Definitas

I have been successful in the past at booking milesAAver fares using Avios via BA.COM. However, it seems impossible to find those fares and the minthly calendar that used to display them seems to have disappeared. I have also noticed that the required Advantage miles as shown on the mileage redemption chart now seem to match the web saver fare (which is not bookable using Avios). Has AA done away with milesAAver fares and shut down the opportunity to book using One World partners?

fotographer

it would help if you state the dates.. from where to where you are going... and how many passengers...
there are a lot of experts here.. once that they have that info.. can provide some answers...

JJeffrey

No, AA hasn't done away with sAAver space all together, however it is much (much) harder to find nowadays. A vast majority of award space is web special. This has certainly made booking AA flights with partners like avios much more difficult.

Definitas

There are too many options to list but it is obvious from the dates I have been looking at for flights to YYZ, RSW and BNA from ORD are predominately available for web saver fares which makes them inaccessible for BA Executive Club members

AAMCI

The quickest way to search for MilesAAVer awards is to use expertflyer.com (paid subscription). You can quickly search 1 week at a time for origin/destination pairs, and look for T (economy), U (business), or Z (first) awards. Once you find what you are looking for on Expertflyer, go to BA.com and confirm that the same inventory is available to purchase using Avios.

Here is an example of what I quickly found on ORD-YYZ in T (economy) and BA.com shows the awards available for purchase with Avios.

MathMusic

Once in a while when looking at Webspecial awards on AA.com it offers the option to "buy up" to a saaver rate, at least when the Web special awards are actually cheaper than the Saver rate.

I don't know if those flights could be booked through a partner or not, but I would think it is likely. Sadly you are right that most award space is now Webspecials and no longer really on an award chart, which greatly limits partner bookings.

FallenPlat

Honestly, Avios only work well for "easy" city pairs. Try DFW-ORD or DFW-LGA, for example. Yeah, you're getting maybe a penny a point in value. For me, the only thing that makes this work is Amex's periodic 28.6% discounts (advertised as 1-to-1.4 tranfers).

Definitas

Many thanks. That is very interesting. I am looking to book ORD-YYZ next August and flights should be released in about a week. I am also hoping for RSW flights (which I have found many times in the past) in January. I will have to look into getting Expertflyer to ease the process.

Definitas

I have been looking at the first week in august 23 to see what kind of inventory pops up (I don't need seats until the following week). However, I was surprised to see no availability on the BA website for the whole week 29 July - 4 August 23 as there is normally availability that far out. If you have time I would be very grateful if you would do a check to see if there is any on Expert Flyer so that I can see whether they just haven't released any or if the BA website is just not showing it then at least I will have an idea where to start. TIA

guv1976

There's no need to use Expert Flyer. Download the AA app, or go to aa.com. Once you know the MileSAAver redemption rate (as shown on the AAdvantage redemption tables for travel on AA metal), just look to see if AA is offering any flights at the MileSAAver redemption rates. If you see a redemption rate that is lower than the MileSAAver rate, you will have to click through on the particular offering to see whether MileSAAver award seats are also available. If you see any, then check ba.com. Here's one example of MileSAAver Economy Class availability for YYZ-RSW on in January:




I'm not seeing MileSAAver availability on any of the YYZ-ORD nonstops yet for August; but it's not unusual for AA not to make MileSAAver seats available immediately at 331 days out. I would check periodically (weekly? monthly?) to see if anything has changed.

With an Expert Flyer subscription, you could set alerts so that you did not have to repeatedly check aa.com.

If you are based in YYZ and plan to fly AA to/from the U.S. with regularity, I would try to get a stash of AAdvantage miles. As you can see from the YYZ-RSW screenshot, Web Special awards -- which are only available with AAdvantage miles -- can provide some exceptionally cheap redemption opportunities.

JetAirways77W

A lot of saver space is last minute these days, especially transcon F - a few weeks ago I found Z space on an SFO-JFK redeye (usually opens sometime between T-72 and T-24) and booked it at T-30 using 25k Etihad miles transferred from Amex.

Definitas

I’m UK based but have family in Chicago so I often begin US Domestic flights from ORD and try to use Avios if possible because the return is so good, particularly due to the £Pound being so weak. I’m definitely going to look into Expert Flyer.

guv1976

Ah, OK.

Unfortunately, there does not seem to be an AAdvantage credit card currently available to U.K. residents.