redtop43

I'm going to Las Vegas in a few weeks for a bridge tournament. My partner and I plan to stay until we're eliminated, then come back home (to PHL). We're both semi-retired so neither of us needs to run right back to the office, but we don't want to stay around Vegas either. I promised to pay for his ticket home, assuming that at worst I'd have to pay 25K miles. But I've looked online several times in the evening to see what flights are available the following day, and mostly what I'm seeing is a true worst-case scenario - 50K miles for a coach redeye connection.

I realize there may not be a good workaround, but people on this board are unbounded in their ingenuity. We obviously have options like staying in Vegas an extra day, or entering a different event with a known termination date. And maybe on the day we get eliminated, ticket availability will be better. But I'm open to clever ideas, if there are any. I'm not EXP, so booking multiple returns and refunding them isn't an option.

tbone14

Look at award availability through a connecting city (PHX, DFW, ORD, CLT, LAX) as 2 one-ways to see if the mileage redemption may be cheaper. In addition, award flights can be held for 5 days. If you found something cheaper, you could put it on hold before the trip.

Jaimito Cartero

redtop43

I do check F. I'm elite so the close-in ticketing fee doesn't apply.

How does the hold process work? I assume I can't put flights on hold for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. How long in advance do you have to cancel them?

I'll check the two one-ways if I have no better option when the time comes.

flyingeph12

First, I think you should definitely book the outbound and return separately. This might allow you more flexibility in changing the return without risking the outbound.

Second, date and routing changes are generally free, as long as your destination and origin stay the same. Additionally, you probably can get the fee waived for a change from a MileSaver to AAnytime award (though you might need to HUCA), so if you are willing to eat the cost of an AAnytime award as a last resort, there's really very little downside to booking a MileSaver award for a date that will likely work (like the last day of the tournament), assuming there is availability at the moment.

Finally, AA has increased the use of married segments. This means that LAS-PHL might not be available, but LAS-PHL-AVP (etc.) might be. So I might take a quick look at cities that will require you to connect in PHL in any event to see if that increases availability (e.g., MDT, AVP, ABE, etc.)—which is why, again, I would book the outbound and return separately. There's nothing stopping you from getting off at PHL (although I would not encourage you to make a habit of engaging in such a habit). Of course, if you book a return to somewhere other PHL, changing the date later would require that there be availability to that other city.

tbone14

On the payment page, an option listed is "hold". If you select that, the itinerary is held for a maximum of 5 days. I just checked, and if the flight is less than 5 days, the "hold" only lasts until the flight occurs. If you do not purchase the award flight, the system kicks it out automatically.

More than one held itinerary should be possible. The reservation system would only kick out conflicting itineraries on the same date and time. If it is different days, I do not see an issue.

arlflyer

1) Win tournament

2) Fly private home

redtop43

Unfortunately it's a bridge tournament with no prize money, not a poker tournament.

I called AA and was told that you can hold until midnight the next day, all times are Central. So let's say we have just won our Tuesday match and it's 11PM Pacific, 1AM Wednesday Central. I asked if I could book (say) a noon flight Thursday and was told it would be held until 2 hours before the flight. This would allow me to wait until our Wednesday match is over and then at 11PM Wednesday night, 1AM Thursday Central, either ticket the flight (if we lost) or book a new flight for Friday (if we won).

I think the one extra day of advance purchase will make a big difference. I really don't relish paying 50K miles each for two coach tickets that are red-eye connections.

redtop43

I have already booked the outbound as a paid ticket.

I will be checking at least one bag so the hidden city trick doesn't work, but thanks. For the routings I've been looking at I doubt this would work, since they are all already connections. Seems unlikely that LAS-DFW-PHL-ABE would be available but not LAS-DFW-PHL.

I don't mind paying 25K for a ticket, but I want to avoid paying 50K for a terrible routing, which is what I've been seeing as last-minute availability.

I have very little idea when we will leave. Right now we don't even have teammates for the single-elimination event we want to enter. The last time we played in it we reached the semi-finals but that was 10 years ago. If we don't enter that event, it will be easy as we would probably decide what other events to enter and those are two days long at most.

tbone14

For reservations and timing, from my experience and what I have been told, the cutoff time is based on the departure city time zone, for when the flight is booked. I know this for a fact as I live in AZ. Daylight savings time is not recognized, and the state switches from PST to MST depending on the time of year.

Thus, "midnight the next day, all times are Central" is not technically correct.

In your example, if you held an award flight for Thursday at 12PM PST, you would have until 2 hours before the flight to confirm (assuming what the agent said is correct). The flight should not cancel out at Thursday 12AM CST or EST (or 11PM PST on Wednesday).

dll

guv1976

From July 22-28, I'm seeing LAS-PHL Coach SAAver awards available every day that week for 16.5K miles or less. Some of the itineraries may be less than ideal, offering long connections, but since you have status with AA, you get to standby for earlier flights at no charge.

Make sure that you use the "Sort" function after your award search comes up; sort the itineraries from lowest cost to highest cost to see the cheaper award offerings.

flyingeph12

guv1976

That's a fair point, but I think that the OP's best bet in these circumstances is not to book anything until the LAS departure date is known, and then hope that a "regular" SAAver award or an Economy Web Special award is available within a day or two. For example, I am seeing reasonably priced LAS-PHL Coach awards available for this Thursday.

flyingeph12