AA Award Travel - book or wait ?

[LearnMS]

Hi all -

First post here. I have some AA miles that I would like to use to book first class from US to south asia for my parents mid next year. It would take 180k AA miles to redeem for 2 adults.

I can see the award availability now. But there is a degree of uncertainty to book travel this far out. Depending on the circumstances, the travel schedule (hence the dates) may change next year.

If I wait to book tickets until early January of next year, then AA miles may devalue and/or there won't be award seats left by then.

Worst case, should I go ahead and book award tickets now and pay change/cancellation fee, should that happen? or is there a better option?

Thoughts?

 

[Matt]

Hi all -

First post here. I have some AA miles that I would like to use to book first class from US to south asia for my parents mid next year. It would take 180k AA miles to redeem for 2 adults.

I can see the award availability now. But there is a degree of uncertainty to book travel this far out. Depending on the circumstances, the travel schedule (hence the dates) may change next year.

If I wait to book tickets until early January of next year, then AA miles may devalue and/or there won't be award seats left by then.

Worst case, should I go ahead and book award tickets now and pay change/cancellation fee, should that happen? or is there a better option?

Thoughts?

No fee to change dates as long as origin and destination remain the same (and you don't do it less than 21 days to departure) so your best option is to book IMO.

 

[LearnMS]

Thanks! I already booked onward journey one-way award tickets (>100k miles) that allowed me to get 10k free AA miles per year. Now, if I book the return journey now I won't get any 10k miles. But if I wait until January, I may lose the space. So, I better book them now! Pls let me know if anyone feels otherwise.

 

[smittytabb]

Book now. No brainer. Who knows how the award chart will change after the turn of the year. I have found space to be harder to find lately too. If you found something, do it.

 

[LearnMS]

Book now. No brainer. Who knows how the award chart will change after the turn of the year. I have found space to be harder to find lately too. If you found something, do it.

Thanks! I had to call AA to book first class. It turns out that I can't book > 355 days. So I have to wait couple more weeks, although I can see the awards opened up online. Unfortunately, the seats disappeared as I refreshed on my desired date of travel.

 

[Matt]

Thanks! I had to call AA to book first class. It turns out that I can't book > 355 days. So I have to wait couple more weeks, although I can see the awards opened up online. Unfortunately, the seats disappeared as I refreshed on my desired date of travel.

How can you see seats open up and not book them?

 

[LearnMS]

How can you see seats open up and not book them?

Tried to look at Cathay via BA site online. Called AA after noting down CX flight numbers. but was told to wait for couple of weeks. Am I missing something?

 

[smittytabb]

How can you see seats open up and not book them?

I am wondering the same. Are these AA seats? Or Cathay Pacific? Also not sure if they are AA why you need to call. I usually only call if I have a complicated redemption or I am using another carrier.

 

[smittytabb]

Tried to look at Cathay via BA site online. Called AA after noting down CX flight numbers. but was told to wait for couple of weeks. Am I missing something?

AA & BA may not have the same exact inventory for Cathay seats. And it sounds like BA may have a different calendar of when you can book them.

 

[LearnMS]

AA & BA may not have the same exact inventory for Cathay seats. And it sounds like BA may have a different calendar of when you can book them.

Umm...so I still have to wait before I book. Interestingly, these seats are disappearing fast.

 

[smittytabb]

Umm...so I still have to wait before I book. Interestingly, these seats are disappearing fast.

Unless you have BA miles to book them, it sounds as if BA customers may be able to buy the ones you can "see" and that those with AA miles will need to wait for the award chart to open up. Do you have any Membership Rewards, SPG or Ultimate Rewards points you could transfer to BA?

 

[smittytabb]

Umm...so I still have to wait before I book. Interestingly, these seats are disappearing fast.

Unless you have BA miles to book them, it sounds as if BA customers may be able to buy the ones you can "see" and that those with AA miles will need to wait for the award chart to open up. Do you have any Membership Rewards, SPG or Ultimate Rewards points you could transfer to BA?

I prefer to use AA to BA because of fuel surcharges. I'd suggest USAirways miles, but those are round trip only so you cannot break up the trip, booking one now and one later.

 

[LearnMS]

Unless you have BA miles to book them, it sounds as if BA customers may be able to buy the ones you can "see" and that those with AA miles will need to wait for the award chart to open up. Do you have any Membership Rewards, SPG or Ultimate Rewards points you could transfer to BA?

Unfortunately, no. I do have few miles on them but not enough to buy F tickets right away.

 

[smittytabb]

Unfortunately, no. I do have few miles on them but not enough to buy F tickets right away.

I have booked a lot of long haul business and first trips on AA miles, but only short domestic hops with BA miles. I used USAirways miles for long haul on Star Alliance and haven't yet used those with One World redemptions. From what I have seen with Cathay, it can be hit or miss. Don't know about your goals, and some will disagree, but I think Cathay business class to Asia is amazing and I don't even try for first. Depends on the aircraft perhaps, but it is one of my favorite business class redemptions.

 

[LearnMS]

Completely agree!! I also heard Etihad is good as well but haven't tried it or compared to Cathay. Heard a lot many good things abt CX, so was excited initially. I hope my journey is flexible and seats are still available when they open up!

 

[AndyL]

CX in F is worth the effort. Just flew the jfk-yvr route in F and it was worth every mile even for a ~5-6 hour flight. You will see CX space on the BA site about 355 days out but AA can only book 331 days out so that's why AA agents can't book yet. You will probably have to keep checking the BA site everyday. Worst case CX will release all but 1 F seat about 1 week out.

 

[TheBOSman]

You will see CX space on the BA site about 355 days out but AA can only book 331 days out so that's why AA agents can't book yet. You will probably have to keep checking the BA site everyday. Worst case CX will release all but 1 F seat about 1 week out.

Pretty much dead on right here.

And I've flown CX F 4 times, so I can surely say it is worth it .

 

[LearnMS]

Pretty much dead on right here.

And I've flown CX F 4 times, so I can surely say it is worth it .

I hope I still have some spaces left until I hit the 331 day mark. On another note, some CX itineraries have connecting flight within less than an hour. This can be scary for international travel as one should get down the first plane, get through the security and then get on a 2nd plane all within 40-50 minutes before the plane departs.

Do the CX flight attendants take note of connecting flight schedule? Can I alert someone prior about immediate connecting flight?

 

[smittytabb]

I hope I still have some spaces left until I hit the 331 day mark. On another note, some CX itineraries have connecting flight within less than an hour. This can be scary for international travel as one should get down the first plane, get through the security and then get on a 2nd plane all within 40-50 minutes before the plane departs.

Do the CX flight attendants take note of connecting flight schedule? Can I alert someone prior about immediate connecting flight?

Depends on where you are connecting. Narita you can actually easily connect that quickly.

 

[LearnMS]

Yes, Narita. Other option could be HKG.

 

[TheBOSman]

HKG I wouldn't want to connect that quickly. It is a sprawling airport in some ways, and especially if you are connecting to a flight to the USA where you have to go through the extra check at the gate, I would want over an hour. NRT you could do a shorter connection. Of course, I don't advise short connections as both have excellent lounges .

 

[LearnMS]

How about BKK? I have 55 min before I can make it to the connecting flight. Which ever way, it looks like I may miss CX opportunity if the flight connections are so tight...

 

[smittytabb]

I would say that your best bet is Narita. I was really worried about my connection through there the last time. It was about 50 minutes. I was flying from Taipei to Narita on CX and changing to AA to ORD. My flight left Taipei 9 minutes late, but arrived 26 minutes early. It seemed like I had all the time in the world. I even had time to go to the Admirals Club! I have connected through both BKK and HKG and they are not as easy. The walking distances can be long. Narita if you are staying on OW is fairly compact. They are just super efficient as well.

 

[smittytabb]

Pretty much dead on right here.

And I've flown CX F 4 times, so I can surely say it is worth it .

I am sure it is wonderful. My point for the OP is that J is pretty wonderful too, and if availability is not there for F, J is not so bad. Indeed, there are so many more seats that it seems entirely possible that booking J if it is available and not F may be a good stopgap measure until F opens up.

 

[LearnMS]

Thanks a lot!

Would the business call on other airlines (Etihad or thai) any match against Cathay? I never flew Etihad. How would you rate Etihad's service? I was also told that you could book a chauffeur service for your onward and return journey with EY.

 

[Matt]

Thanks a lot!

Would the business call on other airlines (Etihad or thai) any match against Cathay? I never flew Etihad. How would you rate Etihad's service? I was also told that you could book a chauffeur service for your onward and return journey with EY.

Having never flown J or F on Etihad, Thai or Cathay I can safely say they would all be great.

 

[LearnMS]

Having never flown J or F on Etihad, Thai or Cathay I can safely say they would all be great.

I already redeemed > 100k miles this year and got 10k rebate miles with AA. Now, I can wait until January 1st 2015 to redeem another > 100k miles to get another 10k rebate miles. But award seats may not be available for CX until then (both J and F). From the above comments, given the affinity towards opting for CX when its available I may pass on the 10k rebate miles and book the ticket soon (in either J or F, when the AA seats open i.e.).

 

[LearnMS]

Hi again,

I had to forgo my initial dates as I lost them. But considering other dates, I ran into another problem. The first class award travel should be 90k one-way per person. But the agent told me it would be 97.5k instead. She said it's showing her as 2 award flights.

Also, segment 1 is in first, while segment 2 is in J. In any other airlines, I could do a 67.5k per person. For CX, it is coming to 97.5k. For 2 adults, that's 60k miles more.

Do you think it's still worth it??

 

[TheBOSman]

Hi again,

I had to forgo my initial dates as I lost them. But considering other dates, I ran into another problem. The first class award travel should be 90k one-way per person. But the agent told me it would be 97.5k instead. She said it's showing her as 2 award flights.

Also, segment 1 is in first, while segment 2 is in J. In any other airlines, I could do a 67.5k per person. For CX, it is coming to 97.5k. For 2 adults, that's 60k miles more.

Do you think it's still worth it??

Where are you trying to go exactly? No need to specify airport, simply country (and I'm assuming you are flying from the USA). Makes a big difference.

 

[LearnMS]

Where are you trying to go exactly? No need to specify airport, simply country (and I'm assuming you are flying from the USA). Makes a big difference.

Completely forgot the details....though there are couple of options. Yes, flying from US. I can fly from ORD to either NRT or HKG. And then from there to MLE or India (still figuring out where).

After double checking with the agent, I was told the its 67.5k in F and 30k in J.

 

[TheBOSman]

Ok, there is the issue. To fly to MLE or India with AA miles, you must route via the Atlantic. If you want to route via the Pacific, it must be two awards, US-Asia and Asia-India or MLE. If you fly through Asia in any combination, it will be as you post (there are some possible differences but it would really be getting into vagaries).

Try having the agent look on EY or QR if you want to fly to MLE or India from ORD. That will price as one award. However, it ends up being 90k in F anyway with that routing, so routing via Asia really is not many more miles in the grand scheme of things.