fwfdan

The only way I found to do this was to book two one ways... Interested to see if anyone else has a better answer.

firemandan9

I called reservations for support, they tried but couldn't build a reservation with web special fare components. They transfered me to web support who had me go around in circles for 20 minutes before admitting it was not possible.

JJeffrey

If the web special award "price" that you want is only available roundtrip, then it's only available roundtrip. You cannot get the more favorable price as a one-way or multi-city booking. Roundtrip awards offering lower prices than booking one-ways is a very new offering of AA.

And as you've found out, web specials cannot be booked by phone agents, web support, or anyone else, they can only be booked online.

You essentially have 3 options, if you can tell us exactly how many miles each option would cost below then we can give recommendations on which looks the best:

1) Book the roundtrip web special award for lower miles, even if one way isn't the exact city you want to fly in/out of. Just book a separate ticket(s) to fill in the gap.

2) Book separate one-way web special awards if the pricing is still better and only showing up using the "new" search. If you cancel the redeposit fee would only be an additional $25 booking this way.

3) Book a multi-city booking using the old search at whatever higher award prices that search is offering. It will cost more miles but you'll get the exact flights you want on the same reservation.

WoodyWindy

Where are you finding Web Specials at all, and what are the parameters of the offer?

firemandan9

Business class web specials are only available using the new booking tools from the AA homepage or mobile app. Web specials remain cancelable per the redeposit policy but unlike regular tickets cannot be changed once issued.

Lots of 90k roundtrip business web special (AA metal only) fares to Tokyo starting in late October through the end of schedule with more limited availability to AA destinations like HKG, ICN, PEK, PVG. Booking the same one-way adds 5-15k miles per direction in some cases. It's not the modest fare increase that bothers me if that's AA's intent, it's the inability to book under one protected booking, in particular this year with rampant cancellations.

firemandan9

In this case booking two one-ways only adds 5k miles and results in separate bookings but is still the best way to go by far.

While I'm not excited about the new booking tool as it is much harder to filter between AA's three award fare products for each service class the current system of having two booking engines each with different capabilities is not at all transparent to all but the most expert users.

Even AA is starting to acknowledge their IT isn't ready for zero touch just yet. Per the AAdvantage FAQ AA is now providing support for domestic web specials. "Reservations can support Web Special Award bookings for trips within the U.S. and between the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands."

WoodyWindy

Ok. You're talking about award web specials. I was looking for cash.

lrdpenn

I have a transatlantic web special (JFK-CDG) before the flight is reinstated. AA has not budged on rebooking on BA due to this being a web special - I did reference that even basic economy tickets would permit rebooking on a JV partner in this case. Anyone have experience whether this has been possible?

I am thinking of asking for JFK-LHR since that would still be an AA prime flight (and within a 300 mile radius, if that matters) but wanted to ask here first and keep that as a last resort.

JJeffrey

You can try HUCA a few times to see if an agent will put you on JFK-LHR-CDG. Phone agents have the capability to rebook web specials now, but when you call don't even mention anything about it being a web special.

When is your flight, and what did AA offer as a rebooking option when you first called?

If AA is serving CDG by that point from somewhere (PHL, DFW?) then you could also ask for NYC-XXX-CDG all on AA, should be an easy switch. Alternatively JFK-LHR should be fine too, etc.

jtav559

Just as a data point:

Honeymoon was booked for Oct 2020 to UK/Italy, but due to COVID-19 and knock on travel effects (AA summer route cancellations) we cancelled the trip and planned to push it out to Spring 2021.
Was mostly mid-tier priced AAnytime awards for US-EU-US, one ways were about 140k miles each.

Fast forward to now: Found 2 Web Special "F" awards for FAT-LAX-LHR for mid March 2021 @ 62K each. Biz was also available @ 50K each. Finally get to try out Flagship First Dining and the Qantas F lounge at TBIT

Wouldn't usually burn extra miles for F vs J on AA 77W - J is a pretty solid product that I like a lot... but, since it was such a discounted award fare already compared to our original booking - WHY NOT!

So the deals are out there if you look for them. The ones I found were the only F awards priced that low for a few days in either direction on the calendar. Closest ones were @ 85K w/ BA Fuel Surcharge of $650 or more.

seigex

I found J "web special" on the LAX-HND leg of an LAX-HND-LAX RT in mid-July during a 4 day weekend (very wishful i know) to finalize my Japan Trusted Traveler Program application before it expires and I have to restart the process.

Funny thing is, on the website for the time I want (leaves LAX at 1:30am arrives HND at 4:30am) there were only AAnytime awards available at 400k miles, and no sAAver space awards and I've never seen J web specials, let alone on the website, but I just happened to do a search in the app and it showed up. Return leg at the end of the weekend, I snagged an F on JAL. Probably a longshot, but here's for hoping.

saaveraward

Did not see a thread for this, so if there is one, apologies

Is it possible to book a two-segment trip using a partner?

AA metal web special + BA segment

what's even more annoying, the "special" is above the saaver rate. So it's not like I'm getting a discount.

mvoight

If you can book it online, then it is possible. As web specials must be booked online, if you can't book it online, then you can't book a web special

saaveraward

Well unless I'm mistaken, I do not see the possibility of booking a web special combined with a partner on the same ticket.

aacar

It's not possible.