US Airways transitioned its fare codes over the weekend. As of yesterday, ‘U’ is fare basis for business class awards instead of ‘I’.
It looks like some of the folks in revenue management over at US Airways didn’t get the memo, because ‘U’ class has been left wide open on several flights.
Last night and this morning, for instance, the US Airways Philadelphia – Tel Aviv flight had a big chunk of its business class cabin available as awards most every day for months. That hole seemed to get plugged early this morning just as I was going to write about it.
But several flights are still exhibiting the trait.
For instance, here are searches for business class award space on non-stop US Airways flights for 6 passengers.
Here’s a sample of Philadelphia – Munich:
Days in blue have at least 6 business class seats available on points.
It’s not every day in the same manner, but there are days where Charlotte – London Heathrow has 6 business class seats open (which doesn’t otherwise happen).
Much better is Philadelphia – Madrid.
This is just a sampling of what’s available right now across the Atlantic.
For 50,000 American miles each way, you can book these flights. US Airways charges 100,000 miles roundtrip (they don’t offer one-ways but do permit a stopover in addition to your destination).
US Airways pioneered the fantastic reverse herringbone business class seat on their Airbus A330 that I believe is best in the market and is now featured in the newest American 777 products, by Cathay Pacific for their long haul, and others. (I wouldn’t necessarily want to fly a US Airways 757 transatlantic.)
Cathay Pacific’s reverse herringbone business class
American’s reverse herringbone business class
Grab these quick while the award space is there!
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@Gary Leff I have a similar issue as mdtravel. I called AA to book the nonstop PHL to CDG because I needed the agent to change a connecting reservation between those 2 cities. The original flight was cancelled and the miles are still deducted from my account. However there has been no activity on the credit card (doesn’t mean anything since I am due a refund of BA’s outrageous fees). The reservation just shows “on request” and also provides USAir’s record locator number.
I can pull up the reservation on both AA and US, and I can see seat assignments in Business on US, but I can’t change the seats as I get a message that it hasn’t been ticketed. Any idea what the holdup is or what I should do about it?
@Maria – I think you booked these tickets with AA miles, and if it’s for a trip out into the future understand that AA can take 48+ hours to issue tickets on awards. As long as it shows on request at aa.com you should be fine, wait a day and check back.
@mdtravel for travel dates off into the future waiting a day or two for ticketing of an AAdvantage award is not unusual
Thanks for the response @Gary Leff. I am sorry for being unclear. You are correct. I booked with AA miles, 2 tickets, business class with 50K per ticket (one-way) saver award. When nonstops from PHL came available on US, I jumped on it and ditched my connecting flight on BA.
The confusing thing is that there is something seriously wrong with the awards that are showing. We booked outbound, one-way for the same trip, on US using Avios through BA. The problem is that BA was showing both business and first class seats on US. As you know, US doesn’t have a first class on this flight. So I have been worried that this space doesn’t exist.
We are not due to fly until December, so I will wait a couple of (uneasy!) days before calling. Patience is not a talent I possess. Thanks again!
@Marla what you are experiencing on the American side is normal. Call American if you are concerned and ask about the status of your reservation.
Thank you sooo much for this info! I was able to book very early Monday morning 2 business one ways CDG to ORD for my son, for his return trip from his honeymoon. It was ticketed today!
Wow. Still haven’t gotten any confirm and entered my confirm to check my flights: cancelled.
On the phone now.
Yikes! That is what I was afraid of.
As to my reservation, I am happy to report that it did get ticketed late last evening — probably 36 hours after I booked it.
The only problem is that I see no activity yet for my refund of the fees. I will wait a day or 2 before I address that.
Initial agent said I must have cancelled it. No. The system must have cancelled it and I can’t rebook you. Are there other dates you’d like to look at? No, I need you to rebook me on those flights at the rates I reserved. Can’t do that. Asked for supe. Spoke w/ supe. On hold now. I have a screen shoot of the reservation complete with seat assignments, but there is no indication of the mileage totals. Supe said it cancelled b/c no credit card information. Not true.
Already booked hotels and a couple of tours. Will report back later…ugh.
Phew. Supe came through. They said there was some problem with their system and/or credit card system and it got auto cancelled.
Rebooked, same flights, same dates, different seats, but all is well.
HUCA