Aadvantage Question

Our travel agent made our reservations for next fall using our Aadvantage miles. We are traveling DFW-LGA and YUL-DFW. We had plenty of miles and preferred FC and were able to get seats in FC for the DFW-LGA leg with no problem but it seems the return from Montreal has become a problem. The travel agent tells us there is no FC on the return flight and she is right, but there is Business class. We can see online that it is available to book online using miles, but she says we cannot book this using miles. It is a AA flight operated by Envoy Air. I am confused! Should I go directly to Aadvantage and book it myself? I can see that we have Coach seats booked, but we are both very tall, and 4 hours in a coach seat would really be torture for us. Does anyone have any advice for us?

Thanks

On international routes with planes that have two cabins (coach and pointy end) AA calls the front end "business class." On domestic itineraries it's called "first class" but it's the same seats and service.

Your TA is misinformed and giving you bad information. Book the business class seats yourself (it's very easy) then start looking for a new TA. If you're already booked into coach, phone AA and they can make the change, and if you tell them it was a goof-up by your TA they might waive the change/phone fee.

Thanks! That is what I thought. Will get this done this afternoon.

Just talked to 2 people at AA. We can go on a "waiting list" but cannot purchase seats! It shows them for purchase online, but we can't get them. If you want to use $ to buy the seats they are over $3000 each!

AA sure needs to get their act together, they just lost my business when this trip is over, we will leave over 200,000 miles in the "pot".

I would also be very careful with a TA having access to your AAdvantage account. I know that booking services need access in order to take miles from your account for the tickets. In cases where someone else needs access, I would have a password for them to use and when that's done, change it to something different so that they no longer have access.

As mentioned, your TA really doesn't understand air classes and booking. Why are you having your TA do this for you, when it's clear that you can handle it yourself? And if they are charging you for that service ....

Just because the seats are available for purchase with cash, it doesn't mean you can "buy" them with miles.

Just talked to 2 people at AA. We can go on a "waiting list" but cannot purchase seats! It shows them for purchase online, but we can't get them. If you want to use $ to buy the seats they are over $3000 each!

AA sure needs to get their act together, they just lost my business when this trip is over, we will leave over 200,000 miles in the "pot".

Hold on. AA has two types of award seats, "sAAver" and "AAnytime." The "saver" seats are limited and depending on when you're traveling might or might not come available. (You say it's for "next fall" but don't say when.)

However "AAnytime" seats are just that. They require more miles than "saver" seats because they ARE pulled from inventory that's for sale, but they're available on any flight that isn't sold out.

For YUL-DFW, either on the nonstop or with a plane change, you need 30,000 miles for a business class saver ticket one way. (All AA awards are now one-way.) By comparison, an "AAnytime" seat requires 50,000 or 65,000 miles, depending on how busy the flight is. (Expect peak "cost" around weekends and holidays, for example.)

I looked at YUL-DFW for the month of November (don't know if that's when you're flying) and there were AAnytime seats available every day of the month. So obviously the AA agent(s) you spoke to didn't propose you using that approach instead of being wait-listed for "saver" seats, but they're certainly available. So if you really want to use miles, phone them back and ask about AAnytime seats. They would credit the miles you "paid" for the economy award seats against the miles required.

I don't know what you're talking about on the $3000 front. A one-way business class flight on AA from YUL to DFW is $408 or $434 every day of the week between Oct. 15 and Nov. 15 of this year. That would make your 50,000 "AAnytime" miles worth less than a penny apiece, a terrible value for your miles.

Flyer Talker I have taken care of that, thanks. I had the agent do this because I was having surgery and was unable to do it at the time. Will never make that mistake again!

Gardyloo, just talked it over with DH and we have decided to just go with "premium economy" and forget the whole thing. Just go with a lesson learned! We will save the miles for something else or forget them all together. Thanks again for your help. I have been reading your help for years and you are a wealth of knowledge!

Thanks all!