Award Help-11 Seats on AA using Avios

James from BNA

VR Jacket Guy
I'm trying to book our extended family of 11 BNA-GCM 6 nights, earliest we can leave is July 17, latest we can return is Aug 4. We all work M-F so using weekends to preserve vacation days is preferred.

Round-trip saver cost is 24K Avios/person, 35K AA person, or 65K Delta/person.

Balances in accounts for my wife and I:
107K Avios
102K Avios
4.5K Avios
MR 102K
363K AA
248K AA
US Air 130K
US Air 130K
Delta 140K

I already have hotels booked with SPG and they have good flexibility in my date range.

I only have enough Avios/MR to book 8 pax. The other 3 will need to book on AA.

BA.com only shows max 7 award seats at a time which makes booking 11 problematic. Does 7 mean 7 or does 7 mean 10 or more? Do I book 7 and hope 1 more "reappears" when I go back in to rebook?

Will BA let me cancel if no more seats show up?

Do AA and BA share the same inventory? Or separate buckets?


I have Citi Executive which gives free checked bag to 8 pax on same reservation. If I book now with card, and cancel card before the trip, will AA know that I don't have the card and charge bag fees? They stopped giving 1 free bag to Caribbean trips in April best I can tell. I know, I know, never check a bag, but tough to do with kids in diapers.

Thanks!
 

KennyBSAT

Moderator
Staff member
7 on Ba means 7 or more. A call to AA should get you an accurate count.

The saver inventory is identical unless you are EXP.

Both BA and AA have 24 hr cancellation - I'd be tempted to book what you need from multiple browsers or computers simultaneously and see what happens.

Have one person whose AA # is in the reservation get an AA Plat card between now and travel, and you're good on bags for that PNR.

How much are AAnytime or paid seats on your dates? (worst case scenario)
 

James from BNA

VR Jacket Guy
7 on Ba means 7 or more. A call to AA should get you an accurate count.

The saver inventory is identical unless you are EXP.

Both BA and AA have 24 hr cancellation - I'd be tempted to book what you need from multiple browsers or computers simultaneously and see what happens.

Have one person whose AA # is in the reservation get an AA Plat card between now and travel, and you're good on bags for that PNR.

How much are AAnytime or paid seats on your dates? (worst case scenario)

Paid seats are around $600 cash or 52,500 AAnytime. I could manage the $600 with Barclay but I'd rather burn 24K Avios for the 1st 8 and 35K AA for the other 3 folks. It will be 3 separate PNR's, 4 on BA, 4 on another BA, and 3 on AA. We could probably all squeeze into 4 checked bags.

Thanks, will report back after I get this sorted out.
 

KennyBSAT

Moderator
Staff member
If you have spare AMEX or SPG points and there are seats on united via Houston that would be only 22K ANA points per person roundtrip. That's assuming one of the families would be OK travelling separately
 

PainCorp

Level 2.14 on Dining/Travel until 12/15
Just looked. Every day I saw 7 seats BNA-MIA, T7 means T7, you look for 8 and you don't get it. You'd have better luck if you split the party up.
 

James from BNA

VR Jacket Guy
got all 11 booked on the same flights!!!

Booked 4 on BA.com, 4 more on BA.com, 2 on AA.com, and 11th person only showed Anytime award for 70k instead of 35k. Put a crappy 35k routing on hold, called AA, and they overrode availability to give the 11th pax the same flights!!!

Never booked more than 7 pax before on same award route.

Thanks guys.

BTW, tried the multiple browser trick and BA beat AA to the ticketing so AA errored out.
 
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KennyBSAT

Moderator
Staff member
Everyone knows AA has cut their award availability to the point where no seats are available. And if you have more than 2 people, just forget it...

I did think of the possibility they could open a seat or two but didn't think they actually would for passenger number 10 or 11! Very well done sir, my hat is off to you!
 

James from BNA

VR Jacket Guy
Everyone knows AA has cut their award availability to the point where no seats are available. And if you have more than 2 people, just forget it...

I did think of the possibility they could open a seat or two but didn't think they actually would for passenger number 10 or 11! Very well done sir, my hat is off to you!

I'd rather be lucky than good.

I was faced with the situation of booking max 7 seats and hoping the other 4 seats appeared. AA told me that they would only allow a DOT 24 hr cancel on a paid ticket, not on an award booking. Surprisingly, BA said they would enact the 24 hour from booking get out of jail free card on an award or paid ticket. So, lesson learned, when in doubt with BA, book now, and cancel later.

One other strange thing I noticed. BA showed me 7 award seats on my original R/T search. After I booked 4 pax R/T, BA.com showed 7 on outbound and 6 on inbound. I booked 4 more on BA Avios, 8 down, 3 to go to make 11, and BA still showed 7 and 6 seats. AA showed 3 seats on outbound and 2 on inbound, so I booked 2 more on AA for 35K R/T. The 11th passenger I had to try the "put an undesirable routing on hold and see if they'll override availability" plan. Luckily, it worked, but if I would have had more Avios, I could have paid 24K/pax for 11 family members BNA to GCM in the peak of summer. I love you Avios, and I love you churnable Citi Executive card.
 

BuddyFunJet

Level 2 Member
since the ticket is already booked, this is just to keep in mind for future Avios bookings on AA. BA cancellation fees on award tickets is the tax paid (~$11 for domestic) or ~$40-$50 cancellation fee, whichever is LESS. The miles go back in your account in an hour or so. Since my normal award booking cancellation penalty is so low, I don't worry about needing to cancel.

Also, If anyone on a PNR has AA status, PM for a process to change the BA ff# to AA for status perks.
 
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James from BNA

VR Jacket Guy
since the ticket is already booked, this is just to keep in mind for future Avios bookings on AA. BA cancellation fees on award tickets is the tax paid (~$11 for domestic) or ~$40-$50 cancellation fee, whichever is LESS. The miles go back in your account in an hour or so. Since my normal award booking cancellation penalty is so low, I don't worry about needing to cancel.

Also, If anyone on a PNR has AA status, PM for a process to change the BA ff# to AA for status perks.
Yes, exactly, I've used the BA cancel trick many times for domestic. We're going to Grand Cayman this time and taxes/fees are at $93/person. For 11 pax I had more skin in the game this time.

I lost AA status but I might try for a status match before the trip. AT&T has an awesome corporate status match program every couple yrs so I'm hoping for one in 2015.
 

lancemahn

Level 2 Member
Just returned from Grand Cayman and highly recommend Sting Ray city, but, avoid visiting when cruise ships are in port. Before or after for less congestion. On our more recent stop we only had a day off a cruise and did Pampered Ponies for a private ride on beach and in ocean. Got great images of wife and I with GoPro on a stick, then, still had time for a one tank dive at close by dive shop before catching last tender to ship. Used local bus at $2.50 for ANY distance on the route, taxi wanted 20.00 from port.
 

KennyBSAT

Moderator
Staff member
If I match to Alaska 75K MVP, will this status count on AA metal booked using Avios? What bennies will I get?
Someone with AS MVP Gold 75K who has flown with a family on an AA tickets may know better but as far as I can tell you would get 2 free bags and E+ as MVP Gold 75, or you or your wife could get one free bag as MVP. The rest of the passengers would get no benefits from either of you.
May be a good question for FT AS forum.
 

KennyBSAT

Moderator
Staff member
Since you have plenty of time it might be possible to turn AS MVP Gold 75k into Airberlin gold for a year which would give you oneworld emerald and whatever that offers.
 

janetdoe

Level 2 Member
Just looked. Every day I saw 7 seats BNA-MIA, T7 means T7, you look for 8 and you don't get it. You'd have better luck if you split the party up.
That is because you cannot book tickets for 8 or more online, you need a TA or an AAgent to do it. A TA can call and find out the real number of seats in the bucket, or you can call the AA group sales desk and find out, but the GDS only ever displays 7, which indeed means 7 or more.
Yes, exactly, I've used the BA cancel trick many times for domestic. We're going to Grand Cayman this time and taxes/fees are at $93/person. For 11 pax I had more skin in the game this time.

I lost AA status but I might try for a status match before the trip. AT&T has an awesome corporate status match program every couple yrs so I'm hoping for one in 2015.
Consider a US Airways Trial Preferred: http://www.usairways.com/en-US/dividendmiles/promotions/trialpreferred.html

Also, AS status match will get you free bags on AA, if anyone in your group has a matchable status.

Also, how did you pay for the taxes and fees? Some AA credit cards will waive baggage fees. I'm not sure how/if it would work if you didn't use the card to book the flight...

Remember that in most cases, the free baggage only applies to people on the same reservation, and excludes 'group travel'. So under no circumstances would I expect to get 11 free bags. I think the "8 people is group travel" applies so at most you can get free bags for 7 (yourself and up to 6 other pax on the same rez) but please double-check this before you depend on it.
 
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