SOOO Upset - Tried to use American Airlines Advantage Mikes for AOS Flight

[Ocruise]

Hi all. I'm so upset, I have tears in my eyes as I write this. I have been an American Airlines Advantage Member for 9 year now. It has taken me these 9 years to earn 61,000 miles. I pay 85.00 a year to master card to be an advantage gold card member. When I signed up with advantage, they paint a pretty picture of being able to use your miles. It takes 30,000 miles per person for a NY to San Juan round trip flight, so with my 60,000 miles, i'm so excited to use these miles.

I picked my flights on AA.com, round trip for the both of us would have cost us $ 1,372.80. Ouch! But i'm not worried because i'm using my miles, right, - WRONG!

When I called in to use my miles, the operator tells me that I cannot have either flight. It turns out AA sets aside 4 seats per flight for any reward travel. 4 seats!! Are they kidding!!

So the only flight she could give me is 7:50 that night leaving NY and landing at 11:35 pm, on the return trip she could offer me nothing. I told her that we are cruising and must be in San Juan by 2PM (I want to play it safe) and she said that I should stay the night before. I told her, then who is going to pay for our hotel room? She said, you, of course. At this point I spoke to her manager who said that the only way I could use my miles for the flights I want is to double the points, so for 60,000 miles per person, the flights I want are mine! I said that I only have 61,00 miles total! (Remember, you get 1 dollar per mile. So in the past 9 years I have charged 61,000, I'm not that big of a spender to have charged 120,00 dollars! Are they kidding me!) Then he also said that he had no reward travel flights coming home, but he'll tell me what the rates are. I stopped him and said i'm trying to use my reward points so I don't have to pay! He said then there is nothing he could do to help me.

Steamed, I called the executive offices at AAdvantage travel. The woman I spoke to there listened and I told her, AA will lose me as a customer if you can't help me out here. She said she was sorry about this & she will note my comments. I asked to speak to her supervisor & she said that there were no supervisors available, but they will review what she wrote. I asked if a manager will be contacting me and she said no.

I'm just so frustrated about this. I had'nt counted on paying for airfare because I was think of using these miles. With free airfare, we were going to be able to pay for a jr. suite that i've been dreaming of! I'm even more possed that i've been a loyal AA customer for years and they did absolutely nothing to keep me as a customer. I was thinking of writing a letter to the president of AA advantage, but I doubt it would do anything. This just seems like false advertising to me, they advertise earn points & fly free, but my selection on flights was little to none. It also burns me that there is availability on these flights! ) :

I did tell the last lady I spoke to that there are too many competetive airlines at a lesser cost (Jet Blue, Ted, Song) out there to deal with this. She had no comment. My best friend uses her American Express card & uses her free points with Delta all the time, she never has had this type of problem.

Just wanted to vent,

Thanks for listening,

Marina

[xpcdoojk]

You honestly didn't know this?

 

In order to use FF miles on any airline, the key word is flexibility! Going early returning late, that is the key.

 

Good luck.

 

jc

[springtxbill]

That is the trouble with the airlines except for Southwest. Their rewards are good for any seat that is open on any flight.

 

Bill D

 

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[w770496]

I had already booked my Nov. flight on Continental with FF miles LGA to SJU, but US Air has $232 RT. So, I redeposited my miles. Plus US air were direct flights.

 

Serenade of Seas 11/27/04

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[LindaO]

You MAY be able to use your miles with an American Airlines Partner airline.... call and find out who parnters with American and then try them... We had to do this with our Delta miles, using them on Virgin Atlantic for our cruise in September... Good Luck....

 

Or... try a weird route... from NY through anywhere... you may be able to get there, it might not be that convenient... and I'd personally be happy getting there the night before, just in case -- we always fly in at least one night early. We wouldn't want to miss the "boat" because our air transportation was late!

 

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[lmmn]

It's really not a bad idea to fly in a day ahead. Try to be flexible and use up your miles if you can. I had a very tough time finding flights with my NW frequent flyer miles, but after checking several times a day for a couple months something finally came up. Flights are not the best, but at least I can use up the miles. There are VISA cards out there where you get 1 mile for each dollar you spend. You need 30,000 miles for a free flight, up to $700. If the flight is more, you just pay the difference. There are no restrictions on flights or dates. I'm switching soon!

 

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[sunshine!]

I tried to book Three Delta FF airline tickets six months in advance for for San Juan, but here was no availability. The rep informed me that in order to this I should have booked them eleven months in advance. So instead we are taking a cruise out of Miami. I guess you really have to plan ahead to use those miles, especially if you want to fly to places like Hawaii or San Juan.

[MamaTene]

Gotta agree with the rest of these fine folks. Better to fly in day early and stay extra day if needed and pay the cost for low budget hotel and be able to use your miles. Flexibility is key when using ANY air miles.

 

Adventure Martian Mania Madness!!!!

 

 

Chris

MamaTene@aol.com

[bthorn1108]

If I were you, I would try getting a flight to go down the day before, and stay a day or two after. You will probably find better availability that way. Yes, you will spend money on 3 nights hotel, however, go through Priceline and it won't be that expensive. It will certainly be less than the cost of 2 r/t airline tickets to San Juan, if you have to pay for them, and you will get a few extra days vacation out of it.

 

Beverly

Southward 1988, Britannis 1994, Dolphin IV 1995, Star Princess (old version) 1996, Sea Princess 1999, Seabreeze 1999, Rembrandt 2000, Destiny 2000, Seabreeze 2000, Triumph 2000, Norwegian Majesty 2001, Destiny 2001, Sensation 2002, Victory 2002, Destiny 2003, Vision of the Seas 2003, Triumph 2003, Voyager of the Seas 2004,

[Cruising89143]

American Airlines is not the only one that does this. All of the major airlines limit the number of seats available on each flight for miles.

 

I was booked last month on Delta from Atlanta to Miami and the flight choices given to us were not good at all. Going down we would not have arrived in Miami until midnight and coming home we would have had to rent a car and driven to West Palm to catch our flight as no seats were available from FLL or Miami. This is just one of the things that you have to deal with if you are going to use the miles. Needless to say, we drove and just saved the miles for later.

 

Gordon

 

http://community.webshots.com/user/cruisingator

 

NCL Starward-86, Starship Atlantic-91, Caribe-92, Seabreeze-93, Fantasy-93, Norway-94, Celebration-94, Sensation-95, Imagination-96, Destiny-97, Celebration-98, Triumph-99, Victory-00, Majesty of the Seas-01, Fascination-01, Carnival Pride-02, Majesty of the Seas-02, Carnival Legend-02, Fantasy 7-03, Glory 9-03, Fantasy 11-03, Triumph 3/04.

 

Navigator of the Seas

[GinaDucey]

You are in a rock and a hard spot and I feel for you - however - there are very important tips to using FF miles. First you have to do the research and make sure you have several options that work with each other - (ex. flights that work with cruise times - cruise times that work with flex vacation times etc...). Then when you have all the possible information ready call and make sure you can place reservations on a hold for at least 24 hours and then make all the phone calls to make sure you can schedule flights, cruise, hotels etc.... This is a major pain - but believe my I know what I am talking about. My husband travels every day of the week and we are able to vacation every single year for free and stay in penthouse suites and fly first class and the whole nine yards.

 

I totally understand and feel for you - how long till your trip? Do you have the cruise already solid and paid for or a deposit? Please feel free to mail me if you would like for me to give you any other tips/tricks I know. Good luck.

 

Fantasy 11/91

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Paradise 2/00

Imagination 4/02

Ecstasy 5/03

Paradise 10/03

Sovereign of the Seas 4/04

 

 

Till we leave on the Sovereign

 

 

 

 

[Family of 14]

Don't know if this will help, but three times now we have had the same problem as you. We have the VISA miles card. Most flights are 18,000 miles. I believe that San Juan was 20,000.

 

When we try to book the flights too far in advance, nothing is available. For instance, we have a cruise coming up in July. Around January, my husband called VISA miles and told them what flights we would like for our cruise from Orlando. He was told that nothing was available for those dates. Because we decided to fly a day early and stay a day late, we changed our flight plans. A few days ago, I called VISA on a lark just to see if anything was available for the new dates and I had no problem getting two free flights. We booked the others directly with USAir. .

You didn't say when your cruise was, but you may want to re-think your flights and check prices (deals do come up). A trip to Sab Juan would be much more relaxing if you fly in a day prior and leave a day late. You can get a great hotel for a good price on Priceline. We got the Caribe Hilton for $75 a night.Try calling Advantage again and again.

BTW - Keep that Cat. C.

 

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[lmmn]

If you are checking flights online for award travel and you see a flight that will work for you, be prepared to book immediately. It may be gone in a matter of seconds. I believe in most cases you can cancel within 24 hours with no penalty.

 

Explorer of the Seas ~ 10/02

Majesty of the Seas ~ 1/03

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Navigator of the Seas ~ 10/11/03

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[BEVGOO]

We booked AA miles in January of 2001 for a cruise leaving late November. We booked Delta in January of 2003 for a late November cruise and still couldn't get down a day before the cruise. They are serious when they say book 11 months in advance. We always had two cruises in mind, so we could be flexible on the dates. We have no more FF miles with anyone and I'm not being loyal to any airlines. I AM GOING WITH PRICE PER FLIGHT FROM NOW ON!

[canudigit]

If you are using miles and have no frequent flier status on the airline, you should always book you flights well in advance, especially on a popular route like NY to San Juan.

 

Countdown to 4/10/2004 Serenade of the Seas

[bab]

Unfortunately, everybody's correct -- we use USAir FF miles and on almost ALL flights there are only a few seats available for FF miles, especially to places like San Juan and St. Thomas. We also use our American Express points and transfer them to almost any airline for use but again, you have to make the reservations way in advance since there are so few seats set aside for this purpose. A previous poster did have a good idea and find out if they 'partner' with anyone else and also if you go from NY to say Baltimore or Philly and then to San Juan -- the flights might be longer but you may find available FF seats on some other flights. Good Luck and let us know what happens.

[dougp26364]

It couold be worse. I live in a town that is a small market. Most airlines use the little regional jets to fly in and out. Since there are only 50 seats on each plane, how many FF mile seats do you think they offer?

 

On AW I have 42,000 miles. AW offers NO milage saver seats on any flights out of Wichita. At least if they do you have to be darn quick to get them. I've looked at several routes starting at midnight as far out for booking as they'll let me (331 day I think) and still can't get seats. In order to use my miles I'm going to have to drive to Kansas City which is 200 miles North.

 

Oddly enough, I haven't had any problems using my AA miles. AA still flies a couple of their Super80's out of Wichita so they have a few more seats available. I recently booked a FF ticket on them from Wichita to LA for next January. I booked the flight as far out as was allowable and still didn't have my choice of flight times. We go in a day early but come home on Monday around noon.

 

FF miles are tougher to use than are advertised. Not just with AA but with almost everyone else. The only two I haven't had a problem with are Southwest and Frontier. Of course, I'm back to having to drive to Kansas City to use either of these options.

 

Future cruises

Monarch OTS - Mexico Baja 1/05

Explorer OTS - Eastern Caribbean 11/04

 

Past cruises

Vision OTS - Alaska 7/03

Legend OTS - Alaska 7/02

[TrqoisWtrs]

When are you flying? I wouldn't give up just yet. When we booked our trip to Cayman, I had to call AA three different times and the third time was the charm - not only was I able to get FF seats, but it was on the flight our paying friends were flying on. As it gets closer to the flight, sometimes they will open up more FF seats just to fill the plane. You can also try calling just after midnight, when unused seats on hold are put back in the computer. And sometimes I think it might just depend on the operator - I was really nice and asked if there was anything he could do, we were trying to fly with our friends, etc., and we got it to work. Agree with the others in trying to be flexible in your flight times. We also used miles to go to Hawaii, but weren't able to get the flights I wanted - Chicago to Kauai and home from Maui, but just by changing our itinerary, Chicago to Maui to Kauai, we were able to do it - with a nonstop flight from Chicago to Maui to boot! Good luck and keep trying!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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[Alexis]

Hi,

I too am an AA freguent flyer. We have received at least 8 free sets of tickets since becoming members many years ago. That is a lot of money charged, and flown.

For our trip to San Juan in December, I knew that the free tickets would open up 330 days before my cruise. I called AA and asked that question of them in advance.

I was on the phone with them at 12:05 AM to get my seats. I now have to go in to San Juan two days early, I had already done my hotel for only one night, now it cost us 150% more for the second night. All I could get for free, was our flight from Las Vegas to Dallas Ft. Worth, to San Juan. There was no flight or seats to get us back home on the 17th of December. They were gone in the first minute. I had to purchase two seats from San Juan to Miami at a cost of $280.00. From Miami to home, I was able to get the free seats.

My husband and I have decided to just use any old airline from now on and not worry about the free seats anymore. We have relatives who live 5 minutes from the airport when we visit them. AA makes us go 60 miles to another airport, because they say "Your tickets don't permit you to fly from the closer airport".

Who ever has the cheaper prices will now get our business.

 

UNTIL WE FLY TO SAN JUAN TO SAIL THE NORDIC EMPRESS. **10 ISLANDS IN 11 NIGHTS**

12/06/04 VISIT OUR ROLL CALL HERE

 

 

[fitznorton]

I booked Delta 331 days out for our trip to San Juan and still could not get the date we wanted. Had to book a day before our cruise and a day after. Have had a reservation now since last May, traveling this April. Received the phone call last week telling me my flight is cancelled and now have to fly down on American and back on Delta. Has this ever happened to anyone else? No wonder people complain all the time about the airlines. How can they get away with this?????

[RumRunner01]

I think that many who are first time miles users are not aware of all the "ins and outs" of using them. I now know to plan WAY ahead for any flight I take using miles. And I must be flexible just like everyone says.

 

They say that FF seats are loaded 331 days prior to the flight and many people will call this far in advance for their seats. I agree with using alternate routes or days as well. Also, many times you can call and check to see if any of those seats have opened up. You can book an intinerary that isn't quite what you want but close and then call every day to see if you can change your dates/times.

 

Sorry for the bad experience, but like someone else said, all the airlines are like this. You have to know how to work the system. I'll be flying my 5th or 6th free flight next month with AA and this one first class!

 

Also, if you want to build miles faster, look into partners like AT&T for your home phone (5 miles per dollar spent). I also have many of my monthly bills charged right to my credit card every month to earn miles. I buy everything on the credit card (groceries, gas, hair cuts, etc) to get the miles. But I treat the credit card like a debit card, so when I charge something I use Quicken's "Savings Goals" feature to take the money right from my checking account and put it toward the next credit card payment. That way I'm never caught short and pay it off every month.

 

Good luck!

 

Adventure of the Seas 05/02/04

[zebra36]

Though I can appreciate the frustration of the original poster, everyone please consider the cost vs the reward of PAYING for a credit card in order to earn ff points. Unless you are a big spender it generally does not pay to have one of these cards, get a no fee card that has a cash back reward and save the fees and use the rebate to buy a ticket.

 

Frank

[smeyer418]

also Jet blue flys from Kennedy to San Juan also a less expensive airline... try their site...

 

www.jetblue.com

[smeyer418]

or get an RCI card or a NCL card and use that to get the cruise for free

[Ocruise]

I would like to thank everyone for posting, you all mede me feel so much better!

I called my TA and was talking to her, she said that it happens all the time with her customers, they have accumulated miles & think that they will be able to use them, but the flights available are really restricted.

My friend who uses Delta often books trips 1 year in advance, so that's also probably why she has no problem using her miles. My husband has the type of job where he the earliest he finds out his vacation is a few months in advance. It's really hard for us to make far-in advance vacation plans.

I did price jetblue, their airfare was 820.80, ~ 550. cheaper than AA.

I'm also going to follow another suggestion, to call AA advantage number after midnight, that's when tickets on hold become available again.

I'll post again if I have any luck.

Thanks so much for eveyon'e support, it means a lot to me! ( :

~ Marina