FlyingEgghead

I'm a new EY member and tried my first redemption, calling in for an AA award within the US. It's nonhub to nonhub, so requires a connection.

I was quoted one-way business (domestic first) at 50k miles instead of the expected 25k. The rep explained that it was 25k for each flight and would inevitably cost double because of the required connection.

I never heard of such -- is this right? I do see in EY's AA award chart PDF:
This is in the PDF but does not appear in the web page's AA partner "Terms and conditions". Is it a glitch?

Even if it applies, surely this should mean transiting different regions, not any old connecting flight within the same region?! Moreover, the AA chart shows non-US to non-US awards that always require a connection -- e.g., South America-Europe -- and are evidently not charged as South America-US plus US-Europe.

There was a flurry when EY apparently added that "connecting" verbiage to its AT award chart via CMN, which is a different structure altogether (distance-based rather than region-based). And in that case the verbiage does appear in the web page's AT partner "Terms and Conditions" (there is no separate PDF chart).

For AA, is this a HUCA (interestingly, that OMAAT article said "partner awards have to be manually priced"), or have I really misunderstood things? People note the attractive EY redemptions on AA, but I don't see warnings "only makes sense for nonstops".

Best guess, there is massive confusion among EY agents due to the inconsistent terms and manual pricing? Anything I should say to point the next agent in the right direction?

meechyathere

EY on AA is per segment. I was confused too after reading the OMAAT article, but I've HUCA'd this to death and been told every single time that a connecting itinerary within the US is 25k per segment in F.

FlyingEgghead

Thanks! Does the segment charge also apply for a domestic connection to an AA long-haul (say, ABQ-DFW-Europe)? It can't always be per segment or else the non-US to non-US entries in the AA chart would be meaningless, right?

meechyathere

Of course! I'm pretty sure it does sadly, at least on AA. I think this changed recently too. Haven't tried long-haul yet, but tried BOS-DFW-GDL in J, and they wanted 55,000 miles: 25k for BOS-DFW and 30k for DFW-GDL...... (You're also not allowed to mix cabins!) My impression is that this redemption is only a good deal if you're flying nonstop (like DFW-HKG in F for 55k), or can add on a cheap positioning flight and still have it be a good deal. I will often book BOS-JFK through American, and then do a 25k EY redemption for Transcon F.

Also, I think a lot of that chart is meaningless anyway! Or just plain wrong, like the connection/stopover verbiage. Like a lot of things about EY, it just makes no sense. Has a section for intra-Fiji redemptions, but the fine print on the partners page (before you open the pdf) states "no codeshares." My best guess is that they just recycled an old chart that happens to have a few things still correct/applicable.

gbongc

So if I find transcon F space that’s available only as a married segment, then I’m SOL when it comes to pricing then I assume? Since I can’t just book the transcon leg by itself.

fly747first

OMAAT often has embarrassing errors and you see him correcting stuff after readers point it out.

Why are you wasting your miles on AA? The current state of AA's First Class is pretty sad. One key distinction: your post mentions Business Class but technically, AA only offers Business Class on 3-class A321Ts (JFK-LAX/SFO) or when there is a daily MIA-LAX flight operated by a 3-class 77W on domestic flights.

steveholt

I've had EY agents price out connecting itineraries on AA in J at 50K and also had agents price it out at 25K. I've had agents book the three-class F from JFK-LAX and charge me 25K. HUCB is worth a shot here.

meechyathere

Oh jeez, I think so! Have you been finding Z space by married segment only? I don't think I've actually checked, but there are definitely often Web Specials (which book into the AAnytime fare class) that are married segment. But the elusive Z is what you need for the Etihad award trick.

OMAAT tries to be thorough and accurate, but of course makes errors and some editing is usually required. I've commented about this though and there haven't been updates.
Agreed, but those are the very planes we're talking about. The value here is that Full-on First on the transcon can be had for 25,000 miles, as can business, the latter of which with decent availability.

That's a major data point! Has this happened in recent times? I think there was an unannounced changing of the rules in 2017 or so.

steveholt

Late-2018.

coltonatx

I booked AUS MIA GIG 6 months ago and it was priced 50k so YYMV

kobyjones21

I called yesterday (12/15/20) and had 2 agents say it was 50k but then were unable to complete the booking. The final agent said 75k (25k MSP-DFW, 50k DFW-CDG). I'm going to call back again today and see what they say.

liw5215

I got same answer for continental USA to Hawaii via AA hub is 25+37.5 miles for business class. do you guys think I should call again to get different agents?

worldtraveler303

Same story here... I HUCA multiple times... one of the early agents was willing to price full itinerary... should have booked it. Called back multiple times and could never get a rep to reproduce it. Only segment by segment. So interested if anyone has been successful now.

onlysuites

Anyone succeeded recently?