When does AA open up for FF bookings?

[5infam]

Thank you!! I will say though that for this exercise, AA Agents were only able to see the flights about 1 1/2 to 2 hours ahead of the on line system, and I tested that over 3 days. Not sure if that is unique to the itinarary - but according to the agents, that is an American thing, so maybe other airlines show days earlier - AA agents see hours earlier.

 

[Pat H]

Great job. Now you can really look forward to your trip!

 

[GregT]

CathyB,

Sorry for late response -- what 5infam found is what I've found over the last three years -- AA only loads 3 coach seats per flight at the 22,500 level (45,000 RT) which does make it important to call in when the schedule loads.

It's worked for me each of the 3 years on both ways of the RT ticket.

Interestingly, I have seen them release additional 22,500 tickets (I requested it) and they released an extra seat to me. I have no idea if that is repeatable, but worth trying if you're short a seat.

Good luck to all!

Greg

 

[5infam]

I did ask them if they would release more seats to me and they said no. She did tell me that more seats could be released in the future at the 22,500 level; all dependant upon how well the flight is selling or not selling.

 

[winger]

To go back to the OP's initial requests, FF seats will not be available more than 330 days or so in advance. However, since the airlines are now putting FF seats under revenue control, i.e., let's see if we can sell them before we give them away, FF seats can show up as soon as 330 days before the flight, but this is no longer a "guaranteed" date for first availability.

So if the seats are not there at 330 days, keep checking at 329 days, 328 days, 300 days, 148 days, etc. Depending on how the seats are released, one might actually book the return flights first. This is one big advantage of the one way FF tickets on AA.

Art

Absolute PIA !

5infam, great job! Let us know how the returns work. . ..and NO, your return seatings do not have to match your outbounds (2 bus, 3 econ).

 

[beejaybeeohio]

Congrats & Thanks for the Info

We've always had good luck using our AA ff miles. I love that they've gone to the one-way booking and think it would be great if other airlines follow suit.

Our last itinerary was pretty complicated- CLE-LHR, then 2 weeks later LHR-BUD with return home a week later BUD-CLE. It was well worth the $20 pp x2working with the AA agents. It probably took 8 calls to book what was needed, and every person I spoke with was courteous and professional.
We fly coach and I appreciate that AA has always been able to accommodate us at the lowest mileage level-this past trip was booked about 310 days out.

We also use Continental OnePass miles and it seems more difficult to book the lowest level awards with them. We usually get one leg of the trip at that level, but have to spend double the miles for the other. Plus COs low level flights have crappy itineraries, eg CLE-Philadelphia-Brussels-Barcelona:deadhorse:

 

[5infam]

UPDATE: Booked return trip - but changed airports!!

Absolute PIA !

5infam, great job! Let us know how the returns work. . ..and NO, your return seatings do not have to match your outbounds (2 bus, 3 econ).

OK - We decided to have a change in plans for our return trip. Since i was unable to get all 5 tickets in coach, and since I am blowing my wad of miles as this trip is just about taking all of my 300,000 miles I saved up - we decided to do 2 islands. So now, the return trip is going to leave from Oahu instead of Maui. I was able to get a trade through Interval for my Marriott Maui 4th of July, for a Marriott Ko Olina week, 4th of July. It came through as a request first in 10 days, so i had enough time to properly book my return trip from Oahu. Got to love II!!!

So, I had to work the same system as I did for Maui. Calling AA at exactly midnight Central time. Just like last time, it took about 20 minutes for the system to actually load the tickets through the agents, and it took several hours for them to appear on line. Unfortunately for me, AA only released 3 coach seats again, so I was forced to do 3 in coach and 2 in first class. The funny thing is that I originally told my wife that we may have to split up the tickets where our kids would sit in coach and we would sit in first class, only because it was cheaper to do so in miles. She was upset that we weren't sitting with the kids - keep in mind my oldest will be 20 when we take this trip, so he is more than capable of keeping an eye on his brother and sister. None the less, my wife was not happy about all of this. So I told her "Well, you are more than welcome to sit in coach and one of the kids can come sit with me in first class, is that better?" It took all of 1 second fer her to reply "Well, I guess I don't feel that bad about it.":hysterical: So much for the concerned mom!! Anyway, we asked AA to put us in the last row of first class, and our kids in the closest row possible. They told me that the day of the trip, if we get there early, they may be able to move them even closer to us, as some of the closer rows are reserved for those with children, or handicapped - so it may be possible to move them up a few rows - but as it stands now, they are 6 rows back - no big deal really.

Anyway, looks like if you want to go to or from Hawaii on AA using miles during the summer, they only release 3 coach seats, so plan accordingly.