Award: AA.com says NO. EF says YES. AA agent says YES
 

I got an EF alert that BA 207 (lhr-mia), July 4 2020, had 2 mile saver awards available. EF search said they were available.

When I looked on AA.com... and it only showed flights with connections. BA 207 was not listed.

BUT... when I called AA.... the agent saw the 2 mile saver awards as being available. And booked me on that flight.

Any ideas... on what is going on?

Can't say what's going on, but a similar thing happened to me a couple years ago, except it was AA metal. Saw it on EF and not on AA.com, called in and was able to book. Also had agent waive phone fee since I wasn't able to book on AA.com.

AA.COM does not show real-time inventory (on initial display), as far as I know. When you actually try to book, then it does and sometimes you are kicked-back because inventory shown is no longer available. EF checks real-time, as do AA agents. Thus newly available inventory may now show immediately on AA.COM. At least that's my understanding.

Good information. Thanks! :)

can anyone verify this? if true... very frustrating to learn that aa,com is not accurate for award searches

It has been this way as long as I can remember, or as long as I've been a moderator in the AA forum (I came from the US Airways side).

Last year when I was looking for award travel to Australia, Expert Flyer caught some Qantas inventory and I called and was able to book it. The AA website never had it.

It's not just award searches, it is ANY search, as far as I know. AA.COM does not check real-time every query when it presents a list of possible flights - award or not. I have no idea of the "refresh" cycle, and (I suspect) that it is quite likely that award inventory may be updated less frequently than revenue inventory. I believe that is (at least one of) the reason(s) when you attempt to purchase (or hold) a reservation (of any type) it may kick back saying that the inventory is no longer available. That, of course, is an example of less inventory than presented. It is equally possible for inventory to factually be available that does not appear in your initial section list.

For the reason about aa.com showing delayed/not-realtime data, I always call in to book tricky or longhaul reward flights. It's just easier :)

Totally agree, and where that works great for CK/EXP, you can get hit with booking charges otherwise. (I believe... Sadly I will be finding out soon enough for myself!)

Yeah, calling in naturally works best when wait times are low (ex: EXP/CK desks usually have low waits which makes it a bit more convenient)... but I'm sure if you're friendly & nice on the call as a GLD/Plat/PlatPro/etc. elite they'll make an effort to waive the phone fee if you explain why you called in vs. tried booking online.

Well, I do hope you are correct. But you, as CK, have your own group of agents as do EXP. AFAIK, all others go to the same group, just at different priorities in wait time. AND, those agents may have even less freedom than EXP/CK agents.