Is there one place to find basic help

[Mary Carol Kelly]

I joined the community today and have found it interesting to see what topics are covered.
my main goal was to see if I could find a way to use ff points / miles better and which to focus on - living in Perth but planning to do more travel in coming years and needing to do longer hauls in something like business class or premium economy.
i found useful info about the use of the AAdvantage miles scheme and given the current promotion I'm trying to check it's worth spending a fare amount of money to buy the max 100000 miles with 60000 bonus points . One reply suggested it is but then trying to find out how you easily book flights / what miles I need / understanding the different acronyms / seats type etc - pretty complex for an older retired newcomer !! Is there one place that steps you through how to book an award flight using AA miles on flights living Perth to Paris / Manchester ? I'd like to see if I can check if seats there ️, how many miles I'd need etc before I buy ? I keep hoping to different threads some old some newer .
Does anyone help with this without having to call a US centre before I even buy miles ? Thanks for reading

 

[Limewood]

There is no easy way to book award flights not on AA site other than simply calling and take pot luck or finding flights and flight numbers on the likes of BA, JL sites (free to join) then calling and spoon feeding them sector by sector to the AA operator. Look up different cites to go through too. One thing for sure book as far out as possible like 330days is best for long haul. Remember your buying J/F seats with these miles for about 1/3 of the normal price so you need to work on it, award seats are not supplied on a platter.

Looking through the AA forum is best and there are a few real geniuses there too, very helpful members.

There is an excellent post on booking on AA award flights here here.

 

[Mattg]

Hi Mary Carol Kelly,

Firstly, welcome to the forum. I know that it may all seem a bit daunting at first but stick around, read as much as you can and I think you'll find you'll be rewarded with a much better travel experience for less money in the future!

AA miles certainly have their uses, though they can be difficult to redeem, particularly on airlines where availability can't be found online. There are a few tools (e.g. Award Nexus) you can use to check availability but often you'll need to call the American Airlines AAdvantage team to check. The good news is that they have an AAustralian number you can call, and they are generally quite helpful. I recommend calling in the afternoon/evening so you get the call centre which I think is in Japan (as opposed to Fiji).

Being based in Perth, one of the best ways IMHO you can use AA miles is to fly to NZ in business class on Qantas. There is generally good award availability and regardless of where you go the price is 17.5K miles plus tax (roughly $50-100, which is quite reasonable... AA don't levy fuel surcharges.)

If you want to read up on buying miles, I would recommend checking out the free guide on this subject on the AFF Knowledge Centre: Frugal Premium Cabin Flying — The Australian Frequent Flyer Knowledge Centre. There are also lots of other things on there which may or may not interest you.

This thread, which explains all the abbreviations used on AFF may also interest you:
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....viations-and-explanations-5056.html#post69096

 

[Mary Carol Kelly]

I've been trying to find award flights out of Perth to Europe with AA but can't seem to find any business or first class flights around sept and October 2015 . And when you do find economy flights they take you back over east to Mel , Sydney or others places to eventually get to Europe - adding hours to the trips.

ive tried several variations but not seeing many flights that are quick and available as business or first class . Is there another site besides the AA One

 

[ChasingDaylight]

You need to be flexible in terms of dates and times - including stopovers/routings (this is key). Also bear in mind that the AA website doesn't list all carriers availability, such as MH (Malaysian Airlines), QR (Qatar Airways) and CX (Cathay Pacific) for example - you would need to phone AA (American Airlines) about any options with these carriers or perhaps sign up to the BA (British Airways) Avios website for some of them.

QR in particular does fly out of PER (Perth) so could be one carrier to look at, with a stopover in DOH (Doha) before heading into Europe - e.g AMS (Amsterdam).

Or perhaps when QF (Qantas) reopens the PER-SIN (Singapore) route there will be award availability on that to get you to SIN - or pay up front to get to SIN and you can then connect to either an AY (Finnair)/BA (British Airways)/CX (via HKG) flight to LHR (London Heathrow)/HEL (Helsinki)/<europe>. Otherwise you are liable to need to head to the east coast and fly out of there - whilst this is not ideal (and I sympathise, living in DRW (Darwin)), it does have more flights and availability can be found on both QF and BA flights out of SYD (Sydney) for example - as well as MEL (Melbourne).

E.g - departing 26/10/15. 60k AAmiles for J (business class) flights, $69.70 USD taxes.
Depart PER 1320 hours on QF476 to MEL, arrive 1955.
Depart MEL 2335 hours on QF9 to DXB (Dubai), arrive 0645.
Depart DXB 0225 hours 28/10/15 on QF1 to LHR, arrive LHR 0620 - 20 odd hours in DXB, enough to see and do a bit in DXB for the day.

We realise that this is complex and far from easy to understand, notwithstanding the difficulty to find the right flights on the right dates as well as return options. The best thing to do is read through the various threads here in the American Airlines subforum

 

[Alanslegal]

I've been trying to find award flights out of Perth to Europe with AA but can't seem to find any business or first class flights around sept and October 2015 . And when you do find economy flights they take you back over east to Mel , Sydney or others places to eventually get to Europe - adding hours to the trips.

ive tried several variations but not seeing many flights that are quick and available as business or first class . Is there another site besides the AA One

Key rule if you want to redeem flights: You always plan your holiday around what seats you can get, never the other way round.
After that, the next rule is: You need to be flexible, very very flexible, with routes. Flying back to the east coast might be the only choice. Sometimes you need to zig zag around, fly four flights instead of two, that isn't uncommon.
Third rule; You should book 11 months or as far out as possible. Looking at four-five months is going to make your choices very slim.

 

[sergeyvzn]

Malaysian Airlines always have one business class seat out of Perth, every day, with few exceptions

You can look them up on the British Airways site and then ring AA and book it

 

[Mattg]

Malaysian Airlines always have one business class seat out of Perth, every day, with few exceptions

You can look them up on the British Airways site and then ring AA and book it

This is a good point. There are airlines that you can use AA miles to fly on which don't appear on the AA website, such as Malaysia Airlines. I would suggest calling AAdvantage to ask them to check award availability. You should be able to find a seat on the Perth-KL route; the KL-Europe route could be more of a challenge. Try multiple cities (from memory MH fly to London, Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Istanbul). As mentioned, this availability should show on the British Airways website, but you'll have to join BA Executive Club to search for it (which is free, but you'll have to provide an address outside Australia as Aussies technically aren't allowed to join).

 

[grussellt]

Welcome aboard Mary Carol Kelly. The whole concept of using frequent flyer miles/points may appear complex at first but we have all had to learn. I'm glad to say AFF has some very friendly and helpful contributors. If you get stuck trying to figure out allowable routes/taxes etc don't be afraid to put your hand up for help. If you plan early enough and remain flexible enough there is generally something available. On September 14 you can book (on AA) PER-SYD, SYD-LHR (BA16) all in J for 60,000 miles and a bit over $US350. A manual search will show a charge of 77,500 for two awards but this should adjust to a single award on booking.

 

[DAC1]

Also remember that you can use AA miles on Etihad (EY). You can fly PER-AUH-<europe>.

Of all your available options, EY generally has very good availability and is probably most direct for you.

 

[Mary Carol Kelly]

Thank you all for your help and comments . Is there a place to check Etihad available award redemptions rabbits5 ? Checking yourself seems easier but haven't yet tried the AA call centre . I'll have to make up my mind before the current AA miles promotion ends this week. Hopefully I'm correct in be
ieving we can buy and use the 160000 miles per person all at once ?

 

[sergeyvzn]

Thank you all for your help and comments . Is there a place to check Etihad available award redemptions rabbits5 ? Checking yourself seems easier but haven't yet tried the AA call centre . I'll have to make up my mind before the current AA miles promotion ends this week. Hopefully I'm correct in be
ieving we can buy and use the 160000 miles per person all at once ?

You need to read this
How To Search Etihad Award Space Using American AAdvantage Miles - One Mile at a Time

 

[grussellt]

Mary, do you already have an AAdvantage account? I can't see it in the T & C's but I seem to think there is a qualifying period before you can buy miles.

 

[Mattg]

Mary, do you already have an AAdvantage account? I can't see it in the T & C's but I seem to think there is a qualifying period before you can buy miles.

Indeed....

AAdvantage accounts less than 30 days old are not permitted to Buy or Gift Miles.

 

[Mary Carol Kelly]

yes we are members of AA just never used yet

 

[Mary Carol Kelly]

can anyone confirm that if I buy the 100,000 AA miles and get the 60,000 bonus miles (before deadline of April 30) for two of us - and having been AA member for over 30 days - that I can use two lots of 150,000 of these to book flights I have held with Etihad (booked via AA call centre)
The connection was very bad but staff member very helpful - but I forgot to ask her this (given my account has zero AA points currently till I purchase ) thanks

 

[Alanslegal]

can anyone confirm that if I buy the 100,000 AA miles and get the 60,000 bonus miles (before deadline of April 30) for two of us - and having been AA member for over 30 days - that I can use two lots of 150,000 of these to book flights I have held with Etihad (booked via AA call centre)
The connection was very bad but staff member very helpful - but I forgot to ask her this (given my account has zero AA points currently till I purchase ) thanks

Yes, once the points arrive in your account you can use them straight away.

 

[grussellt]

Congratulations on booking suitable flights, Mary. Do you know you can call the US AA number for free using Skype or Gmail (or a few other VOIP services)?