AAdvantage awards on AY / Finnair
Apr 7, 2015, 7:32 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 13
AAdvantage awards on AY / Finnair
Can anyone tell me the booking class to look for on AY for award seat availability in business. I know AA books in U but what is the AY booking class that needs to be available. I can only see X Y-Award space. Looking for AA award on 2JUL ORD-HEL in biz. Also the AY website shows it has upgrade availability but AA says there are no available awards.
Apr 7, 2015, 8:29 pm
#2
Join Date: May 2003
Programs: OW Emerald
Posts: 1,452
Can anyone tell me the booking class to look for on AY for award seat availability in business. I know AA books in U but what is the AY booking class that needs to be available. I can only see X Y-Award space. Looking for AA award on 2JUL ORD-HEL in biz. Also the AY website shows it has upgrade availability but AA says there are no available awards.
Apr 7, 2015, 8:42 pm
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Not here; there!
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 29,588
Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)
Regardless of the booking class, AY award seats, if available, should show up on an award search at aa.com.
Regardless of the booking class, AY award seats, if available, should show up on an award search at aa.com.
Apr 7, 2015, 8:48 pm
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 13
Actually that's incorrect. Because the initial economy booking I made for this flight wasn't showing on AA.com but was showing on BA.com. I called AA and they secured the two seats. But I seem to no be able to find J availability anywhere even with expert flyer. Finnair website shows they have 4 upgrades available but AA doesn't see biz class awards
Apr 7, 2015, 9:00 pm
#5
Join Date: May 2003
Programs: OW Emerald
Posts: 1,452
At least on some airlines, upgrades and business class awards are separate classes (e.g. AA has C for upgrade, U for award). Seeing availability for one does not necessarily mean you should see it for the other.
Apr 7, 2015, 9:04 pm
#6
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No, it's correct. AY award seats should show up on aa.com. Sometimes they don't because of some type of glitch (and sometimes ba.com shows "phantom" award space on other carriers that is not actually bookable).
Glad that you were ultimately able to secure the Economy award seats by calling AA.
Originally Posted by PU2005
Actually that's incorrect. Because the initial economy booking I made for this flight wasn't showing on AA.com but was showing on BA.com. I called AA and they secured the two seats. But I seem to no be able to find J availability anywhere even with expert flyer. Finnair website shows they have 4 upgrades available but AA doesn't see biz class awards
Glad that you were ultimately able to secure the Economy award seats by calling AA.
Dec 30, 2015, 1:19 am
#9
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: DUS
Posts: 318
Any success with this in the end? Looking to redeem on HKG<->HEL next year December and I can see sheer endless J availability on HEL->HKG (not none in Y), but almost no awards in J or Y in December at all.
Dec 30, 2015, 4:09 am
#10
Join Date: May 2003
Programs: OW Emerald
Posts: 1,452
You cannot book December yet. 330 days from now is still November.
Dec 30, 2015, 6:50 am
#11
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: DUS
Posts: 318
Not with AA I cannot, that's true. And sorry if it's a bit OT in this way but I'm looking to redeem Asia Miles for this flight and those can be redeemed 360 days out. However, I thought his thread is still appropriate since the concept of AY award availability applies equally to AA and CX apart from the 30 days difference in booking window.
On both Expertflyer and BA I can see availability in Y on AY70 on December 15th, 2016, for example, but none the days before or the entire week after. Meanwhile AY42 (ICN->HEL) shows Y4 almost every day I'm looking at.
Therefore it seems AY is not consistent with releasing seats on AY70. Meanwhile, AY71 on the return consistently has J2 (but Y0), at least according to BA.com as EF cannot access AY's J inventory.
On both Expertflyer and BA I can see availability in Y on AY70 on December 15th, 2016, for example, but none the days before or the entire week after. Meanwhile AY42 (ICN->HEL) shows Y4 almost every day I'm looking at.
Therefore it seems AY is not consistent with releasing seats on AY70. Meanwhile, AY71 on the return consistently has J2 (but Y0), at least according to BA.com as EF cannot access AY's J inventory.
Dec 30, 2015, 7:49 am
#12
Join Date: May 2003
Programs: OW Emerald
Posts: 1,452
Not with AA I cannot, that's true. And sorry if it's a bit OT in this way but I'm looking to redeem Asia Miles for this flight and those can be redeemed 360 days out. However, I thought his thread is still appropriate since the concept of AY award availability applies equally to AA and CX apart from the 30 days difference in booking window.
Dec 30, 2015, 7:55 am
#13
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
Yes. If it's not about using AA miles, it's kind of useless to post here; better to post in the forum of the airline one is using miles or other instruments from to acquire an award on Finnair. It's also misplaced and off topic.
Jan 25, 2016, 1:12 pm
#14
Join Date: Jan 2006
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Posts: 1,073
Validity of a Finnair Award Booking Using AAdvantage miles
Hi, I am somewhat new to AA redemptions. Can someone please help me to determine whether or not this booking should be 50K Miles at the Saver level or 70K:
September 10 on AY: LJU-HEL (arriving HEL at 10:55 PM)
September 11 on AY: HEL-MIA (departure 5 PM arrival 8 PM)
September 12 on AA: MIA-IAH (departure at 7 AM)
Since all my stopovers are less than 24 hours, would they be considered as stopovers? Thank you.
When I attempt to book this on AA.com, it prices out at 70K.
September 10 on AY: LJU-HEL (arriving HEL at 10:55 PM)
September 11 on AY: HEL-MIA (departure 5 PM arrival 8 PM)
September 12 on AA: MIA-IAH (departure at 7 AM)
Since all my stopovers are less than 24 hours, would they be considered as stopovers? Thank you.
When I attempt to book this on AA.com, it prices out at 70K.
Jan 25, 2016, 2:36 pm
#15
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: BOS, BWI, DCA, IAD
Programs: American, Delta, JetBlue, United
Posts: 2,049
Hi, I am somewhat new to AA redemptions. Can someone please help me to determine whether or not this booking should be 50K Miles at the Saver level or 70K:
September 10 on AY: LJU-HEL (arriving HEL at 10:55 PM)
September 11 on AY: HEL-MIA (departure 5 PM arrival 8 PM)
September 12 on AA: MIA-IAH (departure at 7 AM)
Since all my stopovers are less than 24 hours, would they be considered as stopovers? Thank you.
When I attempt to book this on AA.com, it prices out at 70K.
September 10 on AY: LJU-HEL (arriving HEL at 10:55 PM)
September 11 on AY: HEL-MIA (departure 5 PM arrival 8 PM)
September 12 on AA: MIA-IAH (departure at 7 AM)
Since all my stopovers are less than 24 hours, would they be considered as stopovers? Thank you.
When I attempt to book this on AA.com, it prices out at 70K.
I find the following flights (among others) available at 50k:
Sept 10 AY: LJU-HEL as above
Sept 11 AY: HEL-MIA as above
Sept 12 AA: MIA-IAH (departure at 10:59 AM, arrival at 12:43 PM)
There are also AY flights available through JFK or ORD rather than MIA (some with better connections), and some earlier AA flights MIA-IAH. Try going to the AA website and attempting to book B/F award travel LJU-IAH on September 10. You should see several pages of options at 50k; all depart HEL on September 11 and reach IAH on the 11th or 12th.