Award reduction? No AA LHR SAAver award flights less than 13 days out?
Oct 2, 2018, 3:31 pm
#31
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: WAS
Programs: Free Agent
Posts: 1,757
Oct 2, 2018, 4:27 pm
#32
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Pittsburgh
Programs: MR/SPG LT Titanium, AA LT PLT, UA SLV, Avis PreferredPlus
Posts: 31,008
Oct 3, 2018, 9:39 am
#33
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,481
The trend continues and it affects more cities than just LHR. Mentioned above, but yesterday when checking the earliest date that AA metal sAAver economy is available for many cities was Oct. 15, today that has shifted to Oct. 16. Same with JFK/ORD-LHR at 7 days, yesterday it was Oct. 8 and today that's shifted to Oct. 9.
I checked a bunch of combos this morning and did find 3 routes where the sAAver Y space was still available close in, JFK-MAD, MIA-MAD, and JFK-MXP.
Other than that it looks like AA metal sAAver economy space has been removed within 14 or 7 days on a huge chunk of the TATL schedule.
I checked a bunch of combos this morning and did find 3 routes where the sAAver Y space was still available close in, JFK-MAD, MIA-MAD, and JFK-MXP.
Other than that it looks like AA metal sAAver economy space has been removed within 14 or 7 days on a huge chunk of the TATL schedule.
Oct 3, 2018, 10:51 am
#34
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: NYC
Posts: 27,234
I guess you can think of this as an advance purchase requirement, close-in they want you to book AAnytime awards (assuming this is intentional).
Maybe they think there were too many business travelers booking last-minute, one-way fares (which normally requires full Y or B).
OTOH, DL's reward "chart" does actually have A/P requirements built in, but they scale up the closer you get (along with the cash fares). They also can have separate pricing for O/W and R/T. Let's hope that AA isn't heading down that route...
Maybe they think there were too many business travelers booking last-minute, one-way fares (which normally requires full Y or B).
OTOH, DL's reward "chart" does actually have A/P requirements built in, but they scale up the closer you get (along with the cash fares). They also can have separate pricing for O/W and R/T. Let's hope that AA isn't heading down that route...
Oct 3, 2018, 11:02 am
#35
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 3,698
I guess you can think of this as an advance purchase requirement, close-in they want you to book AAnytime awards (assuming this is intentional).
Maybe they think there were too many business travelers booking last-minute, one-way fares (which normally requires full Y or B).
Maybe they think there were too many business travelers booking last-minute, one-way fares (which normally requires full Y or B).
Oct 3, 2018, 12:20 pm
#36
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
I’ve never seen a code used for expanded EP SAAver inventory, nor have I inquired when asking if there was availability.
Because some of us have made use of this feature, more than once. It does seema bit scarcer in recent times.
Well, now you’ve seen one. 
I've literally never seen an EXP ever claim to have found any extra award availability through this "benefit". (Some people do say they've seen expanded upgrade availability in the past, but haven't even seen positive reports of this for years.) It's a complete lie as far as I can tell.
Last edited by JDiver; Oct 3, 2018 at 12:25 pm
Oct 3, 2018, 1:27 pm
#37
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Austin
Programs: AA EXP +2MM- LT PLT! HH Diamond
Posts: 6,087
I've literally never seen an EXP ever claim to have found any extra award availability through this "benefit". (Some people do say they've seen expanded upgrade availability in the past, but haven't even seen positive reports of this for years.) It's a complete lie as far as I can tell.
Oct 3, 2018, 1:54 pm
#38
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: PHL
Programs: AA Executive Platinum; Hilton Diamond
Posts: 2,663
Um, yes, EXP's do.
https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-p...s-benefits.jsp
https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-p...s-benefits.jsp
Oct 3, 2018, 2:18 pm
#39
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: The FT AA forum, until it no longer wants me.
Programs: CK or bust
Posts: 1,913
Indeed it's quite rare (think unicorn or consistent customer service probabilities) but it is still lurking out there. I have personally seen this in action in the last 24 months very surprisingly it was even for a premium cabin seat (and nothing to do with married segment magic). Since J requests can't be queued into Q-Max as of quite some time and it was instant, I'm pretty confident that this wasn't any kind of manual RM request.
Last edited by enpremiere; Oct 3, 2018 at 2:19 pm Reason: Not an oversell scenario either
Oct 3, 2018, 2:24 pm
#40
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: NYC
Posts: 27,234
Oct 3, 2018, 2:27 pm
#41
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: The FT AA forum, until it no longer wants me.
Programs: CK or bust
Posts: 1,913
Correct, calling is the only way that it would even appear. As someone earlier noted, the population of the EXP's advantage number is part of that process. No EXP number and the friendly EXP agents (typically) only see what you see on the AA.com engine.
Oct 3, 2018, 2:28 pm
#42
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,481
The expanded EXP award availability perk (or lack thereof) already has a lengthy thread, and has nothing to do with this new issue of AA eliminating most sAAver economy seats to/from Europe within 14 days, so I might kindly suggest that the side discussion be taken over there
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...merged-14.html
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...merged-14.html
Oct 3, 2018, 2:42 pm
#43
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2002
Location: NC
Programs: AAConciergeKey/1MM, DL DM/2 MM, UA Gold,Hilton Diamond, IHG Plat, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 11,971
I have noticed this for many destinations. Most recently to SKB...Seats available as Saver always two weeks out, but the within 14 days, Saver disappears without the seat map changing at all (many flights were quite empty).
Oct 3, 2018, 3:10 pm
#44
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2004
Location: DFW/DAL
Programs: AA Lifetime PLT, AS MVPG, HH Diamond, NCL Platinum Plus, MSC Diamond
Posts: 21,422
I guess you can think of this as an advance purchase requirement, close-in they want you to book AAnytime awards (assuming this is intentional).
Maybe they think there were too many business travelers booking last-minute, one-way fares (which normally requires full Y or B).
OTOH, DL's reward "chart" does actually have A/P requirements built in, but they scale up the closer you get (along with the cash fares). They also can have separate pricing for O/W and R/T. Let's hope that AA isn't heading down that route...
Maybe they think there were too many business travelers booking last-minute, one-way fares (which normally requires full Y or B).
OTOH, DL's reward "chart" does actually have A/P requirements built in, but they scale up the closer you get (along with the cash fares). They also can have separate pricing for O/W and R/T. Let's hope that AA isn't heading down that route...
Oct 3, 2018, 4:03 pm
#45
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Austin, TX
Programs: CoUniHound 1K 1MM, AA EXP 2MM, DL Plat, Marriott Lifetime Titanium
Posts: 1,625
I'm not sure what everyone is expecting AA to tell us. To my knowledge, AA has never released any guidance about when and if sAAver level awards are released, how many seats are expected to be released, etc.