Booked well in Advance dates still limited

[Jaymez]

I decided to try booking AAdvantage further in advance and certainly availability of Business and First Class was much better, but the dates were still limited. I am figuring that maybe because I am in the lowest rung of AAirways frequent traveller, few seats open up for e when I look?

19 Jan 16 QF PER-BNE-HKG Business
20 Jan 16 not o/night BA HKG-LON (Heathrow) First Class
27 Feb 16 QF LON - MEL First Class
29 Feb (9 hr stop in MEL) MEL-PER Business

Fees all up were US$515.90 each
240,000 points each.

It would have been less points (by 45,000 each), if I could have flown the reverse of the return trip to PER going to LON instead of having to go via HKG in Business, but there was no availability that I could find. Fees would have been lower too.

I'm wondering how this will compare to the Business and first class I flew with Qatar Airways as my last Star Alliance US Airways dividend miles flights. That was spectacular, so I am not expecting as good with QF and BA.

Anyone who has any way of getting better availability or finding better routes I'm all ears.

 

[smit0847]

You dont need to start a new thread everytime a thought pops into your head...

 

[trixydoza]

240,000 points each.

Could you explain how that number was reached?

 

[Jaymez]

Sorry smit, I looked at this subject and it appeared every successful booking was done as a new thread not a reply to a previous post. I am inexperienced, but hardly deserved your tone. It is that type of response which makes newbies reluctant to contribute or upgrade their membership level. Since you have 3,295 posts under your belt perhaps you can direct me to the explanation of the usual procedures or explain how I should have gone about it?

 

[Jaymez]

I'm glad you asked (and so politely), it made me go back and re-look at my 'activity statement' at A Advantage. I misread it because I made the US and UK bookings at the same time plus a PER-MEL retn booking. I now feel a lot better about the cost. It was only 160,000 points each!

Basically I was booked 80,000 first class each way per person. The PER-BNE(Bus)-HKG(Bus)-LON(first) was all up 80,000 points. I am missing out because I am not getting first all the way or even Aus to HKG, but that's OK. Then LON-MEL(First)-MEL-PER(Bus) was 80,000 points each all up. I had added in another 62,500 (which was actually PER-LAX(econ) and LAX-PER(Bus), plus a 17,500 PER-MEL(Bus) flight.

I should have posted when I first made the booking because when you go back to the confirmation email for the flight, which is all I kept, it only shows the flights and charges, not the points. So I tried to reconstruct it - badly!

 

[Alanslegal]

Sorry smit, I looked at this subject and it appeared every successful booking was done as a new thread not a reply to a previous post. I am inexperienced, but hardly deserved your tone. It is that type of response which makes newbies reluctant to contribute or upgrade their membership level. Since you have 3,295 posts under your belt perhaps you can direct me to the explanation of the usual procedures or explain how I should have gone about it?

From a close to 5,000 poster (and some of my posts are indeed fluff), I would highly recommend to you that you never buy anymore AA points given 1) your enormous issues getting any seats (and getting seats will only get even harder) and 2) the seats you end up getting, goes the long way and costing you much more points=money.

 

[Limewood]

Must agree.

We wanted 2 x J BNE/CDG/BNE using USDM 6 months ago, finished up with BNE/HKG/CDG all good, but return is CDG/DOH 20 hours then DOH/PER stop overnight then to BNE next morning. From what i read award seats are getting harder to find especially F from to OZ, however, if one can get to an ASIAN port its much easier certainly in J from there.

In our case will be looking for better return seats last week before departure as its said the odds are better.