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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 Aug 30, 2017, 1:44 pm
  #871  
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Originally Posted by Dswank
I am trying to book 4 award saver tickets for nonstop CLT-AUA next summer. Have to do nonstop due to using Avios. There is currently no availability. I check every morning early by 6am and sometimes in the afternoon. some mornings their is phantom availablity from CLT to AUA however when try to book, it says the flight is no longer available.
Get an ExpertFlyer subscription and set an award alert for 4 passengers. IMHO the likelihood of getting four at once on a single flight at saver levels (for Avios redemption) is very poor.
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Old Aug 30, 2017, 2:11 pm
  #872  
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Originally Posted by 3Cforme
Get an ExpertFlyer subscription and set an award alert for 4 passengers. IMHO the likelihood of getting four at once on a single flight at saver levels (for Avios redemption) is very poor.
I don't know about the CLT-AUA route, but I do know a family of four that has twice been able to redeem Avios for JFK-ANU-JFK travel on AA in March.

Does AA offer any CLT-AUA through-flights (single flight number)? Those should also price as a nonstop for Avios redemption purposes.
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Old Aug 30, 2017, 2:11 pm
  #873  
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Originally Posted by 3Cforme
Get an ExpertFlyer subscription and set an award alert for 4 passengers. IMHO the likelihood of getting four at once on a single flight at saver levels (for Avios redemption) is very poor.
I don't know about the CLT-AUA route, but I do know a family of four that has twice been able to redeem Avios for JFK-ANU-JFK travel on AA in March.

Does AA offer any CLT-AUA through-flights (single flight number)? Those should also price as a nonstop for Avios redemption purposes.
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Old Aug 30, 2017, 9:01 pm
  #874  
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Programs: AA EXP, National Exec
Posts: 83
I'm researching to get ready to redeem miles for a Europe trip and in doing so I read this entire thread! But something confused me back on Page 35, so I hope someone can help me understand.

There was much discussion about change fees such as:

Originally Posted by daveland
Yes, anyone, status or not, can do this as long as it's the same award type. If flying JFK-LHR, for instance, if you are on a BA flight and an AA flight opens up, you can change for free and get the BA surcharges refunded. You can also change from a MileSAAver Y to MileSAAver J or F award for free (but not the other way around).
Particularly the part about no fee to change carriers (assuming O/D & award type stay the same.)

But in reading up on this at aa.com HERE, it says:
Changes to the origin or destination or airline
■For MileSAAver awards, origin or destination changes to the itinerary will incur a change fee of $150, even when retaining the same award type
For awards involving travel on other airlines, origin or destination changes or changes to the airline(s) in the itinerary will incur a change fee of $150, even when retaining the same award type
Am I reading this wrong or does the AA site say an airline change incurs a fee?
Perdita is offline  
Old Aug 30, 2017, 9:01 pm
  #875  
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Programs: AA EXP, National Exec
Posts: 83
I'm researching to get ready to redeem miles for a Europe trip and in doing so I read this entire thread! But something confused me back on Page 35, so I hope someone can help me understand.

There was much discussion about change fees such as:

Originally Posted by daveland
Yes, anyone, status or not, can do this as long as it's the same award type. If flying JFK-LHR, for instance, if you are on a BA flight and an AA flight opens up, you can change for free and get the BA surcharges refunded. You can also change from a MileSAAver Y to MileSAAver J or F award for free (but not the other way around).
Particularly the part about no fee to change carriers (assuming O/D & award type stay the same.)

But in reading up on this at aa.com HERE, it says:
Changes to the origin or destination or airline
■For MileSAAver awards, origin or destination changes to the itinerary will incur a change fee of $150, even when retaining the same award type
For awards involving travel on other airlines, origin or destination changes or changes to the airline(s) in the itinerary will incur a change fee of $150, even when retaining the same award type
Am I reading this wrong or does the AA site say an airline change incurs a fee?
Perdita is offline  
Old Aug 30, 2017, 9:06 pm
  #876  
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Originally Posted by Perdita
I'm researching to get ready to redeem miles for a Europe trip and in doing so I read this entire thread! But something confused me back on Page 35, so I hope someone can help me understand.

There was much discussion about change fees such as:



Particularly the part about no fee to change carriers (assuming O/D & award type stay the same.)

But in reading up on this at aa.com HERE, it says:

Am I reading this wrong or does the AA site say an airline change incurs a fee?
AA.com does indeed say that. However, take a look at the post directly following the one you quote above ad you'll see that there is an internal policy that says otherwise:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28320739-post526.html
JonNYC is offline  
Old Aug 30, 2017, 9:06 pm
  #877  
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Originally Posted by Perdita
I'm researching to get ready to redeem miles for a Europe trip and in doing so I read this entire thread! But something confused me back on Page 35, so I hope someone can help me understand.

There was much discussion about change fees such as:



Particularly the part about no fee to change carriers (assuming O/D & award type stay the same.)

But in reading up on this at aa.com HERE, it says:

Am I reading this wrong or does the AA site say an airline change incurs a fee?
AA.com does indeed say that. However, take a look at the post directly following the one you quote above ad you'll see that there is an internal policy that says otherwise:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28320739-post526.html
JonNYC is offline  
Old Aug 31, 2017, 7:22 am
  #878  
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Programs: AA EXP, National Exec
Posts: 83
Thank you for the quick reply!

I did see that post, but didn't know where that info was from.

Why do they have it one way internally and show the opposite publicly?

So I assume it's safe to go with the internal policy? I may book BA or IB and switch to AA TATL if it becomes available, knowing there won't be a change fee.
Perdita is offline  
Old Aug 31, 2017, 7:22 am
  #879  
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Programs: AA EXP, National Exec
Posts: 83
Thank you for the quick reply!

I did see that post, but didn't know where that info was from.

Why do they have it one way internally and show the opposite publicly?

So I assume it's safe to go with the internal policy? I may book BA or IB and switch to AA TATL if it becomes available, knowing there won't be a change fee.
Perdita is offline  
Old Aug 31, 2017, 1:48 pm
  #880  
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Originally Posted by Perdita
Thank you for the quick reply!

I did see that post, but didn't know where that info was from.

Why do they have it one way internally and show the opposite publicly?

So I assume it's safe to go with the internal policy? I may book BA or IB and switch to AA TATL if it becomes available, knowing there won't be a change fee.
Just to be clear, there won't be a change fee for changing the airline.

However, for those subject to the close-in (21-day) fees, would that fee apply if the AA availability only shows up less than 21 days out?

Of course, in the case of going from BA to AA metal, the YQ savings would presumably greatly outweigh a close-in booking fee. Or, for that matter, even likely greatly outweigh the airline-change fee which shouldn't be charged. So it seems to me that whether there's any fee of not, you'd save money by making a such change, the only question would be how much net money you would save.
sdsearch is offline  
Old Aug 31, 2017, 1:48 pm
  #881  
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Originally Posted by Perdita
Thank you for the quick reply!

I did see that post, but didn't know where that info was from.

Why do they have it one way internally and show the opposite publicly?

So I assume it's safe to go with the internal policy? I may book BA or IB and switch to AA TATL if it becomes available, knowing there won't be a change fee.
Just to be clear, there won't be a change fee for changing the airline.

However, for those subject to the close-in (21-day) fees, would that fee apply if the AA availability only shows up less than 21 days out?

Of course, in the case of going from BA to AA metal, the YQ savings would presumably greatly outweigh a close-in booking fee. Or, for that matter, even likely greatly outweigh the airline-change fee which shouldn't be charged. So it seems to me that whether there's any fee of not, you'd save money by making a such change, the only question would be how much net money you would save.
sdsearch is offline  
Old Aug 31, 2017, 2:15 pm
  #882  
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Originally Posted by sdsearch
Just to be clear, there won't be a change fee for changing the airline.

However, for those subject to the close-in (21-day) fees, would that fee apply if the AA availability only shows up less than 21 days out?
It would not.

Originally Posted by Perdita
...So I assume it's safe to go with the internal policy?
Sometimes requires a few calls, but yes.
JonNYC is offline  
Old Aug 31, 2017, 2:15 pm
  #883  
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Originally Posted by sdsearch
Just to be clear, there won't be a change fee for changing the airline.

However, for those subject to the close-in (21-day) fees, would that fee apply if the AA availability only shows up less than 21 days out?
It would not.

Originally Posted by Perdita
...So I assume it's safe to go with the internal policy?
Sometimes requires a few calls, but yes.
JonNYC is offline  
Old Sep 3, 2017, 12:19 pm
  #884  
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: ORD
Programs: United Silver, AA, Delta, Marriott, Hyatt.
Posts: 432
Originally Posted by Willbur
Yup, I booked PHL-PRG in biz but the domestic leg is in economy since the availability to PHL sucks.
This seems to be a huge issue at ORD as well. I don't need it any time real soon, but not encouraged about being able to get use out of this route.
Clay_C. is offline  
Old Sep 3, 2017, 12:19 pm
  #885  
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: ORD
Programs: United Silver, AA, Delta, Marriott, Hyatt.
Posts: 432
Originally Posted by Willbur
Yup, I booked PHL-PRG in biz but the domestic leg is in economy since the availability to PHL sucks.
This seems to be a huge issue at ORD as well. I don't need it any time real soon, but not encouraged about being able to get use out of this route.
Clay_C. is offline  


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