JJeffrey

Hainan is certainly not a mileage redemption partner with AA so this is no surprise.

But for the AA flights, have you called AA to check on the BOS-ORD-NRT?

dpakman91

I have not called in about that one.

miles4sheli

I booked an AAdvantage Award on Alaska Airlines last week. I will tell you, there is an issue with aa.com. When I search for flights on my smart phone there is MUCH LESS AAdvantage Award availability showing than when I check from my Laptop (I have cleared cookies, used different browsers, incognito mode, etc., to troubleshoot). It seems to be for flights with a connection (e.g., if I search from where the 2nd flight begins, it seems correct for the 2nd portion, but that first portion's award availability doesn't always appear on my phone). I noticed this sometime last week and it persists to the present. It's odd! {So if using a mobile phone on aa.com, be sure to go to the bottom of the page and click for the Full Site option to see greater availability.}

CutePanda

Hi all,

I have had great luck with low-cost award seats booked the day before with AA miles for an Alaska flight.
Booking 1 week before and the selection looks really bad. No major event going on that I know of.

Are seats released en masse the night before?

JDiver

Au contraire. A number of members is saying that the once common release of award seats at last moment has dried up.

FlyingEgghead

Award availability on AS flights is AS's decision, not AA's.

Daniel Solis

I booked a award flight with AA from LAS-SFO on alaska and SFO-DFW on american however when I booked the trip it said the 1st and 2nd bag is free with Alaska is that a glitch since they don't have a partnership or is my EXP bag allowance still valid?

Jaimito Cartero

Daniel Solis

Coach

3Cforme

Take your AA ticket receipt that shows the 2-bag allowance when you go to check bags with AS. If they refuse and make you pay (which is my expectation) you will have a great case for a refund from AA, and a nice DOT complaint. It's AA's job under Federal regs from 2012 to get this right. See 14CFR 399.85c

Daniel Solis

perfect thanks for the info.

johnasmith

AA offered me Alaska Airlines non-stop LAX EWR September 2019 using miles. When I got to the final booking it said I had to call Alaska for a seat assignment. Since I wasn't sure how that worked I thought i would check with all of you before booking. My questions, how do I do that and are there any tips Flyertalk members can offer? Thanks.

miles4sheli

I can't recall how I booked the seats last year, but believe it was directly on the Alaska Airlines website. I can tell you, if you have free bag privileges for Economy through a credit card, that does not carry over to Alaska Airlines, even with the AAdvantage Award. The cost was $25. We really enjoyed flying this airline; they had excellent customer service.

freeagent

After booking you can call AA and ask an agent for the AS Conformation Code. This will intern allow you to manage your booking through Alaska's website, therefore enabling you to choose your seat.

JDiver

The easiest thing is to call AA or DM @AmericanAir on Twitter to get your AS PNR so you can access your booking online. You can always put your award booking on hold for five days the next time - no fees for cancelling or walking away from a hold, but if your favorite award is taken by someone else you’re out of luck.