finding milesaavers
 

no question this has been covered before - but I am failing to find it (something recent).

The "new" AA chart is not ... usable in this way. The AA calendar shows one "mile" price - but does not (obviously to me anyway) show which are "milesaavers" (bookable with partners) and which are not. Is there a magic key? What am I missing here? Why does it have to be so hard?

(Tons of responses to this at Mr. Google - but all of them are out of date. Nothing I can find describes the new way, whatever it is, and apparently I am too stupid to figure it out!)

Thanks in advance...

If you want to see what's bookable with partners either search using a partner or use EF.

Yea, there is no way to filter aa.com to show only sAAver space that I'm aware of. Just have to hunt and peck.

I’ve used the BA site to search for MileSAAvers to then ask for/book on AA (eg AA domestic flights to tag onto international partner redemption)

Not sure it works in ur situation but I have. Used the calendar function and found a date with partner avail and then out a check mark next to the partner I wanted and re ran the query. This was on the web and was for a trip to JNB where both BA and QR would come up.

AA never posts their awards on Cathay website. Conventional wisdom used to be use BA - but now that has changed. Now we're on to Quantas.

I am asking how you do it on AA's website exclusively.

I know EF is a thing - but is this an admission (not of yours) that it is - literally - impossible to find MilesAAvers on AAs website - regardless of effort - is that true? Or if not true - what is the method?

Thanks everyone, your replies came up while I was still typing and before I refreshed.

The "hunt and peck" seems closest to what I'm looking for - but even with that method - how do I know?

If you click on a particular AA flight and it's being offered as a "Web Special," it will say so. If that language is absent, and the miles required match the mileage for MileSAAver awards on the redemption chart, then it's a MileSAAver.

In some cases, AA offers both Web Special awards and MileSAAver awards on the same flight.

If you want to search segment by segment it's hard to beat EF.

I think that the reason that you can't specifically search for sAAvers on AA is because sAAvers are only relevant when booking on a partner (in which case search using the partner; AA's site is not going to tell you what's available to partners) or when attaching to a partner res on AA (in which case they want you searching end to end, because that enforces routing rules and married segments. Unfortunately it's not perfect).

If you just want to buy an AA award on AA metal, the concept of sAAver is antiquated, which is probably why they don't show it. Sometimes non-sAAvers are cheaper than sAAvers.

If you just want to buy an AA award on AA metal

Agree all that.

What I'm trying to do here is dump a bunch of Asia Miles before Cathay bites the dust. (Debate over that possibility flames on - many other threads - not hashing it here - I've just made the decision to get some sure (if not perfect) value out of these while I can.)

Only way for me to easily do that is fly American - using Cathay miles. Except I cannot figure out how! I have googled the poop outta this - but responses all hearken back to the "Easy" chart, no longer available.

Meantime - the miles required match the mileage for MileSAAver awards on the redemption chart, then it's a MileSAAver

seems to be exactly what I needed!

Then I have to call Cathay and book it - after finding one. That's why specific date and segment and destination is not what I want - instead, I just want to find a milesaAver - ANY ONE AT ALL - and start booking them. I travel a ton, there will undoubtedly be something there that interests me. Is there another / better / strategy?

It sounds like your beef here is with Cathay.

IMO your best bet is to use EF. It's well worth the $99/year; not just for this.

If you want to save the $99, use a different partner to search. Personally, I'm a fan of the AS calendar search.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...8c4fa1d4ae.png

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...516ac0ed4f.png

First screenshot shows a "Web Special" award (which, in this particular case, is pricing higher than a MileSAAver award).

Second screenshot shows a MileSAAver award; note the absence of "Web Special" language. (Lest there be any confusion, 7,500 miles is the Economy MileSAAver redemption rate on this sub-500-mile AA nonstop.)

But clicking on every result to see if it's saver is time consuming. OP needs to filter so only saver shows up. The best way to do this is to search using a partner, since the partner can't see non-saver, or use EF, since you can filter by award type.

Oooh thanks guv! That's exactly it! Wow - they're subtle aren't they? Even the "websaver" is not particularly something that jumps off the page...sheesh...thank you sincerely for making that effort.

Vegas - you are not entirely wrong there - Cathay is the source of much heartache here - starting with a 500K redemption that took me a year (ahead) to plan and book - all over the phone, as that is their only way on certain things. I do not speak Mandarin. It was a struggle - but I made it - only to have COVID dump the whole thing in the trash.

Cathay shows many - but not all - oneworld partners on their regular site - and in fact, I can easily use Asia miles to fly nearly anywhere on the planet using other partners...as long as they're not AA (or a few others). AA (the most useful to me) is also the most painful to redeem.

Note that my experience using my AA miles on AA flights has been golden - easy and straightforward, no complaints. And using Cathay Miles on Cathay was also easy. The problem is using Cathay Miles on American. Not too easy. I consider myself (still) an absolute rookie at this - but with at least mediocre PC skills and IQ - so it's frustrating to struggle so much with something that should be a simple click click click.

Thank you all again for the info.

You have to dig around for them and it’s a lot harder than it used to be. If you look at the month view, saver (T/U/S space) is highlighted in green. There may or may not be web special pricing that is cheaper.

I just pay up for Award Nexus and let it do the work for me.