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ARCHIVE: 2017 HELP DESK: MileSAAver / SAAver award questions, assistance

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Old Jan 6, 2019, 2:14 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: JDiver
ARCHIVE: 2017 HELP DESK: MileSAAver / SAAver Award Availability - Help, Assistance & Discussion

The current thread can be read here.


Some of you might have found your thread merged into this "consolidated" thread. If your desire is to become thoroughly familiar with the knowledge that has been accumulated about the process for acquiring MileSAAver awards feel free to read this entire thread. If you only want the assistance from those who have the knowledge your request has been merged at the end. Feel free to wait for a forthcoming answer.

If you have reached this thread by using the search process you have the same choices as above. Read the thread and become knowledgeable or post at the end and wait for a forthcoming answer.

thanks
~magic111


NOTE: for more detailed fare rules, see AA oneworld & Other Airline Partner Award information, rules (master thd)

Awards can generally be held for five days; five day extensions require continued availability of your flights and generating a new award booking and five day hold.

Though AA can start releasing awards 331 days from the desired flight date (even though some other airlines might make award seats available to their members 355 days out), it’s very likely award seats may be released a few days after that. If seats aren’t sold and Revenue Management algorithms signify slow sales, more seats might be released going forward.


Airlines that can be booked for award travel on aa.com

oneworld alliance airline partners
  • AA - American Airlines
  • BA - British Airways (awards incur significant YQ surcharge)
  • AY - Finnair
  • IB - Iberia
  • QF - Qantas
  • QR - Qatar Airways
  • RJ - Royal Jordanian Airlines
  • S7 - S7 Airlines
  • UL - Sri Lankan Airlines
other airline partners
  • 9K - Cape Air (but only certain cities)
  • TN - Air Tahiti Nui
  • AS - Alaska Airlines
  • EY - Etihad
  • HA - Hawaiian Airlines


All others must be requested by telephone; see Note below.

NOTE: To search for partner awards, go to advanced search from the awards search or home page and select all airlines.


Full list of oneworld airline partners (and their affiliates)
  • AA - American Airlines
  • BA - British Airways (Cityflyer, Comair, OpenSkies, Sun-Air of Scandinavia)
  • CX - Cathay Pacific (Dragonair)
  • AY -Finnair (Flybe)
  • IB - Iberia (Air Nostrum, Iberia Express)
  • JL - Japan Airlines (JAL Express, J-Air, Japan Transocean Air)
  • LA- LAN Airlines (LAN Argentina, LAN Ecuador, LAN Express, LAN Colombia, LAN Peru only, merging with JJ to LATAM)
  • MH - Malaysia Airlines
  • QF - Qantas Airways (QantasLink, Jetconnect)
  • QR - Qatar Airways
  • RJ - Royal Jordanian Airlines
  • S7 - S7 Airlines (Globus) (excludes Siberia / far eastern Russia awards)
  • UL - SriLankan Airlines
  • JJ - TAM Airlines (merging with LA to LATAM)

When you do call, you might want to search for award space on the flights you want and tell the agent about those flights; sometimes AA agents won't find award seats unless they search by segment.

When using other airline web sites or tools to search for award availability, it’s best to do so by segment rather than by trip. E. g. BA May show availability SAN-LHR and LHR-AMS, but not SAN-AMS. And in some instances (EY, FJ, etc.) AA US may not see availability that AA Australia or New Zealand might see.

Full list of additional airline partners offering award redemptions
  • TN - Air Tahiti Nui
  • AS - Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air
  • 9K - Cape Air
  • EY - Etihad Airways
  • FJ - Fiji Airways
  • GF - Gulf Air
  • HA - Hawaiian Airlines


NOTE: Ticketing charge


Code:
oneworld Partners Award Fare Codes First-Business-Economy
 --------------------------------------------------------
 AA - American Airlines Z U T
 --------------------------------------------------------
 AY – Finnair U X
 --------------------------------------------------------
 BA – British Airways Z U X
 --------------------------------------------------------
 CX – Cathay Pacific Z U T
 KA - DragonAir
 --------------------------------------------------------
 IB – Iberia U X
 --------------------------------------------------------
 JL – Japan Airlines (Intl) Z U T
 JL – Japan Airlines (Dom) Z D S
 --------------------------------------------------------
 LATAM Group
 JJ - TAM Airlines O I X
 LA – LAN Chile Z U T
 XL - LAN Ecuador
 LP - LAN Peru
 4M - LAN Argentina
 --------------------------------------------------------
 MH - Malaysia Airlines P U X
 --------------------------------------------------------
 QF - QANTAS Airways P U X
 --------------------------------------------------------
 QR - Qatar Airways Z U X
 --------------------------------------------------------
 RJ – Royal Jordanian U X
 --------------------------------------------------------
 S7 – S7 Airlines U E
 --------------------------------------------------------
 UL - SriLankan Airlines
 --------------------------------------------------------
 
 Other Partners First Business Economy
 --------------------------------------------------------
 FJ – Fiji Airways U X
 --------------------------------------------------------
 TN – Air Tahiti Nui F for Business U for Economy
 --------------------------------------------------------
 AS – Alaska Airlines A W
 --------------------------------------------------------
 LY – El Al Israel P X E
 --------------------------------------------------------
 EY - Etihad O I N
 --------------------------------------------------------
 HA – Hawaiian Airlines D T
 --------------------------------------------------------
Effective February 16, 2015, a Reservations Ticketing Service Charge of $30.00 for domestic itineraries and $40.00 for international itineraries will be applied by AA Reservations when ticketing award reservations that can be booked on aa.com. The charge is waived for award reservations that cannot be booked on aa.com including reduced mileage awards, and for Executive Platinums. N.B. Executive Platinums booking award for non-EP will pay the service charges.
NOTE: Rather than release SAAver Awards at 330 days out, AA generally delays 48 hours after the 330 day time period has begun, at or about midnight Central time.

Other rules that may affect your awards:

Award Rules

American Airlines Awards are valid for travel on flights that are marketed and operated by AA (no codeshares). These awards can be booked online at AA.com.

oneworld and Other Airline awards are valid for travel on AA and any of its partner airlines, and can include travel on multiple partners. Many of these awards must be booked over the phone, and will not incur a Ticketing Service Charge (waived for EXPs in any case) if they cannot be booked online.
Up to four one-way awards can be booked on a single PNR. Codeshares are not bookable as Awards.

MPM or Maximum Permitted Miles: A Fare or award may not exceed the most direct routing by more than 25% (unless the fare routing includes a ticketed point deduction (essentially a miles allowance that extends MPM). See MPM / Maximum Permitted Mileage & Ticketed Point Deductions (merged threads).

Stopovers and Connections

Stopovers are no longer allowed on AA awards. Stopovers will require multiple awards.

Connections are limited to two connections / three flight segments for domestic awards, and three connections / four flight segments for international awards as of Aug 2017. Link

Domestic Connections must be under 4 hours for domestic flights, with some exceptions: "LIFO" (Last In - First Out connections are generally allowed.

Hawaii itinerary: Effective on 14 Jul 2014 on an all-AA-metal award itinerary, you now have up to 18 hours to connect when traveling to/from Hawaii. NOTE: Hawaii interisland connections must be separate awards and can not be included as part of a mainland-island award.

International Connections must generally not exceed 23:59 hours. Some leeway has occasionally been granted when connecting flights are not daily. If the itinerary includes an international flight, the rules for international connections apply. Link to these courtesy of JonNYC.

If there is a non-stop flight that departs after the 4h / 23h59m windows and arrives at the destination earlier than a connecting flight within the 4h / 23h59m window, the passenger may be booked on the non-stop flight. It may be difficult getting some agents to book this.

"Most Significant Carrier" rule: To price as a single award, AAdvantage requires the most significant carrier to publish a cash fare (non-constructed) between the origin and destination. Airline MSC (e.g. DFW-SFO-HKG-BKK, CX SFO-HKG is the prevailing or most significant carrier) would have to have a published fare from XXX to YYY that allows travel on all included airlines, and routing that you want. If the MSC only offers constructed fares between your desired origin and destination, AA will price this as two awards.

Constructed fares: Another rule disallows awards where the fare must be constructed (also referred to as "YY"): Using a partner, the trip will require two awards if the governing carrier (e,g. airline operating on the major route, such as transpacific carrier) doesn't publish a through fare that includes the award's proposed origin and destination that allows the carriers proposed.

See this thread about examples using TN.

Married Segment Logic - a prospective trip may be available when searching segment by segment, yet not be bookable through from origin to destination. When selling seats for through flights and the desired inventory is not available, you cannot opt to sell the flight point-to-point. If sold point-to-point, the error response MULTIPLE SEGMENTS FOR SAME FLIGHT - SELL AS ONE SEGMENT will be received, indicating this booking is not allowed. Overriding the error check by ending the PNR twice is not acceptable.

See Award with available segments not bookable? (Married Segment issues)
Resources

NOTE: New award charts are posted on AA.com from time to time. See the American Airlines charts here and the oneworld and partner award charts here.
Some airlines or areas have different, extra or special characteristics for securing awards. See

aa.com Basic (front page) vs Advanced Award Search Results (abbreviated results for front page search vs. Advanced award search)

AAdvantage awards to / from Australia, New Zealand link

AAdvantage awards to the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador link

AAdvantage awards on Air Tahiti Nui link

AAdvantage awards using British Airways incurring (avoiding) high fees link

AAdvantage award on Cathay Pacific (and Cathay Dragon) link

AAdvantage awards using Etihad Airways link

AAdvantage awards using Fiji Airways link

AAdvantage awards using Japan Airlines link

AAdvantage awards using Qantas Airways link

AAdvantage awards on S7 (Siberian) Airlines link
Awards assistance tools: Use at your own risk; may not be up to date. These are not recommendations.
  • Check this oneworld interactive map and timetable by Innosked to see potential routes.

  • British Airways Executive Club: You can sign up for British Airways Executive Club, Japan Airlines JAL Mileage Bank or Qantas Frequent Flyer to use their sites to find awards (look for the lowest level awards) you can't see on aa.com. BA in particular is prone to show "phantom" availability.

  • Award booking services - list and reviews (FT thread)

  • Award Nexus: It's easy to do your experiments for some free browsing (click "more signup options" under the green Purchase button to sign up with your FlyerTalk login info). You might want to run each segment rather than origin to destination.


    Originally Posted by sdsearch
    ...Award Nexus is free (up to a point) for FlyerTalk users. Click "more signup options" under the green Purchase button to sign up for free as a FlyerTalk member.


    What I like about Award Nexus is it has a much nicer user interface than BA and lets you choose whether to search through BA and/or QF, and as you can see each of those may give somewhat different results.


    The "cost" to do all these searches once was a total of 12 points, and you get 200 points free when you signup, and then every 90 days you can reload 100 more points for free (once you're below 10 points). So that gives an idea of how many searches could do free...


  • AwardAce: Compare Award Redemptions Across Airlines In Seconds

  • AwardHacker: "a tool we build to tell you how to travel with the least miles"

  • Award Nexus: which can search availability but can't determine cost, with FT member free limited use

  • Economical Excursionist's Tools: compare Frequent Flyer Mile Redemptions

  • ExpertFlyer is a common tool used on FT. There is a $99.99 annual fee, monthly fee and five day trial

  • Great Circle Mapper is useful for calculating distance and MPM (Maximum Permitted Mileage)

  • You can try PEX+ (currently in beta), which will even tell you how many miles you'll need, though it draws data from aa.com and S7 so it can't reveal awards that can not be seen on those sites.

  • Travel Codex Award Maximiser commercial blog


Also see:

aa.com Basic (front page) vs Advanced Award Search Results

Phantom / false AA award availability with AA partners (consolidated)

oneworld and Other Airline (Partner) Awards info, rules 2014 on

Help with British Airways / BA surcharge / YQ (AA award on BA, consolidated) (Awards using BA incur significant "YQ" surcharges.)

UK APD / Air Passenger Duty charged for UK departures[/quote] (Flights originating in the UK other than INV or BFS - or connections 24:00 or over - incur UK Air Passenger Duty excise taxes.)

MileSAAver / SAAver award reduction / scarcity >= Aug 2011 onward (consolidated)

Older posts from 2017 have been archived to: this archive thread

Older posts from 2016 have been archived to: this archive thread

Older posts through 2015 have been archived to: this archive thread
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ARCHIVE: 2017 HELP DESK: MileSAAver / SAAver award questions, assistance

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Old Feb 3, 2017, 9:55 pm
  #181  
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
Originally Posted by LukeO9
Any reason why I can never find Air Berlin business class availability for German domestic travel?
Isn't airberlin, like Aer Lingus, a single class LCC domestically?

(For German domestic travel, I usually head to the Hauptbahnhoff and jump an ICE...)
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Old Feb 3, 2017, 10:01 pm
  #182  
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
Originally Posted by jarredlt
Hey guys, I'm planning a trip to Thailand in November. I'm unable to find ANY open seats in any saver class for the return trip. Can anyone help me out or give me some advice on a way to find it? I'm open to any flights departing anywhere in thailand and arriving in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, or basically anywhere else in central United States.

Ideally it would be for November 16,17, or 18.
Welcome to FlyerTalk!

We will soon merge your thread into the existing thread on this topic, as it is one of our HELP DESK threads, and contains some important information submitted by members in the Wikipost at the top of the thread. See

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...ssistance.html (link)

/Moderator

Last edited by JDiver; Feb 5, 2017 at 1:58 pm
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Old Feb 4, 2017, 4:58 am
  #183  
 
Join Date: Jun 1999
Location: Rio de Janeiro, BRAZIL
Programs: AA 4MM EXP; Starwood Lifetime Plt
Posts: 2,498
Originally Posted by JDiver

Isn't airberlin, like Aer Lingus, a single class LCC domestically?
They recently introduced a business class, at least on some slights, consisting of the first two rows of economy with the middle seat vacant. It is intended mainly for long-haul business class passengers on connecting flights.
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Old Feb 4, 2017, 9:27 am
  #184  
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,934
Originally Posted by jarredlt
Hey guys, I'm planning a trip to Thailand in November. I'm unable to find ANY open seats in any saver class for the return trip. Can anyone help me out or give me some advice on a way to find it? I'm open to any flights departing anywhere in thailand and arriving in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, or basically anywhere else in central United States.

Ideally it would be for November 16,17, or 18.
Using QF via Award Nexus (www.awardnexus.com), right now I find:
BKK - DFW
dep 11-16 | 08:25
arv 11-16 | 16:00
CX - AA (connect at HKG)
1 Economy
~ 21 hrs

BKK - DFW
dep 11-16 | 06:45
arv 11-16 | 16:00
CX - AA (connect at HKG)
1 Economy
~ 23 hrs
I did a search using QF for all 3 dates you mentioned for BKK-DFW. It showed a lot of other result going in the other direction, but AA doesn't allow those a single award (you'd have to use two awards). QF found at least 1 part-business-class routing but it was 27& in economy.

I then reran the same search using BA and got the same results plus identical 2 flight choices for dep 11-17 arv 11-17 also, but no business class results at all.

Award Nexus is free (up to a point) for FlyerTalk users. Click "more signup options" under the green Purchase button to sign up for free as a FlyerTalk member.

What I like about Award Nexus is it has a much nicer user interface than BA and lets you choose whether to search through BA and/or QF, and as you can see each of those may give somewhat different results!

The "cost" to do all these searches once was a total of 12 points, and you get 200 points free when you signup, and then every 90 days you can reload 100 more points for free (once you're below 10 points). So that gives an idea of how many searches could do free.

AA doesn't fly to HKG from very many cities, so I hope DFW is good enough for you.

Last edited by sdsearch; Feb 4, 2017 at 9:33 am
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Old Feb 4, 2017, 10:10 am
  #185  
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Programs: DL 1 million, AA 1 mil, HH lapsed Diamond, Marriott Plat
Posts: 28,190
Originally Posted by IncaTrails
Create a BA Executive Club account and happy hunting.
IME, BA Exec Club is unreliable at finding connecting AA flights, or even single segment domestic AA flights.
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Old Feb 4, 2017, 10:24 am
  #186  
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Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,934
Originally Posted by 3Cforme
IME, BA Exec Club is unreliable at finding connecting AA flights, or even single segment domestic AA flights.
IME, BA is at times unreliable at finding anything (outside of its own flights). Which is why I like Award Nexus where I can choose between searching via BA and/or searching via QF using the exact same user interface for both.
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Old Feb 4, 2017, 1:03 pm
  #187  
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: ADL
Programs: QFF, AAdvantage, All
Posts: 1,137
Originally Posted by JDiver
Isn't airberlin, like Aer Lingus, a single class LCC domestically?
Air Berlin business is available on many of their domestic legs.
Since I can't never find it as AAward availability, I'm wondering if the OW arrangement with them is like that with Japan Airlines.
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Old Feb 4, 2017, 1:14 pm
  #188  
 
Join Date: Nov 2016
Posts: 4
Originally Posted by sdsearch
Using QF via Award Nexus (www.awardnexus.com), right now I find:
BKK - DFW
dep 11-16 | 08:25
arv 11-16 | 16:00
CX - AA (connect at HKG)
1 Economy
~ 21 hrs

BKK - DFW
dep 11-16 | 06:45
arv 11-16 | 16:00
CX - AA (connect at HKG)
1 Economy
~ 23 hrs
I did a search using QF for all 3 dates you mentioned for BKK-DFW. It showed a lot of other result going in the other direction, but AA doesn't allow those a single award (you'd have to use two awards). QF found at least 1 part-business-class routing but it was 27& in economy.

I then reran the same search using BA and got the same results plus identical 2 flight choices for dep 11-17 arv 11-17 also, but no business class results at all.

Award Nexus is free (up to a point) for FlyerTalk users. Click "more signup options" under the green Purchase button to sign up for free as a FlyerTalk member.

What I like about Award Nexus is it has a much nicer user interface than BA and lets you choose whether to search through BA and/or QF, and as you can see each of those may give somewhat different results!

The "cost" to do all these searches once was a total of 12 points, and you get 200 points free when you signup, and then every 90 days you can reload 100 more points for free (once you're below 10 points). So that gives an idea of how many searches could do free.

AA doesn't fly to HKG from very many cities, so I hope DFW is good enough for you.
Either of these would work. These would cost 37500 points correct? To book I just call AA?
jarredlt is offline  
Old Feb 4, 2017, 1:24 pm
  #189  
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Join Date: Oct 1999
Posts: 11,468
Originally Posted by sdsearch
IME, BA is at times unreliable at finding anything (outside of its own flights). Which is why I like Award Nexus where I can choose between searching via BA and/or searching via QF using the exact same user interface for both.
Are the other 2 major Asian OW-partners JL, CX actually offering usable search tools as well?
cesco.g is offline  
Old Feb 4, 2017, 7:36 pm
  #190  
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: STL
Programs: DL PM/1MM, DL SkClub LT, Marr LT Plat, IHG Plat, HH Diam
Posts: 2,005
I use the BA tool and search for space to BKK all the time. In fact, I'm headed there on Monday using AA miles (on CX via ORD-HKG).

I've found JL space via DFW to be tough to secure in J unless you're booking near the window. JL opens up a lot of inventory (both J and Y) about 24-72 hours out if you can plan last minute.

Yes, you must call AA to book. Agents sometimes don't see the same inventory that we can see on BA for some reason so just thank them and HUCA.

Last edited by hockeystl; Feb 4, 2017 at 7:43 pm
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Old Feb 4, 2017, 7:59 pm
  #191  
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Join Date: Aug 2014
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Posts: 11,669
Ba.com very often doesn't show availability for connecting flights, you have to search each segment separately and feed them to the agent. Ridiculous but true.
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Old Feb 5, 2017, 8:08 am
  #192  
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,934
Originally Posted by jarredlt
To book I just call AA?
Yes.
sdsearch is offline  
Old Feb 5, 2017, 2:01 pm
  #193  
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
Originally Posted by LukeO9
Air Berlin business is available on many of their domestic legs.
Since I can't never find it as AAward availability, I'm wondering if the OW arrangement with them is like that with Japan Airlines.
Originally Posted by ajnaro
They recently introduced a business class, at least on some slights, consisting of the first two rows of economy with the middle seat vacant. It is intended mainly for long-haul business class passengers on connecting flights.
Thank you, ajnaro. This may be why it doesn't appear as an option for awards.
JDiver is offline  
Old Feb 7, 2017, 11:10 am
  #194  
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Programs: UA 1K; *G, AA Plat
Posts: 1,700
Hi All,

Posting on behalf of a friend because he and I have never redeemed AA miles before and I am pretty frustrated searching for award space, it seems there's never any Saver Business award space...

Party of 2 adults want to travel from SAN/LAX to CDG. And then return from MAD to LAX/SAN. Can swap CDG/MAD if award space is better heading into MAD and out of CDG.

Dates: June, July, August. Any dates on the outbound. Ideally 2-3 weeks between the outbound and the return.
Restrictions: Business Saver. NOT BA. What's the point of using miles if he has to pay $900/1000. Lie flat seats please! Once in a decade trip for him and he's never flown business before.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. The AA website needs to be desperately updated with a way to filter by partner airlines on the monthly view.
laxmillenial is offline  
Old Feb 7, 2017, 11:14 am
  #195  
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Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Not here; there!
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 29,603
Originally Posted by laxmillenial
Hi All,

Posting on behalf of a friend because he and I have never redeemed AA miles before and I am pretty frustrated searching for award space, it seems there's never any Saver Business award space...

Party of 2 adults want to travel from SAN/LAX to CDG. And then return from MAD to LAX/SAN. Can swap CDG/MAD if award space is better heading into MAD and out of CDG.

Dates: June, July, August. Any dates on the outbound. Ideally 2-3 weeks between the outbound and the return.
Restrictions: Business Saver. NOT BA. What's the point of using miles if he has to pay $900/1000. Lie flat seats please! Once in a decade trip for him and he's never flown business before.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. The AA website needs to be desperately updated with a way to filter by partner airlines on the monthly view.
Call AA, and ask about award availability on IB LAX-MAD (modest surcharges), or TN LAX-CDG (no surcharges). Not sure if TN seats are lie-flat; you'd have to check.
guv1976 is offline  


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