Using American Airlines Miles/Points

[comrade]

Hello, I have a bunch of AA miles burning a whole in my pocket. I'm planning a trip to Pattaya in June, I live in Charlotte which is an AA hub but I am finding it harder than usual to redeem my points. Is there something I am missing?

- If I try and select Business Class, the estimate of points is ludicrously high. Around 400K - 500K round trip (in the past it has been 180,000).

- If I select Economy which I will do if reasonable, it gives crazy routings where I need to change airports, or it is a 40 hour journey, or 15 hour layovers which make no sense.

Anyone else in US experiencing this or used AA miles recently for a trip to Thailand?

I noticed that I can now book Etihad using AA miles, even though they aren't in OneWorld alliance, which could be an option too. 

 

Comrade

[basket case]

When are you looking to fly?

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[comrade]

June 2020 for 2 weeks

[basket case]

The problem is that you are in between award availability windows. Cathay and JAL tend to release seats at 330 days out, and then again 2 weeks out. American has copycatted UA and DL and gone to "dynamic" award pricing.

Your other problem is you are marrying AA's dynamic pricing on a domestic route to a CX or JL award. You can try looking at CX/JL gateway availability first (JFK/ORD/SFO/LAX) and see what awards look like there, and then try to connect with AA, or possibly purchase a ticket.

Or, you can roll the dice and start looking 2 weeks out.

Good luck!

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[comrade]

20 minutes ago, basket case said:

The problem is that you are in between award availability windows. Cathay and JAL tend to release seats at 330 days out, and then again 2 weeks out. American has copycatted UA and DL and gone to "dynamic" award pricing.

Your other problem is you are marrying AA's dynamic pricing on a domestic route to a CX or JL award. You can try looking at CX/JL gateway availability first (JFK/ORD/SFO/LAX) and see what awards look like there, and then try to connect with AA, or possibly purchase a ticket.

Or, you can roll the dice and start looking 2 weeks out.

Good luck!

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You genius, thank you basketcase. When I changed to JFK or LAX, I got award flights for 75K with reasonable routings. Although I then need to travel to that gateway, which means separate tickets and a risk if my flight is delayed. I just googled "AA dynamic pricing" and came across this article, very stealthy of them https://thepointsguy.com/news/american-airlines-possible-dynamic-award-pricing/

I'd like to fly CLT > LHR > DOH > BKK (or something similar) if I can so I don't have to endure a mammoth flight. Each flight is about 7-8 hours and don't arrive late evening like the others via Asia. I'll keep looking. Thank you! 

[basket case]

AA does not allow flights to BKK from the US via Atlantic routing on a single award, so they will price it as two separate awards on QR

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[usexpat46]

I flew R/T BKK to Sacramento back in Sep using miles, only used 75K miles booking on the American website for economy.  I find that flying spring and fall I have the best luck in finding seats.

[comrade]

Thanks, guys. I'll keep looking. 

[LeoTex]

I fly Delta and its about the same

When looking at my June/July trip, it was anywhere between 380,000 and 540,000 miles for Business/First.

In the past I could get for under 200,000 miles.

What I do is book Select Premium and then use 45,000 miles each way for upgrade to Business/First.

LeoTex 

[comrade]

25 minutes ago, LeoTex said:

I fly Delta and its about the same

When looking at my June/July trip, it was anywhere between 380,000 and 540,000 miles for Business/First.

In the past I could get for under 200,000 miles.

What I do is book Select Premium and then use 45,000 miles each way for upgrade to Business/First.

LeoTex 

Hi LeoTex, 

Good idea, I hadn't thought about using the points for upgrades. I've looked at that and it needs to be an AA operated flight and not a partner flight which is a pain. 

These point systems and airline alliances are so complex! 

 

[burgher]

I use AA awards a couple times a year to BKK or MNL and cost around 68,500 miles from my east coast starting point. In economy all the time as I sleep most of the time -sedated- and don't value spending more. I did a quick search and found CLT-BKK for 75k and 25-26hrs. round trip. The web sight is getting better with more availability but sometimes its just better to call the 800 number. If you don't get something reasonable just hang up and call again because some agents are way better than others.

[javasumatra]

I'm in Charlotte too. 

I must have been lucky as I managed to get CLT-SFO-NRT-BKK on JAL and back BKK-HKG-ORD-CLT on CX in biz for missus and I for 280,000 all in (140 each) for thanksgiving.

I just logged in to check the flight details and clocked this, hmm........