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07-02-2004, 04:19 PM
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#1
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American Airline Award Travel - BAD
Hi Group,
I had 49,000 AA miles that I never used for years, recently I decided to
puchase addtional miles thru their web site so I can claim two domestic
tickets from ORD to MIA for our cruise ship in April.
Upon receiving the purchased miles, I went online to reserve my award
travel, this was 5 months before the date of travel, middle of April.
Failed. I was frustrated, I ended up puchasing two UAL tickets at $275
each.
Last week, I gave AA a try again for two tickets to SFO in late June, again
this is 5 months away and I should have a pretty good chance to find some
availabilty, again, failed.
Now I question exactly how many award travel seats AA has per flight? From
my experiences with UAL, I feel like UAL is better in ths department than
AA, they tend to accomodate you better when it comes to claiming your miles
for flights???
Any opinion.
If I knew I wouldn't be able to claim the two tickets, I wouldn't have
purchased the additional miles to boost my toal miles to 50,000 miles +
Eric Who?
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07-02-2004, 04:19 PM
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#2
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Re: American Airline Award Travel - BAD
"eric who" <imericwho@nospamyahoo.com> wrote in message
news:izOUb.852$PY.314@newssvr26.news.prodigy.com.. .
> Hi Group,
>
> I had 49,000 AA miles that I never used for years, recently I decided to
> puchase addtional miles thru their web site so I can claim two domestic
> tickets from ORD to MIA for our cruise ship in April.
> Upon receiving the purchased miles, I went online to reserve my award
> travel, this was 5 months before the date of travel, middle of April.
> Failed. I was frustrated, I ended up puchasing two UAL tickets at $275
> each.
>
> Last week, I gave AA a try again for two tickets to SFO in late June,
again
> this is 5 months away and I should have a pretty good chance to find some
> availabilty, again, failed.
>
> Now I question exactly how many award travel seats AA has per flight?
On average, 3
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07-02-2004, 04:19 PM
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#3
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Re: American Airline Award Travel - BAD
Before you fall for the allure of frequent flyer miles, check-out how easy
it is to redeem them: http://www.webflyer.com/programs/award_upgrade_index/
Bob
The Internet Travel Guru (TM)
www.InternetTravelTips.com
"eric who" <imericwho@nospamyahoo.com> wrote in message
news:izOUb.852$PY.314@newssvr26.news.prodigy.com.. .
Hi Group,
I had 49,000 AA miles that I never used for years, recently I decided to
puchase addtional miles thru their web site so I can claim two domestic
tickets from ORD to MIA for our cruise ship in April.
Upon receiving the purchased miles, I went online to reserve my award
travel, this was 5 months before the date of travel, middle of April.
Failed. I was frustrated, I ended up puchasing two UAL tickets at $275
each.
Last week, I gave AA a try again for two tickets to SFO in late June, again
this is 5 months away and I should have a pretty good chance to find some
availabilty, again, failed.
Now I question exactly how many award travel seats AA has per flight? From
my experiences with UAL, I feel like UAL is better in ths department than
AA, they tend to accomodate you better when it comes to claiming your miles
for flights???
Any opinion.
If I knew I wouldn't be able to claim the two tickets, I wouldn't have
purchased the additional miles to boost my toal miles to 50,000 miles +
Eric Who?
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07-02-2004, 04:19 PM
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#4
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Re: American Airline Award Travel - BAD
eric who wrote:
> Hi Group,
>
> I had 49,000 AA miles that I never used for years, recently I decided to
> puchase addtional miles thru their web site so I can claim two domestic
> tickets from ORD to MIA for our cruise ship in April.
What dates? I checked April 13 (return April 27)
Yes, I know.. midweek and you want weekend to weekend.
Plenty of seats in both directions.. Rule of thumb.. The better the
chance of selling the seats, the more likely the free ones will
disappear quicker.
> Upon receiving the purchased miles, I went online to reserve my award
> travel, this was 5 months before the date of travel, middle of April.
> Failed. I was frustrated, I ended up puchasing two UAL tickets at $275
> each.
You can check availability BEFORE purchasing miles. This would be
recommended. Was this for midweek travel. Weekend would be busy due to
spring/easter break travel and good cruise fares.
>
> Last week, I gave AA a try again for two tickets to SFO in late June, again
> this is 5 months away and I should have a pretty good chance to find some
> availabilty, again, failed
When in late June? Were you dates flexible?
I selected June 28 with a July 10 return and got multiple options in
both directions. Did you check other nearby airports, like San Jose?
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07-02-2004, 04:19 PM
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#5
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Re: American Airline Award Travel - BAD
For April, I was trying to fly out on a Friday night and come back the
following Sat. This is for a cruise vacation.
In June, I am trying to fly out on Thursday or Friday and coming back on
Sunday or Monday, tried all combination, no luck.
Thanks for your reply
Eric
"mrraveltay" <a.a@a.a.a> wrote in message
news:VrQUb.22078$965.2821@newssvr25.news.prodigy.c om...
>
>
> eric who wrote:
> > Hi Group,
> >
> > I had 49,000 AA miles that I never used for years, recently I decided to
> > puchase addtional miles thru their web site so I can claim two domestic
> > tickets from ORD to MIA for our cruise ship in April.
>
> What dates? I checked April 13 (return April 27)
> Yes, I know.. midweek and you want weekend to weekend.
> Plenty of seats in both directions.. Rule of thumb.. The better the
> chance of selling the seats, the more likely the free ones will
> disappear quicker.
>
> > Upon receiving the purchased miles, I went online to reserve my award
> > travel, this was 5 months before the date of travel, middle of April.
> > Failed. I was frustrated, I ended up puchasing two UAL tickets at $275
> > each.
>
> You can check availability BEFORE purchasing miles. This would be
> recommended. Was this for midweek travel. Weekend would be busy due to
> spring/easter break travel and good cruise fares.
>
> >
> > Last week, I gave AA a try again for two tickets to SFO in late June,
again
> > this is 5 months away and I should have a pretty good chance to find
some
> > availabilty, again, failed
>
> When in late June? Were you dates flexible?
> I selected June 28 with a July 10 return and got multiple options in
> both directions. Did you check other nearby airports, like San Jose?
>
>
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07-02-2004, 04:19 PM
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#6
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Re: American Airline Award Travel - BAD
"Robert Cowen" <rcowen@junk.com> wrote in message
news:IvPUb.12782$jH6.847@newsread1.news.atl.earthl ink.net...
> Before you fall for the allure of frequent flyer miles, check-out how easy
> it is to redeem them:
http://www.webflyer.com/programs/award_upgrade_index/
The posted statistics on this site do not match my personal experience in
the least. I've had 100% success booking award travel on Continental,
usually for the exact days that I wanted, occassionally plus or minus a day
or two. I'm also upgraded roughly 99% of the time -- I'd be hard pressed to
remember the last time that I wasn't.
I suspect that the reported statistics represent either a very small sample
or are skewed by axe-grinders.
>
>
> Bob
> The Internet Travel Guru (TM)
> www.InternetTravelTips.com
>
>
>
> "eric who" <imericwho@nospamyahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:izOUb.852$PY.314@newssvr26.news.prodigy.com.. .
> Hi Group,
>
> I had 49,000 AA miles that I never used for years, recently I decided to
> puchase addtional miles thru their web site so I can claim two domestic
> tickets from ORD to MIA for our cruise ship in April.
> Upon receiving the purchased miles, I went online to reserve my award
> travel, this was 5 months before the date of travel, middle of April.
> Failed. I was frustrated, I ended up puchasing two UAL tickets at $275
> each.
>
> Last week, I gave AA a try again for two tickets to SFO in late June,
again
> this is 5 months away and I should have a pretty good chance to find some
> availabilty, again, failed.
>
> Now I question exactly how many award travel seats AA has per flight?
From
> my experiences with UAL, I feel like UAL is better in ths department than
> AA, they tend to accomodate you better when it comes to claiming your
miles
> for flights???
>
> Any opinion.
>
> If I knew I wouldn't be able to claim the two tickets, I wouldn't have
> purchased the additional miles to boost my toal miles to 50,000 miles +
>
> Eric Who?
>
>
>
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07-02-2004, 04:19 PM
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#7
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Re: American Airline Award Travel - BAD
"eric who" <imericwho@nospamyahoo.com> wrote in message
news:izOUb.852$PY.314@newssvr26.news.prodigy.com.. .
> Hi Group,
>
> I had 49,000 AA miles that I never used for years, recently I decided to
> puchase addtional miles thru their web site so I can claim two domestic
> tickets from ORD to MIA for our cruise ship in April.
> Upon receiving the purchased miles, I went online to reserve my award
> travel, this was 5 months before the date of travel, middle of April.
> Failed. I was frustrated, I ended up puchasing two UAL tickets at $275
> each.
>
> Last week, I gave AA a try again for two tickets to SFO in late June,
again
> this is 5 months away and I should have a pretty good chance to find some
> availabilty, again, failed.
>
> Now I question exactly how many award travel seats AA has per flight?
From
> my experiences with UAL, I feel like UAL is better in ths department than
> AA, they tend to accomodate you better when it comes to claiming your
miles
> for flights???
>
> Any opinion.
Yes. For success in booking award travel, you need some flexibility. Your
chances of getting THE flight at THE time on THE day that you want is always
smaller than saying something like, "I want to go to Paris sometime around
the middle of April." Also, you are apparently not a status FF with
American, which means you are at the bottom of the list for award booking.
Try using the miles with an AA partner with whom you do have status.
>
> If I knew I wouldn't be able to claim the two tickets, I wouldn't have
> purchased the additional miles to boost my toal miles to 50,000 miles +
Well, that was a mistake, wasn't it? I always call the FF desk of whichever
airline I'm using to redeem miles and make sure they have an award seat
available. If they do, I ask them to hold it and THEN transfer in miles to
top off.
>
> Eric Who?
>
>
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07-02-2004, 04:19 PM
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#8
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Re: American Airline Award Travel - BAD
In article <izOUb.852$PY.314@newssvr26.news.prodigy.com>,
"eric who" <imericwho@nospamyahoo.com> wrote:
> Hi Group,
>
> I had 49,000 AA miles that I never used for years, recently I decided to
> puchase addtional miles thru their web site so I can claim two domestic
> tickets from ORD to MIA for our cruise ship in April.
> Upon receiving the purchased miles, I went online to reserve my award
> travel, this was 5 months before the date of travel, middle of April.
> Failed. I was frustrated, I ended up puchasing two UAL tickets at $275
> each.
>
> Last week, I gave AA a try again for two tickets to SFO in late June, again
> this is 5 months away and I should have a pretty good chance to find some
> availabilty, again, failed.
>
> Now I question exactly how many award travel seats AA has per flight? From
> my experiences with UAL, I feel like UAL is better in ths department than
> AA, they tend to accomodate you better when it comes to claiming your miles
> for flights???
>
> Any opinion.
>
> If I knew I wouldn't be able to claim the two tickets, I wouldn't have
> purchased the additional miles to boost my toal miles to 50,000 miles +
>
> Eric Who?
>
>
I have had the same experience -- only once have we ever been able to
book an international flight with our points -- and we tried several
times many many months in advance -- the one we succeeded on was both
very early and we ended up having to be routed from Rome, into London
overnight, and then home -- instead of directly Rome to US.
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07-02-2004, 04:19 PM
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#9
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Re: American Airline Award Travel - BAD
eric who wrote:
> For April, I was trying to fly out on a Friday night and come back the
> following Sat. This is for a cruise vacation.
Yes, that is a problem.
> In June, I am trying to fly out on Thursday or Friday and coming back on
> Sunday or Monday, tried all combination, no luck.
Yes, after the first 1/2 of June, schools out and people rush off to
vacations. For instance, June 17 return June 21 is available, but not
June 24-28 (ORD-SFO). However, you can get June 24-28 to San Jose,
presumably since the tourists are going to SFO and not SJC. It's not a
big deal if you are renting a car, or you can go to SJC, take the #10
(free) to Caltrain (Santa Clara) and take Caltrain to the city of SFO.
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07-02-2004, 04:19 PM
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#10
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Re: American Airline Award Travel - BAD
If you did this, you would think that, at least among airlines, you
would have had a pretty good chance with American. The problem with
these numbers is that you have no idea how they were put together.
For example, were these based on thousands of attempts or only a few?
What times of year? What routes, etc. etc.
On Fri, 06 Feb 2004 16:44:24 GMT, "Robert Cowen" <rcowen@junk.com>
wrote:
>Before you fall for the allure of frequent flyer miles, check-out how easy
>it is to redeem them: http://www.webflyer.com/programs/award_upgrade_index/
>
>
>Bob
>The Internet Travel Guru (TM)
>www.InternetTravelTips.com
>
>
>
>"eric who" <imericwho@nospamyahoo.com> wrote in message
>news:izOUb.852$PY.314@newssvr26.news.prodigy.com.. .
>Hi Group,
>
>I had 49,000 AA miles that I never used for years, recently I decided to
>puchase addtional miles thru their web site so I can claim two domestic
>tickets from ORD to MIA for our cruise ship in April.
>Upon receiving the purchased miles, I went online to reserve my award
>travel, this was 5 months before the date of travel, middle of April.
>Failed. I was frustrated, I ended up puchasing two UAL tickets at $275
>each.
>
>Last week, I gave AA a try again for two tickets to SFO in late June, again
>this is 5 months away and I should have a pretty good chance to find some
>availabilty, again, failed.
>
>Now I question exactly how many award travel seats AA has per flight? From
>my experiences with UAL, I feel like UAL is better in ths department than
>AA, they tend to accomodate you better when it comes to claiming your miles
>for flights???
>
>Any opinion.
>
>If I knew I wouldn't be able to claim the two tickets, I wouldn't have
>purchased the additional miles to boost my toal miles to 50,000 miles +
>
>Eric Who?
>
>
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07-02-2004, 04:19 PM
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#11
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Re: American Airline Award Travel - BAD
jbk@piasystems.com wrote:
> If you did this, you would think that, at least among airlines, you
> would have had a pretty good chance with American. The problem with
> these numbers is that you have no idea how they were put together.
> For example, were these based on thousands of attempts or only a few?
> What times of year? What routes, etc. etc.
>
As someone mentioned, the numbers for WN don't make sense (16 percent
upgrade success), so that would tend to make the other numbers not be
believable.
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07-02-2004, 04:20 PM
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#12
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Re: American Airline Award Travel - BAD
"eric who" <imericwho@nospamyahoo.com> wrote:
>Now I question exactly how many award travel seats AA has per flight? From
>my experiences with UAL, I feel like UAL is better in ths department than
>AA, they tend to accomodate you better when it comes to claiming your miles
>for flights???
No airline will release that information for competitive reasons. Business Week
or Forbes ran an article recently that quoted an average of 8% of tickets every
day are frequent flyer seats. They also stated that some airlines (like AA) were
far more effective at managing inventory so as not to give up revenue.
However, averages don't tell you that those 8% are not spread out equally. Prime
time flights to prime locations may only have 1 seat available for frequent
flyer use. 5AM flights to Waterloo, IA may have 50 seats available. 
Southwest has the most flexible FF plan. If they have a seat available and it
isn't one of the few blackout days, you can use your free ticket...
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08-02-2004, 06:01 PM
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#13
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Re: American Airline Award Travel - BAD
Jenn muttered....
>
>
> I have had the same experience -- only once have we ever been able to
> book an international flight with our points -- and we tried several
> times many many months in advance -- the one we succeeded on was both
> very early and we ended up having to be routed from Rome, into London
> overnight, and then home -- instead of directly Rome to US.
>
Succeeded "first try" in the only international trip I ever attempted to
book on FFs, and that with DL (a couple, four legs, in First/Business
Elite), although provided alternative arrival cities, Milan or Rome, and a
Monday/Tuesday "window", on departure and return dates.
Have never had problem with AA domestic FF ticket, but have always been
willing to accept odd hours and circuitous routing, although the new "on
line" booking system may make "funny routes" harder to manage....
Funny routes can happy on regular tckets to....as in the time I went from
DFW to new York by way of Winnipeg.
The Motto which should be posted above FF redemption sites....
"There ain't no free lunch, unless you're willing to eat it at breakfast
time, yesterday."
TMO
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08-02-2004, 06:01 PM
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#14
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Re: American Airline Award Travel - BAD
It's only going to get worse as American Airlines' (AMR) CEO announced he is
pretty much going to tighten the noose on Frequent Flyer award travel:
February 6, 2004
American's CEO Says Airline Is Learning from Southwest
By Eric Torbenson, The Dallas Morning News
Feb. 6--NEW YORK -- American Airlines Inc.'s chief executive, Gerard Arpey,
praised rival Southwest Airlines Co. Thursday, saying his company's new
thinking emulates what Southwest has done for years.
"One of the reasons Southwest is so successful and has such high customer
service ratings is that they promise a product that is very simple and
deliver on that promise very consistently," Mr. Arpey said. "It's a better
paradigm ... and that's where we need to move."
Mr. Arpey's comments to analysts at a Wall Street conference represent
another significant change in the corporate mindset of the world's largest
airline.
Southwest has been profitable for three decades by using one plane type and
offering a no-frills point-to-point schedule.
American's system has been far more complex. Just a few years ago, American
flew 14 types of planes with 35 configurations, Mr. Arpey said, as part of a
strategy to put the right planes in the right markets to bring in the most
revenue.
But complexity came at a high cost. As business travelers have grown more
cost conscious, discount carriers such as Dallas-based Southwest have gained
momentum. In response, American has been simplifying its operations since
2002 by cutting the number of types of aircraft it flies, streamlining its
schedule and scrutinizing its processes to squeeze savings.
By September, American will have just 5 types of aircraft, Mr. Arpey said.
The carrier would move faster to simplify its fleet if the task weren't so
expensive, he said.
"The more complex your operation is, the more chances you have in
disappointing your customers," Mr. Arpey said at the morning conference,
sponsored by Goldman Sachs.
The Fort Worth-based carrier continues to rethink how it sells itself to
customers, Mr. Arpey said, but wants to be sure it has services to offer
that fliers will pay more for. American has no plans to drop its first class
cabin, for example, because its best customers value the extra legroom and
other services, he said.
************************************************** **********************
American will use its frequent flier program to drive more revenue, but Mr.
Arpey said he thinks the program's mileage bonuses and incentives are a bit
"too liberal." He said he hopes that a strengthening economy and airline
industry will let the airline "tighten them up a bit."
************************************************** **********************
The good news is that American's financial recovery continues to take shape.
American hopes its costs per seat mile flown, a standard unit of measure for
airlines, will be 17 percent lower in the current quarter than in the first
three months of 2003, Mr. Arpey said.
"We must keep pedaling as hard as we can," he said.
Some factors are making American's recovery more of an uphill ride. Health
care costs for current and retired American employees run as much as $350
million annually. Competitors and newly created airlines such as JetBlue
Airways Corp. have little or no expense for retirees, Mr. Arpey said.
Stubbornly high fuel prices will continue to eat into American's bottom
line. The carrier has used financial markets to hedge some of its fuel needs
for the current quarter, but it has significantly less fuel pre-purchased at
lower prices for the rest of the year.
Still, analysts have generally cheered American's overall job of reducing
expenses, which are now lower than at Houston-based Continental Airlines
Inc.
With leaner costs, American can now flex its muscle against both its
traditional foes and the surging low-cost carriers.
"If we face carriers such as JetBlue that come into our markets, we can
defend them with all the tools available to us," Mr. Arpey said.
But analysts are concerned that when American and JetBlue compete on a
particular route, JetBlue is winning customers in part because it has
satellite television in each of its seats. JetBlue offers no first class
service or meals.
American has studied adding such systems to its fleet of more than 700
planes, Mr. Arpey said. But for now, it's focused on adding power ports on
its planes to let travelers use their computers for work or for watching
movies.
"You really have to ask yourself how much we are going to spend on that kind
of technology on the airplane when people are bringing it on themselves," he
said.
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