new AA buy miles promotion

[VAG newbie]

If the dollar hits 0.83 I will buy 100k + 60k So come on - you have around 40 hours from now to do so

Oh my goodness! It might happen. I just checked and AUD had hit above 0.80!

 

[hummel]

Oh my goodness! It might happen. I just checked and AUD had hit above 0.80!

If the AUD hits .83 in under 40 hours I'd be a very happy camper.

I'd also very very surprised if it did!

 

[Alanslegal]

Aus (South Pacific) - Europe in J is 60k Miles pp each way, so 240,000 total. Seems like very poor advice from a customer perspective to be told to share at customer cost rather than splitting the bookings into one-ways and paying from different accounts.
This week I booked BNE-ZHR and return Oct/Nov in J (2 pax) as 2 one-ways and the total taxes were around $340 AUD.
Miles were taken from different accounts even though it was put on hold as one booking. No problem splitting it once I got through to AAdvantage rather than AA Reservations.
aa.com had been showing zero J availability but 3rd time lucky calling, I found a brilliant agent - Carol - who was happy for me to feed her the CX flights I found on AM and hold them for me.
When calling back to confirm and pay, I called the Aus reservations number so the taxes were charged in AUD, a potential saving if your card charges an fx fee.

Why is it poor advice? It isn't. The information to share miles is still correct, accurate and workable.

Just because your outcome was efficient and worked out, doesn't mean it is better than Mary's agent. In reality though, expecting your held seats to be split up at the time of payment is kind of asking for trouble because if done incorrectly, the award seats could return back to inventory and never reappear - so yes, you could lose your seat. Next time when booking you tell them what you plan to do - X people travelling with each person to use points from their own account - get it right first time, so that there are no follow on dramas.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Why is it poor advice? It isn't. The information to share miles is still correct, accurate and workable.

Just because your outcome was efficient and worked out, doesn't mean it is better than Mary's agent. In reality though, expecting your held seats to be split up at the time of payment is kind of asking for trouble because if done incorrectly, the award seats could return back to inventory and never reappear - so yes, you could lose your seat. Next time when booking you tell them what you plan to do - X people travelling with each person to use points from their own account - get it right first time, so that there are no follow on dramas.

because it wasn't the best advice possible.

yes it was workable... but it involved considerable extra expense when another, better and easier solution was available.

I agree it is always better to advise the agent at the outset you want to draw miles from two different accounts, but often the agent will create it as a single booking anyway for convenience (to secure seats on a complex itinerary), and split the booking before they put it on hold.

 

[Alanslegal]

because it wasn't the best advice possible.

yes it was workable... but it involved considerable extra expense when another, better and easier solution was available.

The caller could always get a second opinion and HUACA - again a well known strategy if people read through the threads

 

[JohnK]

With a bit of planning and flexibility you can have some great trips like my MEL-LAX-JFK-HKG-BKK redemption in Oct all in J. Am so looking forward to doing JFK-HKG on CX in one flight.

Is that one redemption or two?

 

[Hvr]

Is that one redemption or two?

Two redemptions, 1) MEL-LAX-JFK QFi in J, 2) JFK-HKG-BKK CX J.

Was able to put my QF FF number on both to get OWE level seating. The QFi flight was easy, for the CX flight when I asked for a specific seat the AA consultant wasn't able to assist because the desired seat was reserved for OWEs. I asked her to put in my QF FF number and that still didn't work so she suggested I try on the CX site and that worked and has held (so far).

Also today the October reservations for Crown tours of the Statue of Liberty opened so have booked that as well.

 

[TheEmu]

Why is it poor advice? It isn't. The information to share miles is still correct, accurate and workable.

Just because your outcome was efficient and worked out, doesn't mean it is better than Mary's agent. In reality though, expecting your held seats to be split up at the time of payment is kind of asking for trouble because if done incorrectly, the award seats could return back to inventory and never reappear - so yes, you could lose your seat. Next time when booking you tell them what you plan to do - X people travelling with each person to use points from their own account - get it right first time, so that there are no follow on dramas.

"...very poor advice from a customer perspective..." An agent advising a customer to spend $600 to do something that could be done for no cost (completely legitimately under the T&C of the program) may be good advice from a company bottom-line point of view but it is spectacularly bad advice from the customer's, IMHO.

You are correct in saying it is better to lay it out as you plan to do to avoid potential dramas and that is exactly what I did from the outset, as I always do - it was the agent who put the bookings under 1 recorder finder. I have had this situation before with no problems so I was not concerned about it. She put 2 such bookings together so I had 3 RFRs on hold instead of 5. The on-holds are now booked, so I now have 5 PNRs.

I disagree though: "...X people travelling with each person to use points from their own accounts."
I do not book this way when travelling with someone.
I book 2 people together on a one-way taking the Miles from one account, then book the return as another one-way from the second account. This way you and your travelling companion are always on the same PNR. I feel much more secure having one PNR and being able to solve any potential issues while travelling rather than having MrsTheEmu or, more importantly, one of TheOffspring getting put on different flights and having to fend for themselves.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Two redemptions, 1) MEL-LAX-JFK QFi in J, 2) JFK-HKG-BKK CX J.

Was able to put my QF FF number on both to get OWE level seating. The QFi flight was easy, for the CX flight when I asked for a specific seat the AA consultant wasn't able to assist because the desired seat was reserved for OWEs. I asked her to put in my QF FF number and that still didn't work so she suggested I try on the CX site and that worked and has held (so far).

CX doesn't have premium seats held for OWEs AFAIK. The entire cabin, with the exception of bassinet or 'special service' (disabled) seats are available for pre-selection by anyone. (Exit rows in economy are an exception, but not applicable to J or F.)

The best way to secure seats with CX or KA is to do it yourself either online, or direct with CX. CX hong Kong reservations will also release the special service seats (2A/2K on the 77Ws) - with a warning you might be moved if the seat is required by a legitimate passenger. But I've never had it happen yet.

 

[Alanslegal]

"...very poor advice from a customer perspective..." An agent advising a customer to spend $600 to do something that could be done for no cost (completely legitimately under the T&C of the program) may be good advice from a company bottom-line point of view but it is spectacularly bad advice from the customer's, IMHO.

The advice provided by the agent is still accurate, reliable and workable. Regardless, the passenger's ignorance of the procedures is not an excuse and in the worst case, it's upselling by the airline. End of the day, its still accurate, reliable and workable.

I disagree though: "...X people travelling with each person to use points from their own accounts."
I do not book this way when travelling with someone.
I book 2 people together on a one-way taking the Miles from one account, then book the return as another one-way from the second account. This way you and your travelling companion are always on the same PNR. I feel much more secure having one PNR and being able to solve any potential issues while travelling rather than having MrsTheEmu or, more importantly, one of TheOffspring getting put on different flights and having to fend for themselves.

I would agree with your booking of 2 x one ways and would have suggested same, however the original post was talking about a return itinerary so thus my suggestion was for "...X people travelling with each person to use points from their own accounts" in that situation. Where possible, I prefer to book one way flights anyway so that if anything happens to one of my flights it doesn't affect the rest of the itinerary.

 

[Hvr]

CX doesn't have premium seats held for OWEs AFAIK. The entire cabin, with the exception of bassinet or 'special service' (disabled) seats are available for pre-selection by anyone. (Exit rows in economy are an exception, but not applicable to J or F.)

<snip>

I've been advised that row one (F) and row 11 (J) on the 777 are reserved for OWEs.

 

[Jeffrey O'Neill]

Also today the October reservations for Crown tours of the Statue of Liberty opened so have booked that as well.

That reminded me. Also in NYC in October. Just got myself a crown ticket. Last time I was there they still had access closed down.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I've been advised that row one (F) and row 11 (J) on the 777 are reserved for OWEs.

They made that up

Given 2A/K are blocked (available by calling), if row 1 was held for OWEs, that would leave only a single seat out of 6 available for pre-selection (2D)

In fact the whole of row 1 is wide open for selection by anyone.

 

[sergeyvzn]

They made that up

Given 2A/K are blocked (only available by calling), if row 1 was held for OWEs, that would leave only a single seat out of 6 available for pre-selection (2D)

In fact the whole of row 1 is wide open for selection by anyone.

exactly
I'm flying on Sunday on CX HGK-LHR in 1A on a 77W. No status whatsoever, selected it online soon after booking