to typically go.
Sep 2, 2018, 8:45 am
#112
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 2,313
If you don't get saver on AA, then the "anytime" varies wildly, and even by time of day, and especially from captive hubs like CLT. Miles on all airlines are more a PR tease than a real reward for having earned them - an endless "Sale!" sign in the window luring us in under the guise we'll find something of value. For those that have the "I'll go anywhere, I don't care!" of course you'll find the occasional oddity that strikes a value cord. But those are very few and very far between.
Sep 2, 2018, 4:29 pm
#114
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Texas
Programs: Hyatt Glob (Barely); Marriott Plat Life; AA Up and Down Now Plat; Hilton, UA, BA, HA Peasant
Posts: 2,668
Even flying out of DFW have virtually never been offered a non-stop or even more or less direct one-stop domestic routing in years. So have used virtually no points in years. You would have to use more miles close-in but was not that way pre-merger.
Sep 3, 2018, 6:21 am
#115
Join Date: Jun 2011
Programs: AA EXP, UA 1K, DL GM, AS MVP75K
Posts: 72
Variable Miles
Unless I missed what would be a VERY major AA change, this is NOT how AAnytime award pricing works. For a particular day, ALL AAnytime flights cost the same number of miles to redeem. They do NOT vary in mileage cost by flight or time of day. They DO vary by DATE. You're thinking of DELTA that does the "vary by flight" mileage redemption costs.
And as for captive hubs - they do charge a lot more miles and/or reduce inventory to just anytime from hubs like CLT - so if you're flying CLT-SYR, you pay 20K, if you fly RDU-CLT-SYR you pay 12.5K, same flights. This also means that if you have the credit card discount, it only applies to "saver" awards, so you can never get the discount on anytime, regardless of how much inventory is left.
Sep 3, 2018, 7:52 am
#116
Join Date: Jul 2016
Programs: American Airlines
Posts: 141
"Saver" is just that. It is inventory that AA's very sophisticated RM/IM's software does not believe can be sold for cash or full mileage. Couple that with an economy on screech, a fall with full flights to Europe, and there is no reason for AA to discount its award seats any more than its cash seats.
Hope for a recession, large layoffs and business cutbacks on international travel, and that will free up some saver seats (or maybe AA just cuts capacity).
Hard reality, but it is the reality.
Hope for a recession, large layoffs and business cutbacks on international travel, and that will free up some saver seats (or maybe AA just cuts capacity).
Hard reality, but it is the reality.
You have to view a plane plane ticket like any other NON service based product. Buy the the actual seat you are getting, and only buy what you exactly need with absolutely no regard for any additional intrinsic value above and beyond that seat.
Cheers,
TG
Sep 3, 2018, 6:05 pm
#117
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Houston, TX, USA
Programs: UA 1K, AA Lifetime Platinum, DL Platinum, Honors Diamond, Bonvoy Titanium, Hertz Platinum
Posts: 7,969
... with no option for arbitrage. The seats are cheap on points only when they are also cheap to buy with cash, and anytime they are expensive for cash (such as last minute bookings), they are also expensive for points. I suppose it is very transparent, but some of the best value I get from legacy airline miles is when I can get a Saver seat on a flight that otherwise would cost a lot of money to buy.
Sep 3, 2018, 7:16 pm
#118
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 210
Aside from the poor availability, process of searching for awards on aa.com is lacking - why does selecting the mileage search option re-direct away from the normal booking pages and take you over to what looks like a remnant of aa.com circa 2005? On any other US major airline, mileage search is an option that you toggle on and off within the main travel booking pages, not a separate section of the website that looks like a time machine.
Sep 3, 2018, 9:16 pm
#119
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AA EXP, IHG Diamond, IC Amb
Posts: 5,510
I transfer all chase, citi, Amex points to SQ.
we are flying them in November to Thailand in First Class.
Sep 13, 2018, 6:29 pm
#120
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Chicago, IL
Programs: AA Gold 1mm
Posts: 2
I no longer use miles for international travel on AA (or other majors, for that matter). The fees are outrageous, and there is limited availability. Therefore, I burn my miles on domestic travel (very low fees), and I've shifted my spending from AA and UA credit cards to AMEX, where I now accumulate points for my normal spending. For international travel, I now shop around for decent business class fares, and use my AMEX points or just buy the tickets. As a result, I no longer feel tied to AA and UA (I live in Chicago) and simply shop around for paid fares. It's really quite liberating. I wonder if the majors are seeing a bleed in loyalty from customers that are shifting their strategies as I have.