LukeO9

Is there a rule that states that any flight available for points redemption within a OW airline's FF program must be available for a partner-airline points redemption booking with another OW airline's FF program?

Dave Noble

No

ckpeter

Yes. And No.

I recall that, a number of years ago, oneworld put out a statement that it is the general intention of the alliance to make the awards equally available to all member programs. This was in contrast to UA star-net blocking that was going on at that time.

However, in reality, CX often has expanded availability only to Asia Mile members, so clearly, that intention is not precisely followed in practice. Nonetheless, compared to SQ / LH awards in Star, or AF award in SkyTeam, oneworld tends to be the alliance with the most "equal" award availability.

the-ca-goat

I just held 6 awards! Under 5 different reservations:

ORD-HKG-SIN
LGK-KUL-HKG-FCO
FCO-MAD-MIA-ORD

3 each for my wife and I for a RTW honeymoon trip. While I've been around FT a while, I'm pretty new to AAdvantage so I have a few questions:

Should I try to combine reservations?

We each need to pay for 3 awards but the agent seemed unconcerned with which account they were held under. When we ticket will there be a problem pulling miles out of my wife's account for a reservation for both of us held under my account? Or a reservation for her alone out of my account?

FCO-MAD-MIA is on IB. On AA.com it says on request unti 1/3/15 (I'm hoping they mean 1/3/16) but doing some research around here leads me to believe it's only a 24 hour hold, however the agent didn't mention this. I'm hoping to improve this routing to remove the 6 hour MAD layover or double connection. Should I ticket tomorrow or can I wait?

Dave Noble

The entire journey for each passenger can be issued from either account

I believe that 6 awards is more than can be done in 1 reservation

If you want to issue 1 ticket using miles from 1 account and the other from the other account, the agent will need to split the bookings into 2 reservations

LukeO9

What about a OW airline flight available for points redemption with a different OW airline's FF program. Is this flight then available for any OW partner-airline points redemption booking?

Dave Noble

The only thing that matters is what the airline through which the redemption is being made can see. There is no rule that requires availability

Generally, I have found that if can see it available on BA it is available. For an airline whose inventory can be checked on Expert Flyer, I have yet to come across a case where Expert Flyer can see it but AA cannot

Happy

Your post is not clear on exactly how you put the reservations on hold. Are both you and your wife on the SAME PNR on each award? Or you have 6 different PNRs? Or a combination of ?

From the look of it, you have 3 distinct itineraries. There is no reason to combine the itineraries into one single ticket. A ticket can hold up to 4 awards (each person has his own ticket, so in this case you have only 3 awards to put on a single ticket). However it looks to me you are making stops so there is no connection involved with each award. Why make it a gigantic ticket to combine all 3 awards versus make it simple and just have 3 tickets? Especially if you need to change something on one part of the itinerary, you do not risk anything mess up on those other segments.
Given it to me I would keep 3 separate itineraries, each has both passengers, i.e. one PNR for each itinerary. There will be 3 reservations each has 2 tickets.

AA does not care which account the miles are coming from to pay for the tickets. If you are traveling together you should have both passengers ticketed under the same PNR. This makes it much easier in the future to "improve" the bookings. Miles need to come out from ONE account only for all the passengers on the PNR. If you need miles coming from each passenger's account, then the PNR needs to split to make each passenger has his own PNR.

Dave Noble

I believe it does matter where the miles are coming from

If there are 2 passengers each travelling from A-B - for them to be able to be kept on the save reservation, both awards have to be taken from the same account

If each passenger's mileage is being taken from separate accounts, then I believe that they need to be split

Happy

I already said that. See the bolded part.

AA does not care where the miles coming from to pay for the tickets that is the essence. For that matter you could pay for their tickets if you are feeling generous and AA would not care. HOW you pay it, you need to meet the technicality requirement which I already mentioned about that.

Happy

For a period in the past LAN awards must be ticketed at reservation because for whatever reason the reservations were canceled by LAN after they were put on hold.

Is this still the case or it has been rectified?

I have found LAN availability shown as married segments on BA site. I hope the AAgent would understand that, especially the domestic Chile segment is to a location that hardly anybody knows where it is and I could not even know how to pronounce the name of the location correctly.

flyingeph12

Late last year/early this year, I held LAN awards for 5 days without any problem. There was one agent who thought LAN awards could not be held, but after checking he was able to hold the reservation. I didn't know LAN at one point did not allow holds.

LukeO9

What if I've found one?

pa3lsvt

N00b-ish question:

I am trying to plan award travel PHL-FCO on J for myself and Mrs. pa3lsvt. Direct (AA metal) flights are all anytime (110k - 180k) awards. Booking engine gives me BA overwater options for 50k, but of course with all the YQ added in which is a deal breaker.

I have enough miles to book a sAAver in one direction and a 110k AAnytime in the other, which would allow us to fly a direct return A330 FCO-PHL - but only if I am creative on the outbound.

I have found some 50k U bucket availability to PHL-MAD (via DFW or MIA) on AA metal, and some same-day connections in MAD on IB to FCO - all U buckets per Expert Flyer.

My question:
Can I call AA and get them to book PHL-DFW/MIA-MAD-FCO for 50k if I feed them the flights where I see U availability (both AA and IB)?

I sort of know the answer is "if the fare rules allow" but I am not sure how/where to check the applicable fare rules.

Dave Noble

If you feed the agent the flights, then the agent will price it up and tell you how many miles it will cost and so know if it is a single award

To check valid routings in advance, subscribe to a tool such as Expert Flyer

PHL-DFW-MAD-FCO is 7096 miles
PHL-MIA-MAD-FCO is 6266 miles

AA's PHL-FCO fares have a Maximum Permitted mileage of 5,241 miles with a 550 allowance for going via DFW

I think it is likely that you will not get that as a single award, but the best way to know is to phone and check