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Someone plz settle this for me-AA rep said BA.com shouldn't be used to book reward sp

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Someone plz settle this for me-AA rep said BA.com shouldn't be used to book reward sp

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Old Aug 6, 2014, 11:57 am
  #1  
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Someone plz settle this for me-AA rep said BA.com shouldn't be used to book reward sp
Sorry for the awkwardly long title.

I'm currently trying to book a flight from Tokyo to JFK/SFO via JAL and have been periodically checking on the ba.com website for reward availability. When I finally found reward seats available and called AA, they said they didn't have any spots available and that the only way to check for open seats was to call THEM periodically. ....Am I wrong in thinking that ba.com can be used to find reward space for those with AA miles? Are those slots only available for Avios?

I'm so confused.
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Old Aug 6, 2014, 12:01 pm
  #2  
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Are you trying to use your AA miles for this flight? Yes, you should use AA.com for that. I'm curious why you would try the BA website, where presumably you need to log in and see your Avios account details? Now I'm confused!
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Old Aug 6, 2014, 12:07 pm
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Originally Posted by LondonElite
Are you trying to use your AA miles for this flight? Yes, you should use AA.com for that. I'm curious why you would try the BA website, where presumably you need to log in and see your Avios account details? Now I'm confused!
Whaaaaaaaaaaaat.
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Old Aug 6, 2014, 12:14 pm
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Originally Posted by Strawboy1230
Whaaaaaaaaaaaat.
Q: Will you be spending AA miles or BA Avios (or indeed something else?) to book these reward flights?

It's fairly standard to use the website relating to the scheme you're in.

Spending AA miles? Search on AA.com.

Spending BA Avios? Search on BA.com...
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Old Aug 6, 2014, 12:15 pm
  #5  
nux
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Yes JL award flights shown on BA.com should be available to book with AA miles.

I don't think AA.com displays JL availability.
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Old Aug 6, 2014, 12:21 pm
  #6  
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Originally Posted by nux
Yes JL award flights shown on BA.com should be available to book with AA miles.

I don't think AA.com displays JL availability.
Right. That's my point. I understand those saying Ba is for BA and AA is for AA probably aren't aware of this. ...If the spaces showing up on the BA site aren't available to AA members...then how does an AA member even check for JAL availability??
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Old Aug 6, 2014, 12:23 pm
  #7  
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The problem with using ba.com to search for flights on partners is that ba.com often shows phantom availability when the partner flights involve connections. Specifically, ba.com will show the availability for the shorthaul connection as also being the availability for the longhaul flight. You can check to see if the availability shown on ba.com is accurate in these situations by searching for the longhaul flight separately. There are threads on aa forum and this forum about this issue.
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Old Aug 6, 2014, 12:24 pm
  #8  
nux
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Originally Posted by Strawboy1230
Right. That's my point. I understand those saying Ba is for BA and AA is for AA probably aren't aware of this. ...If the spaces showing up on the BA site aren't available to AA members...then how does an AA member even check for JAL availability??
As I said it should be available to all oneworld partners. To book you'd need to call AA but you can search through any oneworld tool that works - BA, JL I think are the only two options.

Small possibility BA is showing phantom availability, otherwise the AAgent may not have search properly or may need to try a long sell. Make sure you check each segment on BA.com individually and provide the AAgent full routing details (date, route, carrier, flight number).
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Old Aug 6, 2014, 12:24 pm
  #9  
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Originally Posted by shorthauldad
Q: Will you be spending AA miles or BA Avios (or indeed something else?) to book these reward flights?

It's fairly standard to use the website relating to the scheme you're in.

Spending AA miles? Search on AA.com.

Spending BA Avios? Search on BA.com...
It is fairly standard to use tools at disposal. The AA site is much more limited in the carriers which it is able to find award space on compared to BA

Using the BA site to determine whether there are award seats available is a good technique and nothing wrong with what the OP did since aa.com will not find JL availability


As far as OP question goes, generally would expect that if BA does show availability for an award, that AA would be able to see it too
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Old Aug 6, 2014, 12:25 pm
  #10  
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Originally Posted by Strawboy1230
Right. That's my point. I understand those saying Ba is for BA and AA is for AA probably aren't aware of this. ...If the spaces showing up on the BA site aren't available to AA members...then how does an AA member even check for JAL availability??
By calling, or by searching ba.com or jal.com.
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Old Aug 6, 2014, 12:30 pm
  #11  
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Originally Posted by Dave Noble
It is fairly standard to use tools at disposal. The AA site is much more limited in the carriers which it is able to find award space on compared to BA

Using the BA site to determine whether there are award seats available is a good technique and nothing wrong with what the OP did since aa.com will not find JL availability


As far as OP question goes, generally would expect that if BA does show availability for an award, that AA would be able to see it too
Yea that was my point. Ok.. guess I'll just try again in the future.
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Old Aug 6, 2014, 1:15 pm
  #12  
 
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Originally Posted by Dave Noble
It is fairly standard to use tools at disposal.
Yes, that's great, but it assumes a certain level of understanding.

Using the BA site to determine whether there are award seats available is a good technique and nothing wrong with what the OP did since aa.com will not find JL availability
Counter-example: using AA.com to search for AA flights when you intend to redeem BA Avios, and not knowing that Avios redemptions only let you access AA's milesAAver flights.

If you don't understand the tools, there are limits to how much you can get out of them ... for instance the suggestion on using SaudiAirlines.com to pull up a 125- eticket and getting "E-Ticket Display request failed." <cough>
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Old Aug 6, 2014, 1:21 pm
  #13  
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Originally Posted by shorthauldad
Yes, that's great, but it assumes a certain level of understanding.



Counter-example: using AA.com to search for AA flights when you intend to redeem BA Avios, and not knowing that Avios redemptions only let you access AA's milesAAver flights.
There is no benefit to searching for AA flights on aa.com if planning to use BA miles to redeem since ba.com can book the flights as well as search for them

There would be no reason against using aa.com , just need to seach for the regular rate awards however would need to go back to BA to book

with JL awards on AA , there is no way to search for them on AA.com , so using somewhere such as ba.com makes perfect sense
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Old Aug 6, 2014, 2:05 pm
  #14  
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Originally Posted by shorthauldad
Yes, that's great, but it assumes a certain level of understanding.



Counter-example: using AA.com to search for AA flights when you intend to redeem BA Avios, and not knowing that Avios redemptions only let you access AA's milesAAver flights.

If you don't understand the tools, there are limits to how much you can get out of them ... for instance the suggestion on using SaudiAirlines.com to pull up a 125- eticket and getting "E-Ticket Display request failed." <cough>
This post would've been great if you could've actually helped answer my question. Instead of contributing absolutely nothing of use.
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Old Aug 6, 2014, 2:40 pm
  #15  
 
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Originally Posted by Dave Noble
There is no benefit to searching for AA flights on aa.com if planning to use BA miles to redeem since ba.com can book the flights as well as search for them
I'm sure I read recently "It is fairly standard to use [all] tools at disposal" ... so would this be a case where that's doesn't apply?

Understanding each tool and its limits is the way to go
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