AA: married flights ruining mileage run booking
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Honolulu, HI / San Francisco, CA
Programs: AA EXP, Alaska MVP 75k, IHG Spire, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 277
AA: married flights ruining mileage run booking
Hi all, I am trying to book a mileage run for president's day weekend. My goal is to try and get from Bay Area to KUL, CGK, SIN, or HKG for under 3.5 CPM on AA.
I keep running into numerous problems where AA search engine is going into an infinite loop where it says fare changes between different values. My understanding reading other threads is that this is caused by "married segments".
I have spent a shameful amount of time trying to get this to work. I have called AA reservations and they have quoted me some prices about ~$150 or so higher which kind of kills the CPM.
Here is ideal flight, $691 to go SFO-DFW-HKG-KUL-NRT-DFW-SFO:
http://goo.gl/flights/ySMr
This itinerary will go into an infinite error loop at the end if you try and purchase ticket.
I was wondering if anyone with access to KVS tool with understanding of married segments could tell me which segments were causing problem and if anyone solution? Would changing the origin city (SJC also has decent price) or connections help?
I wish there was a better way to search "married segments" like this... I keep finding great fares only to have my hopes and dreams destroyed by married segments infinite error loop at end. ;_;
I keep running into numerous problems where AA search engine is going into an infinite loop where it says fare changes between different values. My understanding reading other threads is that this is caused by "married segments".
I have spent a shameful amount of time trying to get this to work. I have called AA reservations and they have quoted me some prices about ~$150 or so higher which kind of kills the CPM.
Here is ideal flight, $691 to go SFO-DFW-HKG-KUL-NRT-DFW-SFO:
http://goo.gl/flights/ySMr
This itinerary will go into an infinite error loop at the end if you try and purchase ticket.
I was wondering if anyone with access to KVS tool with understanding of married segments could tell me which segments were causing problem and if anyone solution? Would changing the origin city (SJC also has decent price) or connections help?
I wish there was a better way to search "married segments" like this... I keep finding great fares only to have my hopes and dreams destroyed by married segments infinite error loop at end. ;_;
#2
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Dallas, TX, USA
Programs: AA EXP, HH Gold, Hyatt Globalist, IC Plat, SPG Gold
Posts: 961
I keep running into numerous problems where AA search engine is going into an infinite loop where it says fare changes between different values. My understanding reading other threads is that this is caused by "married segments".
Here is ideal flight, $691 to go SFO-DFW-HKG-KUL-NRT-DFW-SFO:
http://goo.gl/flights/ySMr
This itinerary will go into an infinite error loop at the end if you try and purchase ticket.
Here is ideal flight, $691 to go SFO-DFW-HKG-KUL-NRT-DFW-SFO:
http://goo.gl/flights/ySMr
This itinerary will go into an infinite error loop at the end if you try and purchase ticket.
flight 1: SFO - HKG FEB 10 12 AM
flight 2: HKG - KUL FEB 11 EVENING
flight 3: KUL - NRT FEB 14 ALL DAY
flight 4: NRT - DFW FEB 15 ALL DAY
flight 5: DFW - SFO FEB 15 ALL DAY
Once the flights are listed, choose the exact flights you had on google.com/flights. The price is coming to $693.26.
Also, be aware that HKG-KUL and KUL-NRT flights are not AA flight numbers. You may not get any credit for those flights to AAdvantage program. Hence the CPM will be higher. Check the fare basis.
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Honolulu, HI / San Francisco, CA
Programs: AA EXP, Alaska MVP 75k, IHG Spire, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 277
Go to AA.COM and do a multi city search, input the following AND choose search by schedule:
flight 1: SFO - HKG FEB 10 12 AM
flight 2: HKG - KUL FEB 11 EVENING
flight 3: KUL - NRT FEB 14 ALL DAY
flight 4: NRT - DFW FEB 15 ALL DAY
flight 5: DFW - SFO FEB 15 ALL DAY
Once the flights are listed, choose the exact flights you had on google.com/flights. The price is coming to $693.26.
Also, be aware that HKG-KUL and KUL-NRT flights are not AA flight numbers. You may not get any credit for those flights to AAdvantage program. Hence the CPM will be higher. Check the fare basis.
flight 1: SFO - HKG FEB 10 12 AM
flight 2: HKG - KUL FEB 11 EVENING
flight 3: KUL - NRT FEB 14 ALL DAY
flight 4: NRT - DFW FEB 15 ALL DAY
flight 5: DFW - SFO FEB 15 ALL DAY
Once the flights are listed, choose the exact flights you had on google.com/flights. The price is coming to $693.26.
Also, be aware that HKG-KUL and KUL-NRT flights are not AA flight numbers. You may not get any credit for those flights to AAdvantage program. Hence the CPM will be higher. Check the fare basis.
The CX and JAL branding does hurt the CPM a bit. The CX flight earns 0% and and JAL flight will earn at 30% rate. From my calculations this will equal 18,500 miles @ 693 = 3.75 CPM
I might search some other routing in that region using your method before I bite. Much appreciate the feedback!
#4
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: san antonio, texas
Programs: 3.2MM AA, 1.4MM UA,StwdLftPlt
Posts: 1,586
I am not sure what you are encountering is "married segments" but if it is, then it is almost certainly the SFO-DFW segment (or the return). The other potential suspects are other carriers, presumably codesharing. If that speculation is true, then you may find immediate relief by evaluating adjacent airports (San Jose as you observed).
I don't think it is that easy to determine married segments unless you try an itinerary and it fails because the two segments are linked.
Married segments are spreading across the industry, not just north american carriers.
I don't think it is that easy to determine married segments unless you try an itinerary and it fails because the two segments are linked.
Married segments are spreading across the industry, not just north american carriers.
#5
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Kitchener, ON, Canada
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 1,266
Still a good mileage run, just be careful if you were counting on those miles.
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Honolulu, HI / San Francisco, CA
Programs: AA EXP, Alaska MVP 75k, IHG Spire, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 277
Yeah - further to what was just pointed out, your 'dream' itinerary doesn't get you under 3.5cpm because the JAL flight is sold as a JAL flight, not an AA flight. Thus, KUL to NRT will only get you half (not 30%) of the listed mileage. The 30% number is base miles, not EQM.
Still a good mileage run, just be careful if you were counting on those miles.
Still a good mileage run, just be careful if you were counting on those miles.
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Honolulu, HI / San Francisco, CA
Programs: AA EXP, Alaska MVP 75k, IHG Spire, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 277
I am not sure what you are encountering is "married segments" but if it is, then it is almost certainly the SFO-DFW segment (or the return). The other potential suspects are other carriers, presumably codesharing. If that speculation is true, then you may find immediate relief by evaluating adjacent airports (San Jose as you observed).
I don't think it is that easy to determine married segments unless you try an itinerary and it fails because the two segments are linked.
Married segments are spreading across the industry, not just north american carriers.
I don't think it is that easy to determine married segments unless you try an itinerary and it fails because the two segments are linked.
Married segments are spreading across the industry, not just north american carriers.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...d-booking.html
In one of the comments, the guy shows the available fare classes both for the entire journey and booked separately. I think you need KVS tool or something to view this info. In any case he states:
"When searching city by city, the availability is returned based on individual sector availability, but when you go to pay, it is calculating it based on the availability for the through journey. "
I do also notice issues with codesharing, where if you book JAL or CX branded flight it is cheap. But then if you force it to AA branded flight then the price goes up several thousand dollars.
I wish AA.com would return better results or at least provide error message that was relevant. It seems this issue has been problem for years and they have no intention of fixing it.
#8
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: NYC
Posts: 538
I was able to get this to price out on Orbitz (using the ITA Userscript):
http://goo.gl/oVGhtp
Orbitz hits you for a $7 fee, but that's not so bad especially since HKG-KUL is booked as the AA codeshare, so you get back those miles.
http://goo.gl/oVGhtp
Orbitz hits you for a $7 fee, but that's not so bad especially since HKG-KUL is booked as the AA codeshare, so you get back those miles.
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Honolulu, HI / San Francisco, CA
Programs: AA EXP, Alaska MVP 75k, IHG Spire, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 277
I was able to get this to price out on Orbitz (using the ITA Userscript):
http://goo.gl/oVGhtp
Orbitz hits you for a $7 fee, but that's not so bad especially since HKG-KUL is booked as the AA codeshare, so you get back those miles.
http://goo.gl/oVGhtp
Orbitz hits you for a $7 fee, but that's not so bad especially since HKG-KUL is booked as the AA codeshare, so you get back those miles.
I had searched directly on Orbitz before and did not come up with this. And I didn't realize you could port ITA matrix to Orbitz clickable link... this method really rocks!!!
I think this could potentially be used to beat certain Married Segments rules because I was not definitely not able to get this price for AA branded flight to KUL.
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Honolulu, HI / San Francisco, CA
Programs: AA EXP, Alaska MVP 75k, IHG Spire, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 277
I was able to get this to price out on Orbitz (using the ITA Userscript):
http://goo.gl/oVGhtp
Orbitz hits you for a $7 fee, but that's not so bad especially since HKG-KUL is booked as the AA codeshare, so you get back those miles.
http://goo.gl/oVGhtp
Orbitz hits you for a $7 fee, but that's not so bad especially since HKG-KUL is booked as the AA codeshare, so you get back those miles.
23,793 miles @ 685 = 2.88 CPM!!!!!!
I love this method of booking flight... So powerful!!! I will never use anything else again.
#11
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Seattle, 98155
Programs: Now MGM/Hyatt/IHG Gold Previously: DL DM, DL Reserve, Hyatt Diamond, SPG PLAT, M Life PLAT, IHG PLAT
Posts: 649
Sometimes google flight result do not show on airline website because of the fare of how they're pricing it.
One time I booked a flight wanting to fly Hong Kong to Seattle. They found a way better deal because they used a free stop over but airline system are not able to do so sometimes.
I'm not sure about AA but on Delta Airlines, some flight that I found on Google flight that is not available on their website I was able to find it on the kayak and redirect back to Delta.
You may be able to do the same with American Airlines flight or if you do not need to book at AA.com you can book with a third-party travel website if such method wasn't able to find it
One time I booked a flight wanting to fly Hong Kong to Seattle. They found a way better deal because they used a free stop over but airline system are not able to do so sometimes.
I'm not sure about AA but on Delta Airlines, some flight that I found on Google flight that is not available on their website I was able to find it on the kayak and redirect back to Delta.
You may be able to do the same with American Airlines flight or if you do not need to book at AA.com you can book with a third-party travel website if such method wasn't able to find it
#12
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Honolulu, HI / San Francisco, CA
Programs: AA EXP, Alaska MVP 75k, IHG Spire, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 277
Sometimes google flight result do not show on airline website because of the fare of how they're pricing it.
One time I booked a flight wanting to fly Hong Kong to Seattle. They found a way better deal because they used a free stop over but airline system are not able to do so sometimes.
I'm not sure about AA but on Delta Airlines, some flight that I found on Google flight that is not available on their website I was able to find it on the kayak and redirect back to Delta.
You may be able to do the same with American Airlines flight or if you do not need to book at AA.com you can book with a third-party travel website if such method wasn't able to find it
One time I booked a flight wanting to fly Hong Kong to Seattle. They found a way better deal because they used a free stop over but airline system are not able to do so sometimes.
I'm not sure about AA but on Delta Airlines, some flight that I found on Google flight that is not available on their website I was able to find it on the kayak and redirect back to Delta.
You may be able to do the same with American Airlines flight or if you do not need to book at AA.com you can book with a third-party travel website if such method wasn't able to find it
But with ITA Userscript, it is able to generate link directly to Orbitz booking at price I wanted. I could not have itinerary/price that I got directly on AA.com.
I performed a test just now and got $2841 price on Orbitz.com (using multi-city search) for the exact same itinerary above that costs $691. I think somehow ITA Userscript clickable link tricks Orbitz into not applying certain fare rule that would kill fare.
So I think moral of story is: if getting errors booking on AA.com etc., then try using ITA Userscript and use the Orbitz clickable link.
#13
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: NYC
Posts: 538
#14
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 4
Hello,
I've run into this issue trying to book a YYZ-OGG round trip and have tried most (all?) of the suggestions I've here, including using Orbitz (multi-leg and round trip), Matrix ITA script (multi-leg and round trip), and the AA website (multi-leg). None has worked; they all either return much higher pricing, a link to the infinite loop on AA.com, or completely different routes with higher prices. I'm curious if anyone has any ideas.
Details:
Price - Ranges from $520 USD to $550 USD (same prices are also found in CAD). I've found these on Google Flights, Kayak, and TripAdvisor - all linking directly to an AA.com infinite loop.
Itinerary:
AA 3855 (YYZ-PHL) on 12/25/16
AA 797 (PHL-LAX) on 12/25/16
AA 161 (LAX-OGG) on 12/25/16
AA 250 or 14 (OGG-LAX) on 12/30/16
AA 2654 (LAX-YYZ) on 12/31/16
Thanks so much!
I've run into this issue trying to book a YYZ-OGG round trip and have tried most (all?) of the suggestions I've here, including using Orbitz (multi-leg and round trip), Matrix ITA script (multi-leg and round trip), and the AA website (multi-leg). None has worked; they all either return much higher pricing, a link to the infinite loop on AA.com, or completely different routes with higher prices. I'm curious if anyone has any ideas.
Details:
Price - Ranges from $520 USD to $550 USD (same prices are also found in CAD). I've found these on Google Flights, Kayak, and TripAdvisor - all linking directly to an AA.com infinite loop.
Itinerary:
AA 3855 (YYZ-PHL) on 12/25/16
AA 797 (PHL-LAX) on 12/25/16
AA 161 (LAX-OGG) on 12/25/16
AA 250 or 14 (OGG-LAX) on 12/30/16
AA 2654 (LAX-YYZ) on 12/31/16
Thanks so much!
#15
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: SF + PHX
Programs: AA EXP, UA 1k, Marriott Gold, HH Gold, X Elite+
Posts: 262
I've found recently you can discern which segments are married by trying to breakdown the trip into varried segments that aren't always apparent.
I've seen ones where the price doubles ($340 to $700) to add on a leg when the leg itself is pricing at $69. The question then becomes are you worried about misconnect and/or bags. And if you are, what price do you put on that?
I've seen ones where the price doubles ($340 to $700) to add on a leg when the leg itself is pricing at $69. The question then becomes are you worried about misconnect and/or bags. And if you are, what price do you put on that?