On Sunday I wrote about American’s unwillingness to offer even a single saver award seat in any class of service for any of their Buenos Aires flights more than a month out.
I value my American miles for partner awards, but most members look to redeem American miles on American flights and that’s gotten very hard. It used to be exceptionally easy. Sometime in mid-2012 premium cabin awards to Europe really tightened up. About 18 months ago premium cabin awards to Asia tightened up, and awards to South America did as well.
Now even economy awards are hard. This is especially frustrating to Europe because American’s primary transatlantic partner is British Airways whose awards incur fuel surcharges. When booking economy that almost completely defeats the point of using miles since you wind up paying much of the cost of an economy ticket while facing availability constraints, spending miles, and not earning anything in the process.
On several routes American is getting absurdly tough on domestic routes as well.
In fact, it’s so bad that in my home market of Austin it is nearly impossible to ever book a saver coach award through American’s primary hub in Dallas. That means for many destinations it is impossible to book a saver award, no matter where you’re going, period.
Reader Marc L. (who also raised the Buenos Aires issue) writes,
I noticed there is no saver economy awards available from DFW to AUS thru March 2016 except one flight on Feb. 18. I called and sent a DM via Twitter and claim this is not a glitch. Also no availability from DFW to IAH, but availability almost every day from DFW to SAT.
…Also HOU-DFW is blocked (since DFW is only destination from HOU that means no saver availability there at all) and SAN-LAX appears blocked too.
…I still think it is a glitch, but if it wasn’t, I would leave AA for Delta or United because this makes using miles domestically very difficult if Chicago does not work for particular destination or flights.
Austin in an important market for American. Not only do they have an Admirals Club and service to each of the airline’s hubs there are literally 14 flights a day (15 flights 5 days a week) to Dallas.
As a resident of Austin I’m on these all the time. They can be a tough upgrade because of a uniquely uncommon concentration of premium fare passengers and top tier elites. I usually clear upgrades at the gate of a few hours prior to departure. This past Monday I was number 10 on the upgrade list, and sat in back. I don’t much mind for the short flight, and I was in an exit row.
But if this concentration of customers can’t get saver awards ever, like Marc L., they aren’t going to stay very loyal.
Indeed, this is what the award calendar looks like for one passenger in economy Austin – Dallas.
And it looks like that consistently. No saver awards, any day.
I finally found one day where there was a flight with a saver award. Starting today and scrolling forward, it was February 18.
There are 2 days in April.
Things are a little better when we literally hit the end of the airline schedule.
This is with 14-15 flights per day and they don’t all run full, I often grab the second to last flight back to Austin in the evening and when it gets delayed I can easily hop onto the last flight of the night — a cleanup flight where seats are abundant.
What’s more, purchased on a standalone basis in advance these are not expensive flights. Here’s a calendar of pricing for non-stop American flights in August:
I can’t imagine that this situation persists, but it’s a problem. And it’s as much a problem for American as it is for members
Of course, American’s Executive Platinum members can call for better availability (does not show on the website) and if you put together an international award and are just missing the domestic segment you can ask American to release the space ‘to complete an itinerary’ although they’ve been tight-fisted in response to such requests especially more than a week prior to departure in recent times.
This has been more or less the situation in SFO for quite some time, although not quite as extreme as what you’re showing here. I’ve only found AA miles useful for travel to Asia, since domestic segments are so hard to come by, and BA flights are not a good value.
That is ridiculous. Delta provides better award inventory — much at 10,000 miles one-way AND UPGRADEABLE — on short flights from ATL! I know you love to rag on Delta, but allowing upgrades on awards within your status group (as opposed to the bottom of the list behind all other elites) is one area where Delta shines. In fact, this effectively makes many first class awards on Delta dirt cheap for Diamonds.
This has been going on for flights to SJO for a while, when you find saver awards they have 15 – 24 hr total travel times or you have to pay anytime awards for the “normal trips”
I live in Chicago, and it’s horrible for domestic economy flights. As one example, I’d been considering a long weekend in Charlottesville (CHO), and a few years ago, there was saver availability on either of the two daily nonstops for almost every day. Now? I’m lucky if I find one day, period. Nonstops to LAX have dropped drastically. Good luck using BA miles on AA other than the nonstop US Air routes. Very difficult and a drastic change in the last couple of years.
Last month I booked with Avios a DCA-Chicago flight for August. Yesterday I tried to do the same for a September flight, found no availability at all from September to November. Could this be related?
I’m glad it’s not just me seeing this…I’m also based in Austin and have been simply looking to get back up to Boston to see family in August and it’s damn near impossible to find ANY routing that works using miles at reasonable price. Appreciate any updates you get from AA.
Yeah, this is pretty ridiculous. Yesterday there was near daily saver availability for the next few weeks to NYC and today everything is gone. I’m glad I put something on hold yesterday. I really hope this is a glitch or it really does make it near impossible to put an award trip together.
I’ve noticed something similar out of CLT. I’ve been booking CLT-JAX pretty regularly using BA miles. Looking on Tuesday there was pretty good saver space all the way out. Checking this morning, no Saver economy. Hoping it’s just a glitch.
It’s more of a “matter of principle” problem, because at $50-80 each way, I buy these tickets cash or arrival points, and it’s less than taxes and fees on many awards.
I’m more pissed about zero business class awards internationally. The planes aren’t full. Are they giving them all away to full fare coach upgrades?
I am seeing something similar from Charlotte to the destinations I usually fly. No saver at all on direct flights but there are savers if you have to change planes
I noticed a big change in the MSP-ORD availability. Used to be any day of the week and multiple flights per day. Now saaver flights are very hard to come by.
So what’s wrong with paying $49 for a positioning flight bookending your award flight? I’ve had the same problem with awards to the Caribbean in the past and no award flights from TPA-MIA. We would drive 5h to Miami and stay in an airport hotel because those positioning flights were $200+.
Just checked MIA-MVD and MVD-MIA. Not one single saaver award (coach or business) until end of April. I guess the 55K one way is the new coach saaver award. That’s an 83% devaluation peak season (form 30k to 55k) or a 175% off season (from 20k to 55k).This is being going on for a couple months, so I’m not relying on the glitch theory my friends.
Glad you mention this—I thought I was going crazy!
Two days ago I was looking for Saver awards from AUS to TPA in August and there were a who,e slew of them, albeit all with crazy itineraries like AUS>ORD>DCA>TPA. Today I look and there is barely anything!
As much as I hate DL it was super easy for me to redeem 10K for a one-way AUS>TPA with no crazy routing, availability was wide open.
Not liking the “new” AA.
@ barb
I rarely find these flights available either unless you go mid-week but there is an obvious reason for that.
It is actually even worse to go from CHO to ORD for a weekend. I can occasionally find saaver direct ord to cho on a Friday night but zero Cho-ORD on a friday night. Sunday afternoon/night is non-existent in either direction.
Paid tickets on this route were consistently $275 last year but you are now lucky to find them for “only” $330. Especially frustrating when you can often fly in and out of DCA for under $200. But to me the convenience and time saving is worth the extra $150.
Was just trying to book STL-ORD last night and all saver availability is just completly gone.
Noticed the Same thing from my city YUL to NYC and ORD DFW MIA PHL
Only 1 day in Feb and to the end of the schedule
couple of days
Very weird
What you’re describing in this article has ALWAYS been my experience from Austin, but when the Anytime Awards got gutted last year, a reasonable alternative had been shut down. As a result, I’ve basically bailed on my blind loyalty to AA, burned down a 1.2M miles balance in the last year (I’m a sole proprietor, so easy to redirect to using miles over paying), and when I couldn’t find good value for the miles, I bought non-stops on the airlines that had nonstops. It’s been interesting to watch AA raise the mileage requirements for some markets for mileage use over the course of the year, like Charlotte and Phoenix, for which earlier in the year, there was significant saver availability on the nonstops. I feel that these practices will continue, which is why I’ve effectively abandoned the program.
Disregarding DFW for a moment, while I was burning my balance, it’s been straightforward for me to find Saver availability connecting in ORD, LAX, CLT, and PHX on non-peak days.
FWIW, Free agency has been an exceptional change from a quality of life standpoint, as I now just take non-stops to my destination. The hours and sanity that I’ve gained are significant, and I’ve also tried Premium Economy on Lufthansa and BA, which are phenomenal products (especially over MCE … what was I thinking!)
Good luck with whatever strategy to which you align.
I was looking for availability for mileage redemption out of Seattle, where I live, and it’s not too bad. August can be difficult since it is summer. Random days in August have good availability for mileage saver awards on partner airlines such as Hawaiian and Alaskan. But going to DFW can be a real challenge.
@Tom I actually always was looking for Wednesday through Saturday and had zero problem until a couple of years ago. Same with lax and other destinations, which is why I don’t think it is a glitch. This drop in saver ability has been for a couple of years everywhere I’ve searched.
If they are blocking the short haul flights out of the hubs I bet its because of Avios
Surely you must have run into this being DCA-based as well. DCA-JFK and DCA-ORD can be nearly impossible to get many times. Very frustrating when trying to feed an international itinerary…find a wide open leg on CX or such and then have to buy a revenue ticket for all of $100 to JFK. The conspiracy theorist in me says they’re trying to cripple international redemptions by killing feeder flights.
@john that certainly would make sense for shorter flights but I’m finding this true of routes such as lax, msy, really most of where I’ve searched the last couples of years over months and months ahead
This is no surprise at all. When america west took over usairways, the exact same thing happened to us airways award availability. Parker and co have always had this strategy unlike the old american management.
United usually has awards available at low level as well. This is exactly WHY many of us didn’t move from where we were to AA, because we knew this is what would happen.
The unannounced ‘Stealth Devaluation’, where Saver Awards for International Premium Cabin TATL flights were virtually eliminated a couple of years ago, has now been extended to Economy. Perhaps if the Travel Blogs and their readers had been willing to scream bloody murder at the time, AA’s FF program would have taken quite a hit when masses of people found out it was in fact a Ponzi scheme. That might have had a beneficial effect. But that didn’t happen, and when AA saw they were getting away with it, they extended it to Economy. I find it ironic that the lack of Saver availability for a $49 flight, that I would never consider using miles for, no matter how few it required, is getting the publicity that the lack of TATL FC didn’t get.
Hard time finding availability for Friday-Sunday/Monday flights between LGA/JFK to ORD. Good availability during the week (Tuesday, Wednesday). They keep trying to route me from HPN or EWR (1 flight max) or from LGA-MIA-ORD: how does that make sense…
Gary,
Another issue I am seeing with AA – I am checking availability from DFW-CUN in July/Aug. on the AA.com website – and find plenty of MileSAAver awards (mid-week) – that would normally translate to being able to redeem Avios at at BA.com website. However, BA is showing absolutely zero availability on any awards on that same route; same dates. Wonder if you are able to replicate the issue. This could be a major change if it is not just a system glitch (has been ongoing for a few days now).
DCA-JFK, DCA-ORD, DCA-BOS are the same way — you can’t link up with your long-haul award because there is literally no direct saver awards available. Because it’s DCA, there are usually US direct flights to LGA or connections to JFK and BOS but the direct flights are never available.
I was booking Buenos Aires flights in April and there were plenty of super saver fares for March and April of 2016. Then one day, all gone except for a random date here and there. Ba&t@%ds!
It’s not so bad if you look at married segments to your final destination. You see a different picture than just AUS-DFW. I looked at AUS LAX and AUS MSY and economy was gone but first was relatively wide open in the next 30 days, with some options connecting in DFW.
It’s been that way in business class domestic for a while. Iberia awards available but no flights to the gateway.
I do agree that award availability across the board is much worse than a few years ago. But I don’t think it has anything to do with an evil plot by AA. The loads are much higher now, so there are gong to be fewer empty seats.
Blah blah blah… Miles Shmiles. Just blow the freaking program up .. make everyone quit. Give us all a turkey and a baster with whatever we have left.
And actually START a new airline because this one is a joke that exists solely for the benefit of strange passive aggressive baby boomers who have defaulted on several mortgages and left behind numerous wives, children and long since defunct businesses and military operations in their wake.
It’s hilarious to hear people say things like they are worth 1.2 cents a mile rofl, they are their property. They have zero monetary value. Now me personally. I’ll still fly whoever because I don’t take it to heart but if you went into this banking that you had somebody in the “biz” who would have your back. You’re in the wrong hoedown Jethro. Every man for himself at this point.
Oh and in the off chance you “still” believe in this drab marketing gimmick. Take it from someone who has been to the top of the mountain and I can testify without a doubt that it’s all BS.
Hopefully somebody reads the comments and believes, if not , no big deal.
LOL. They don’t even let you use the SWU’s. Stop chasing the dragon. There’s nothing to catch Pavlov.
All that being said if the airline works for where I need to go, I have no problem with contracting with the carrier to provide me “transportation” for a price. I have no expectations other than that they take me from point A to point B. Anything else is gravy.
@Joelfreak don’t confuse redemption programs from elite status, and who you fly with versus were you accumulate non-flight miles
Regarding the idea of booking an international trip and asking for the connecting domestic segment to be opened, I have been told by several agents recently that they have specifically been told that AA does not do this anymore and that they should not even ask for this to be done. Each agent told me that this is a policy change and that they used to be able to do this on a routine basis.
Regarding the comment about lack of availability for DCA > JFK, I agree completely. However, even though it is a pain I have at times been able to book DCA > MIA to Europe to complete premium international travel. I am waiting for them to clamp down on this due to the extra mileage, but in the past it has worked.
It’s really only a matter of time before AA makes a “saver” award TATL in J 500,000 miles and even then you’ll only be able to fly the fifth Thursday of every month.
How is it beneficial to other members of OneWorld to “partner” with AA when redeeming is getting nearly impossible?
@JDDTx – I mentioned a few comments in that I had booked last month a DCA-ORD august trip, plenty of availability. Yesterday tried the same for September. Found no award availability at all through BA. I looked up until November. Nothing. I was hoping it was a glitch but most likely it’s not.
@Nathan Drake – thanks for that additional Data Point confirming what I am seeing.
@Gary: Hoping you can do a little digging on this; if Avios can’t be used at all for these Short Haul Flights anymore using the BA chart; it would dramatically affect their value for a fairly significant (I speculate) portion of your readers.
“If they are blocking the short haul flights out of the hubs I bet its because of Avios”
@John, this sounds plausible. I always wondered which airline lost out when I redeemed 4500 Avios for a $200 short-haul flight at the last minute. It must have been AA losing.
Well there’s always those magazine redemptions like over at Spirit 🙂
I second most of the findings here. I recently spent a ton of time booking a trip to Europe trying not to touch that BA third rail from my MCI home. Not easy my friends. If the award availability continues like it is currently it will alienate the nonhub customers and ruin the current business advantage that AA has in this area.
Oh and what ever happened to all those Winter US flights to FCO or CDG? Remember all those 60k Envoy awards on half empty 767s in February.
@JDDTX – The decline in AA award availability through the BA website has been significant over the last 2 months, specifically. I’ve been reviewing options over the last 6 months, as I have diversified my points earning through Chase UR. In the last 2 months, NOTHING comes up on AA or BA for routes where there used to be very good availability.
Much of the reduction of availability and closing of certain loopholes coincides with dates of the IT transitions. If you’re not a conspiracy theorist like me, you could just call it ‘summer’, where there are less seats.
Either way, given the screw job that happened last year with the devaluation, I’m thrilled to have dumped a considerable number of points before the value had plummeted further. I still feel like a chump for trusting that AA would treats its frequent business travelers in better faith than has been the case.
@ATX-ExecP: Glad you had opportunities you could burn a good chunk of miles on. Here’s what is new to me and I have not seen ANYONE (of the Bloggers) focus on this – Previously, there was a 1-1 correspondence between finding a MileSaver Award on the AA website; and then being able to go over to BA’s site and book it using Avios. That ‘seems to’ have now been completely destroyed – based on my anecdotal evidence and the other reports here left by @Nathan Drake and Others. I am just surprised that it has not been picked up by any of the major blog sites – and I am still holding out ‘hope’ that this is a glitch! Hope does springs eternal it seems. Just would be nice to have something more definitive on it – since it would make Avios much less relevant to me.
re: Folks not seeing anything on BA.com. The issue seems to be with AA routes best I can tell. If you search US routes you can find a good bit (try DCA-BOS, etc). But I haven’t been able to get BA.com to pull up a single mainline AA or Eagle route, even on days when AA.com shows availability. That makes me hope it’s an IT issue – something not talking to something else.
As others have mentioned, this seems to be an AA metal issue, not US.
Looking at the calendars for various cities, the few dates that are available through the end of the year seem to be the same for all the cities.
American isn’t killing short haul awards because of BA. It makes it impossible to redeem certain cities at all. This happened in the tail end of March and was fixed in a day or two. I call one of two options: IT or it’s the end of the 2nd Quarter and they are trying to hold off the numbers.
About a year ago, the saver availability on ORD – MSP route went poof even for random days / flights in Nov / Feb. No agents have been able to explain it. This was my primary Avios use @4.5k / leg.
About 3 months ago, there was a lot of SFO-NYC, LAX-NYC saver business and first direct and non-direct availability. Then one day it was gone.. This is an issue because business or better flights from Asia to LAX and SFO are available, but Asia to NYC is not. So I am stuck in LAX or SFO.
Anyone have information about experience in completing an itinerary.
Also, suppose I purchase a one way ticket from LAX-NYC on AA and have a HKG-LAX miles ticket. Can I check my luggage all the way through. I think I can, but would love to hear the experience of others.
@flyer fun if your tickets are both for travel on oneworld airlines you can through check bags.