Booking Multiple Awards On Same Metal
 

Mods, please relocate if appropriate.

I just booked the following award tickets:
1 pax, ABE-PHL (bus) - PHX-MRY
3 pax PHL-PHX-MRY
1 pax LAS-PHX-MRY

All flights are on the same day, and all pax are on the same flight between points, so we have four flying PHL-PHX and five flying PHX-MRY.

I first booked ABE, then PHL, then LAS. I was of course curious what would happen if I tried to book too many tickets on the same flight. I don't remember what PHL-PHX-MRY was coming to before I booked ABE, but I experimented a little and without going into detail, it looks like if you book one ticket it's 7.5K the second ticket is 8.5K, and the third was 9.5K. As I actually booked it, one PNR has one ticket for 7.5k and the other PNR has two for 9K each.

I thought that all tickets on the same PNR would be priced at the highest cost for any ticket on that PNR, but that didn't appear to be the case based on the iterative steps I took before actually puchasing.

As noted in another thread, the trip itself is contingent on the Eagles reaching the Super Bowl, but at least they're the morning-line favorites (Eagles +280, Lions +450).

I guess it doesn't hurt to explain the genesis of what could be an expensive trip. The following conversation took place, heavily edited for both words and time. Note that I would describe my brother as industrious, responsible financially, and solidly middle-class.

Brother: "I hate these commercials where the financial advisor shows the couple how they can afford to buy a vineyard in retirement. Most people don't have enough money to buy grape juice."
Me: "I just bought this retirement planning software and I put your numbers into it. If you retired today (he is 63, his wife is 55) you could still send you son to college and keep your present lifestyle, and you're not planning to retire yet. You've been very diligent in saving and investing and you are in good shape. So you can afford a vineyard, what is your "vineyard?"
B: Well I took my family to the Super Bowl in 2023 (the Eagles lost) and that seems like enough money to toss around at Super Bowls for a lifetime. But I guess my "vineyard" would be to see the Eagles win the Super Bowl with my son. (Not that he's not going to take his wife also.)
Me: "Well, you only get so many chances in a lifetime to see that happen. But you can afford it. You couldn't comfortably afford to go to the Super Bowl every year, but it won't break you if you plan to go anytime the Eagles advance."
B: "You know how when I went in 2023 I scoured the countryside for deals on travel expenses. You somehow got me those three nonstop tickets from PHL to PHX for 25K miles each, I know you said that of the 50K miles that Dad left you, you were assigning 25K to each of his two grandchildren, so I've repaid you for my son's ticket and my wife and I will give you back those miles someday, thanks. I got hotel rooms on points for a great rate, and I've been monitoring Super Bowl tickets every year so I have a good sense when the best time to buy them is. It's still against the odds for the Eagles to make the Super Bowl, but why don't we poke around for cancellable travel arrangements?"
Me: "In 2017, when the Eagles did win the Super Bowl, I watched it in the den with Dad. (I was living with my parents at the time.) He died later that year, but I'm still really glad we got to watch the Eagles win (their first) Super Bowl together. We didn't really think about going then, I don't think any of us felt we could spend the money, and dad was 85 at the time anyway and maybe wouldn't have been up for such a long trip. But even though we weren't what you 'd call rabid Eagles fans, it's clear that if we were going to do this today and Dad were healthy enough, we'd take him. So let's make it a family thing, I'll come and I'll pay for Dad's other grandson. (I have two brothers, each has one son, I have no children, and the father of the other grandson, brother to me and my brother - all I can say is that he doesn't like us any more than we like him. He wouldn't go if we asked him, so we won't ask him.)

I pay almost zero attention to hotel points, and he finds airline miles a bit daunting, but between the two of us we're having some fun planning a trip that will probably never happen. It's nice that the machinations of the frequent flier system (very cheap flights cancellable for full refund until time of departure) occasionally work in the pax's favor.

You’re correct that every passenger on the same PNR will have the same price for the ticket.

You’ll never know the impact of booking a ticket until you actually do it (or at least put it on hold). Only then will you be able to see the pricing for any subsequent ticket(s) you want to book.

Just because it says 7.5k if you search for 1 pax, and 9k if you search for 2 pax, doesn’t necessarily mean that after you book one pax at 7.5k, if you go to book one more it will be 9k (or 10.5k or any other number you previously saw).

There are also very recent examples where AA has filed fares that offer lower pricing if booking for two or more passengers, and higher fares if booking for just one passenger. These examples were on the cash side, but there is no reason similar rule conditions can’t be applied on the award side too.

Have you mistyped some of the airport codes?

What I'm saying is that, by iteration, it appeared to me that internally the first ticket was 7.5, second 8.5, and third 9.5, and whatever tickets you book will each be the average of the underlying fares.

I had wondered if there might be some kind of discontinuity which would make it best to have an optimal strategy, something like "First two tickets 10K, next two 20K, each ticket costs the max miles" in which case the best strategy would be to book the third ticket separate from the others. In this limited experiment, that didn't seem to be the case.