Chamor

I have a domestic US flight on 24-hour hold. I am guessing that the fare is likely to go down. Other than the issue of whether I want to spend my time doing this, is there any reason why I should not continue to make and hold reservations, 24 hours at a time, until the fare goes down -- or goes up, if I am guessing wrong -- and then ticket it?

I would not hold multiple reservations. Instead, I would make the reservation, put it on 24-hour hold, then promptly cancel my old reservation. (So I would be double booked on the same flights, but only for 5 minutes or so). Then the next day, I would do the same thing -- until I get a fare that I am satisfied with.

Is this behavior likely to get flagged in some way by AA? Is it an abuse of the 24-hour hold privilege? Or am I entirely within my rights to do this? Thanks.

arollins

Lots of people do that, I myself do it as well, purchase once fare goes up, or find better deal on other carrier that does not allow for holds.

JJeffrey

Nope, no issues at all, done similar things many times over the years as well.

xliioper

Most cheaper fares have advance purchase requirements (which can be found in the fare rules). Domestically, the cheapest fares generally have 2 - 3 week advance purchase requirements. If you purchase such a fare and then pass the advance purchase requirement threshold, the chances of the fare dropping in price are somewhat slim (it requires that the airline make new fare filings -- such as for a fare sale). With an ExpertFlyer account you can check if there are cheaper fare filings out there or not as well as bucket inventory availability on flights. This would give you a better idea on how likely it will be for lower fares to open up (if you are getting a higher fare due to lack of inventory in lower fare classes which may open up at a later point).

Another useful feature on ExpertFlyer is the ability to see historical fares using backdated ticketing dates. AA will often match WN fares on competing routes when they have fare sales and you can see what AA was charging at times when WN was having a fare sale (which are fairly frequent and usually run from Tue-Thu).

If you are purchasing flights months and months out (instead of a few weeks in advance), there's a better possibility of fare sales and new fare filings with lower price points opening up. But then you have to ask yourself if you are willing to do this for months and months if the potential savings may not be that great

With no change fees these days, it may be more productive to just set a fare alert for the flight on Google Flights and then take a credit if there is a fare drop.

Antarius

One more in agreement with the above. There's no issue with doing this. Just don't forget and get hosed.

IADCAflyer

Been there, done that.

mvoight

I remember some public communication from AA a few months ago regarding "speculative" holds or something like that
Something along the lines of "do not do this"
That is all I remember.

_kurt

aa.com will not allow you to ticket the same passenger twice on the same flight. You can use two browsers to cancel the old hold just seconds before placing the new one. Or, you can book the new one without your FF number and go back and add it after cancelling the old one.

Keep in mind that the hold is valid for the remainder of the current day and all of the next day so if you make the hold one minute after midnight in the departure city you get nearly 48 hours. Just be careful with time zones.

PHL

I've done it as well, but sometimes don't mind paying a few $ to do the 3/5/7 day hold and just keep an eye on my google flight tracker with the same flights.

Chamor

I would not ticket the same passenger twice. I would just hold the reservation. Then the next day book the same two passengers on the same flights. Hold that reservation. And then a few minutes later, cancel the first reservation. So I would have two reservations, for the same two passengers, on the same flights -- for a few minutes. But neither reservation would (yet) be ticketed.

vasantn

The system will generally not let you do that. You will need to use two browsers as explained above.

asf-07

- Do you fly AA frequently? If so, I don't see the need to go about it this way. You could purchase the ticket now at whatever the price is, and then simply check the current price daily. If it drops, you can convert to the lower price and take a voucher for the difference. Such is the beauty of the current world void of change fees.

- If you don't fly AA frequently, you can do as you described. It's a little more work, but I suppose worth it if you wouldn't be in a position to use a voucher.

Chamor

For what its worth, the system did allow me to do this one time. The next time, I made the new reservation without including my AAdvantage number, and then added the AAdvantage number after I had cancelled the old reservation. I don't like the two browser thing, if I can help it, because stuff can happen sometimes, even in a few seconds.

The idea of just buying the tickets at the current price -- and then taking a voucher for the difference if the price goes down -- is a good idea, though. I am not used to the "no change fees" world...

Repooc17

Never had a need to do any of this especially nowadays without change fees on domestic flights, specifically.

iadisgreat

Just get however far you can get with the new reservation, with all the info you want to put in, until you get blocked for a duplicate booking. Cancel the first one. Put on hold the second one. Avoids any potential reaction from AA for double booking (if they care at all). The fare isn't going to change in the 15 seconds between canceling hold 1 and securing hold 2.