Jan 6, 2019, 2:14 pm
Last edit by: JDiver
ARCHIVE: 2017 HELP DESK: MileSAAver / SAAver Award Availability - Help, Assistance & Discussion
The current thread can be read here.
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
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 other airline partners
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
- 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
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.
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 --------------------------------------------------------
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)
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
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
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.
...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
ARCHIVE: 2017 HELP DESK: MileSAAver / SAAver award questions, assistance
Mar 6, 2017, 11:13 pm
#271
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: SFO
Programs: United Gold (frmer. 1k and GS), AAdvantage Platinum, Alaska MVP Gold, HHonors Gold
Posts: 200
I understand most of this (although there's a confusing typo or two) BUT, before getting into the realm of changing from most direct routing to a less direct routing (which can be an issue, although can just as easily be agent confusion,) am I understanding (and I may very well not be) that you're hoping to change the destination from OAK to SFO? If so, that's the end right there, have to pay to do that.
My confusion/frustration stems from the lack of clarity regarding the definition of a destination and coterminal. If OAK, SFO, and SJC are all listed as "SFO Area Airports", then why can't they be treated as such?
Last edited by lesamuel; Mar 6, 2017 at 11:28 pm
Mar 7, 2017, 5:44 am
#272
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: DCA/IAD/WAS
Programs: MAR AMB, WOH Explorist, AA EXP, UA 2P
Posts: 2,138
Essentially, yes. I'm beginning to accept that resolution, I just wanted to see if anyone had any legal(ish) solution that wouldn't involve the fee.
My confusion/frustration stems from the lack of clarity regarding the definition of a destination and coterminal. If OAK, SFO, and SJC are all listed as "SFO Area Airports", then why can't they be treated as such?
My confusion/frustration stems from the lack of clarity regarding the definition of a destination and coterminal. If OAK, SFO, and SJC are all listed as "SFO Area Airports", then why can't they be treated as such?
Mar 7, 2017, 5:52 am
#274
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,494
Essentially, yes. I'm beginning to accept that resolution, I just wanted to see if anyone had any legal(ish) solution that wouldn't involve the fee.
My confusion/frustration stems from the lack of clarity regarding the definition of a destination and coterminal. If OAK, SFO, and SJC are all listed as "SFO Area Airports", then why can't they be treated as such?
My confusion/frustration stems from the lack of clarity regarding the definition of a destination and coterminal. If OAK, SFO, and SJC are all listed as "SFO Area Airports", then why can't they be treated as such?
Now if the co-terminal is just a connection point, then you can change without the fee, assuming your O&D stay the same. So say you had originally booked DUB-LCY then LHR-SFO, you would be able to change to a direct DUB-LHR-SFO without the fee.
Mar 7, 2017, 9:43 am
#275
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Not here; there!
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 29,603
If the rule on AA awards were that changing your origin or destination city triggered a change fee, then the argument that two airports are the same city would have some force. But that's not the rule. The rule is that changing your origin or destination airport triggers the fee.
Mar 8, 2017, 8:13 pm
#276
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,764
9W AMS-YYZ
I wonder has anyone booked on this? Could not find much info on it and FT search function does not like either 9W or Jet despite using the quote marks.
Availability is excellent per what is shown on DL site.
Availability is excellent per what is shown on DL site.
Mar 9, 2017, 2:26 am
#277
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Varies :-)
Programs: AS; AA; UA; DL; VS; BA; Nat'l Emer. Exec.; AGR
Posts: 2,250
I booked 9W for EWR-BRU a while back with AA miles. I just called AA to do so. I enjoyed the flight on 9W, too (as coach goes anyway).
Mar 9, 2017, 6:58 am
#278
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 125
in the past i booked miles for trips to Europe (from ORD) - in 2012 for 4 people (into LHR return FCO), in 2014 for 2 (to italy in biz, connecting via PHL to FCO) and did not have much trouble using miles. Now i'm ready to give up. Between multiple connections and/or BA thru LHR it's killing me. Even checking other itineraries - i just checked ORD to Montreal and can't get 4 tix without bumping up to aanytime miles. this is so frustrating! I have 376000 miles and having so much trouble i'm ready to give up. sorry- i'm just venting!
Mar 9, 2017, 7:34 am
#279
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: FL
Programs: AA Plat, SPG, RC
Posts: 153
Sorry if this is not the appropriate place to ask this question but do airlines make award space available to all partners at the same time? The reason I ask is because I recently released 4 seats in J on CX and while releasing them I was on both the BA and JL website. I sat there refreshing and refreshing. Almost instantly the seats showed back up as being available on BA's site, but it was not until the next day, and much later in the evening, that they were available on JL and it showed only two as being available not 4. (I read on here that JL was more accurate of the three to find space on CX). I even called AA again to see if the 4 spaces were still available and they indeed were 24hrs post me releasing them. Of course a day later in the afternoon two had been gobbled up. What's been happening as I look these past two days is that I see space available (lots of it...via BA's website on CX in J) but when I look on JL's website there is absolutely nothing! I was told this morning by the agent that partner airlines don't always release space to each partner at the same time, hence the discrepancies in what I see. He said its based on their relationship with that partner and the market. So for instance CX may have a better relationship with BA and may have immediately released those seats back to BA rather than JL. Is this true? And sorry if this has been explained before. I know there is a thread on Phantom Award availability but I'm not really asking about phantom awards. I'm asking whether that really is the structure of how awards are released. For instance the space I'm currently seeing on BA does that mean if I had avios I could book, but when I look on JL I can't? I'm tempted to try calling BA but I don't have avios....hahah so I'd never get past the bit about my Member number.
Last edited by TravelPenguin; Mar 9, 2017 at 7:35 am Reason: Clarification of question.
Mar 9, 2017, 8:58 am
#280
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,494
Sorry if this is not the appropriate place to ask this question but do airlines make award space available to all partners at the same time? The reason I ask is because I recently released 4 seats in J on CX and while releasing them I was on both the BA and JL website. I sat there refreshing and refreshing. Almost instantly the seats showed back up as being available on BA's site, but it was not until the next day, and much later in the evening, that they were available on JL and it showed only two as being available not 4. (I read on here that JL was more accurate of the three to find space on CX). I even called AA again to see if the 4 spaces were still available and they indeed were 24hrs post me releasing them. Of course a day later in the afternoon two had been gobbled up. What's been happening as I look these past two days is that I see space available (lots of it...via BA's website on CX in J) but when I look on JL's website there is absolutely nothing! I was told this morning by the agent that partner airlines don't always release space to each partner at the same time, hence the discrepancies in what I see. He said its based on their relationship with that partner and the market. So for instance CX may have a better relationship with BA and may have immediately released those seats back to BA rather than JL. Is this true? And sorry if this has been explained before. I know there is a thread on Phantom Award availability but I'm not really asking about phantom awards. I'm asking whether that really is the structure of how awards are released. For instance the space I'm currently seeing on BA does that mean if I had avios I could book, but when I look on JL I can't? I'm tempted to try calling BA but I don't have avios....hahah so I'd never get past the bit about my Member number.
However, I'd say that it all matches up 95% of the time...which is why most of us around here use the BA site as a guide for what partner flights are most likely to be available using AA miles.
When discrepancies occur, it can be for various reasons...usually different reservations systems timing (as you saw with JL) or just different availability given to different partners, and with AA especially, there can be lots of ill-trained AAgent error when searching partner availability.
In your example, if you saw space using BA Avios but not JL Mileage Bank, then, well, you could book that flight using BA Avios but not JL miles. No need to call BA.
Mar 9, 2017, 11:38 am
#281
Join Date: Mar 2017
Posts: 5
HELP LAX to PVR
I am trying to go to pvr from lax I only have 75k miles on aa and they are advertising 12.5k miles to mexico on the award chart but only offering 17.5k miles saver on every other date then the days I am to travel. Its for a wedding so I can't be much more flexible than I am being.
My dates are 6/15 arrival to 6/18 departure
they are offering 37.5 anytime on 6/15 and 37.5k anytime on 6/18. I don't have enough miles for two people at that price. I have checked other cities and it isn't any better.
If anyone has any other tips that might be helpful I am all ears. Of course we know we can buy another ticket at 350.00 bucks but we would rather not do that if it can be avoided.
Also I could swear there was award space on those dates when I checked about a week ago....anyway anyone able to find anything else I'm all ears. Thanks
My dates are 6/15 arrival to 6/18 departure
they are offering 37.5 anytime on 6/15 and 37.5k anytime on 6/18. I don't have enough miles for two people at that price. I have checked other cities and it isn't any better.
If anyone has any other tips that might be helpful I am all ears. Of course we know we can buy another ticket at 350.00 bucks but we would rather not do that if it can be avoided.
Also I could swear there was award space on those dates when I checked about a week ago....anyway anyone able to find anything else I'm all ears. Thanks
Mar 9, 2017, 12:02 pm
#282
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,494
I am trying to go to pvr from lax I only have 75k miles on aa and they are advertising 12.5k miles to mexico on the award chart but only offering 17.5k miles saver on every other date then the days I am to travel. Its for a wedding so I can't be much more flexible than I am being.
My dates are 6/15 arrival to 6/18 departure
they are offering 37.5 anytime on 6/15 and 37.5k anytime on 6/18. I don't have enough miles for two people at that price. I have checked other cities and it isn't any better.
If anyone has any other tips that might be helpful I am all ears. Of course we know we can buy another ticket at 350.00 bucks but we would rather not do that if it can be avoided.
Also I could swear there was award space on those dates when I checked about a week ago....anyway anyone able to find anything else I'm all ears. Thanks
My dates are 6/15 arrival to 6/18 departure
they are offering 37.5 anytime on 6/15 and 37.5k anytime on 6/18. I don't have enough miles for two people at that price. I have checked other cities and it isn't any better.
If anyone has any other tips that might be helpful I am all ears. Of course we know we can buy another ticket at 350.00 bucks but we would rather not do that if it can be avoided.
Also I could swear there was award space on those dates when I checked about a week ago....anyway anyone able to find anything else I'm all ears. Thanks
For your dates in June, if you can find sAAver availability it will be 15k per person, each way on AA metal, and 17.5k if you use partner carriers (like Alaska).
With inflexible dates, there's not much you can do. You could possibly buy one ticket and use miles for the other person. However, keep in mind that spending 75k miles for what would be a ~$350 ticket is a terrible use of miles.
As to seeing award seats a week ago that are now gone, award availability is very dynamic and can change anytime. FYI, the next time you see something that looks even remotely interesting, AA offers a free 5 day hold on awards.
Mar 9, 2017, 9:17 pm
#283
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: FL
Programs: AA Plat, SPG, RC
Posts: 153
Thank you for the explanation JJeffrey. I typically use BA site, because its a bit easier to navigate but began using JL once I read on here it is typically more accurate. Always glad to learn something new from this forum. 
Award availability can vary between partners. So what's available to book with BA Avios might not be available to book with AA miles or JL miles, etc.
However, I'd say that it all matches up 95% of the time...which is why most of us around here use the BA site as a guide for what partner flights are most likely to be available using AA miles.
When discrepancies occur, it can be for various reasons...usually different reservations systems timing (as you saw with JL) or just different availability given to different partners, and with AA especially, there can be lots of ill-trained AAgent error when searching partner availability.
In your example, if you saw space using BA Avios but not JL Mileage Bank, then, well, you could book that flight using BA Avios but not JL miles. No need to call BA.
However, I'd say that it all matches up 95% of the time...which is why most of us around here use the BA site as a guide for what partner flights are most likely to be available using AA miles.
When discrepancies occur, it can be for various reasons...usually different reservations systems timing (as you saw with JL) or just different availability given to different partners, and with AA especially, there can be lots of ill-trained AAgent error when searching partner availability.
In your example, if you saw space using BA Avios but not JL Mileage Bank, then, well, you could book that flight using BA Avios but not JL miles. No need to call BA.
Mar 9, 2017, 11:15 pm
#284
Join Date: Aug 2011
Programs: Marriott Gold, Hilton Diamond, Radisson Rewards Gold, Best Western Diamond Select
Posts: 1,856
AA changed my schedule DFW-EZE by 65 minutes. The ticket was booked through avios. I read in another thread that AA can open up award space if they want, so would it be possible to book DFW-SCL even though there is no award space for that flight?
Mar 10, 2017, 12:25 am
#285
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 4,477