American AAdvantage Members, Great Cruise News: One Way Awards!

[syesmar]

As of May 9, 2009, American Airlines is now awarding One Way AAdvantage Travel! This is great news for cruisers who sail out of one port and disembark from another, or those who start their cruise in a non-peak time but finish in a peak time.

 

For example, Transatlantic Cruisers from Fort Lauderdale to Europe using MileSAAver Awards during peak season will only have to use 12,500 miles going and 30,000 returning, for a total of 42,500 Miles. Under the old system, you had to use the Round Trip total of 60,000.

 

I could go on and on with other examples, but you get the idea! I think this is great news!

[greatam]

As of May 9, 2009, American Airlines is now awarding One Way AAdvantage Travel! This is great news for cruisers who sail out of one port and disembark from another, or those who start their cruise in a non-peak time but finish in a peak time.

 

For example, Transatlantic Cruisers from Fort Lauderdale to Europe using MileSAAver Awards during peak season will only have to use 12,500 miles going and 30,000 returning, for a total of 42,500 Miles. Under the old system, you had to use the Round Trip total of 60,000.

 

I could go on and on with other examples, but you get the idea! I think this is great news!

 

This totally SUCKS for anyone other than repo cruisers!!!! No more free stopovers (they cost 20,000 miles now). I had a ticket on hold for a RTW award booking. The miles needed JUST WENT UP 35,000 miles. I am AA EXP and the RULES are not firmly entrenched yet. Don't get tooo happy!!! This may not be all it is cracked up to be. AA MAY raise the "price" for one way tickets to equal RT tickets of old. AA has zillions of AA miles on the books which is a definite liability to their bottom line. I think the price for one ways will GO UP considerably.

[Jade13]

As of May 9, 2009, American Airlines is now awarding One Way AAdvantage Travel! This is great news for cruisers who sail out of one port and disembark from another, or those who start their cruise in a non-peak time but finish in a peak time.

 

For example, Transatlantic Cruisers from Fort Lauderdale to Europe using MileSAAver Awards during peak season will only have to use 12,500 miles going and 30,000 returning, for a total of 42,500 Miles. Under the old system, you had to use the Round Trip total of 60,000.

 

I could go on and on with other examples, but you get the idea! I think this is great news!

 

Wow, that is great. I wish Northwest would do this (as well as other airlines). I had wanted a flight from PEK to HGK but no award travel will work. Hmm, I have miles with AA, perhaps I can fly that route on Cathay Pacific?

[greatam]

Wow, that is great. I wish Northwest would do this (as well as other airlines). I had wanted a flight from PEK to HGK but no award travel will work. Hmm, I have miles with AA, perhaps I can fly that route on Cathay Pacific?

 

Only AA flights-no Oneworld

[Gardyloo]

A couple of points -

 

I think it's virtually certain that there will be more changes emerging in the near future, along with specific rules regarding the use of one-way awards with partners, how stopovers are to be handled, etc. Right now the AA website is allowing on-line booking of awards (including one-ways) only when the flights are on AA metal, but presumably things governing one-way awards utilizing partner carriers will be forthcoming. So patience is indicated.

 

When one tries to book a round trip award, the screens that come up now just have two one-way boxes, each showing the miles required (or choices) for the various dates outbound and inbound. So I think it's safe to assume that all awards, including one-ways, round trips, and open-jaws, will be based on single-journey mileage draws.

[greatam]

When one tries to book a round trip award, the screens that come up now just have two one-way boxes, each showing the miles required (or choices) for the various dates outbound and inbound. So I think it's safe to assume that all awards, including one-ways, round trips, and open-jaws, will be based on single-journey mileage draws.

 

And that whole deal SUCKS!!!! Partner Awards are definitely going to cost more (they were a great deal). We shall see how they handle OneWorld awards. I really blew my cork after AA asked for another 35,000 miles this morning-that phone call you weren't expecting. The trip (Middle East/Asia) has been on hold, rerouted, rescheduled, redone three times since about the first of April. NOW they want more miles????

[Gardyloo]

And that whole deal SUCKS!!!! Partner Awards are definitely going to cost more (they were a great deal). We shall see how they handle OneWorld awards. I really blew my cork after AA asked for another 35,000 miles this morning-that phone call you weren't expecting. The trip (Middle East/Asia) has been on hold, rerouted, rescheduled, redone three times since about the first of April. NOW they want more miles????

Did you get a notification that all held awards were being purged last night? I saw that something was in the works (posts on FT and TB) so yesterday I pulled the trigger on a couple of J awards Europe < > Africa for later this summer, just in case the redemption rates changed, etc. The agent (EXP desk) reminded me that all held awards would be voided at midnight last night, so is that what happened to you? I believe the warning about the May 8/9 scrubbing went out around a week ago, but as I had nothing on hold I never heard it from AA. If you did, were you notified?

 

Also, how did your mileage requirement go up? It doesn't look like the redemption tables have been changed or updated.

[greatam]

Did you get a notification that all held awards were being purged last night? I saw that something was in the works (posts on FT and TB) so yesterday I pulled the trigger on a couple of J awards Europe < > Africa for later this summer, just in case the redemption rates changed, etc. The agent (EXP desk) reminded me that all held awards would be voided at midnight last night, so is that what happened to you? I believe the warning about the May 8/9 scrubbing went out around a week ago, but as I had nothing on hold I never heard it from AA. If you did, were you notified?

 

Also, how did your mileage requirement go up? It doesn't look like the redemption tables have been changed or updated.

 

I was NOT notified in advance via email. Just the phone call this morning. And I "think" the way they figured it, stopover fee + mileage based requirements. I am still trying to make sense of what the EXP desk was telling me this morning. They could have ticketed the itin, but for some reason, they didn't. So either they ticket it the way it was on hold or I am going to start a big b****. Probably won't help, but maybe I will feel better. AA kept telling me the big hangups were Gulf Air and Royal Jordanian. I could have easily let the Royal Jordanian sector go and repeated that to AA three or four times. Just put me on Gulf Air instead of Royal Jordanian and I would have been happy. But they just kept screwing around. NOT a happy camper today until they rectify the situation.

[Jade13]

 

When one tries to book a round trip award, the screens that come up now just have two one-way boxes, each showing the miles required (or choices) for the various dates outbound and inbound. So I think it's safe to assume that all awards, including one-ways, round trips, and open-jaws, will be based on single-journey mileage draws.

 

This happens when you try to book award travel on Northwest and it had me totally confused because the web booking tool showed each segment and its corresponding miles needed. I finally called Northwest to find out you need to book a full round trip (or multiple segments) even though each segment had different mileage requirements.

[kenish]

I aggregate most of my miles (flying and other) into AAdvantage. I had a ton of miles but don't have status. Recently I "scored" 2 award seats LAX-MEL//AYQ-SYD-LAX in F on Qantas. That drew down my balance which was my intent. Maybe I was prescient ?!? :confused:

[NHBob]

Only AA flights-no Oneworld

 

 

 

No longer true. I have just booked Auckland-Los Angeles-Boston as follows, through AA reservations:

• Auckland - LA: Qantas (actually booked as Qantas flight, not the AA code-share)
  
• LA-Boston: AA
  

Mileage charged: 37,500

Cost: $40.80 tax + $20 telephone ticketing service

 

American' s latest AAdvantage All-Partner Airline Award Chart shows one-way award mileage requirements world-wide and states, "These awards are valid on all of the airlines in Oneworld Alliance..."

 

 

So far the other two majors I fly with regularly, DL and UA, haven't followed suit, but I'm hoping so I can get myself to Europe in 2010 to board a westbound transatlantic cruise.

[NHBob]

 

Mileage charged: 37,500

Cost: $40.80 tax + $20 telephone ticketing service

 

Correction, mileage charged:

 

BOS-LAX: 12,500

AKL-LAX-BOS: 37,500

TOTAL: 50,000

 

Sorry for any confusion,

Bob

[NHBob]

I keep hoping that UA and/or Star Alliance will follow AA's lead on 1-way award flights, as I have a lot of UA miles - haven't found anything on UA's or major partners' websites so far.

 

Anybody heard anything?

 

Bob

[NHBob]

After my previous post, decided to Email United and ask them about 1-way awards. I did receive a reply, as follows (my comments in red):

 

All flight awards are valid for roundtrip travel. If you choose to use an award for one-way travel, no residual credit will be issued for unused segments.

As if we didn't already know this!

 

We appreciate you

(

sic

)

taking the time to contact us with your suggestion for improving our program. In any marketing program there is room for improvement, and Mileage Plus management continually reviews new ideas to keep our programs interesting and meaningful for our members. Your comments will help us serve you better in the future.

Sure they will!

 

I appreciate you (

sic

)

taking the time to contact me.

English please, Mr. Tanayao

 

Frederick Tamayao

 

Guess that answers my question - we're not likely to see UA 1-way awards anytime soon. Now I need to decide whether it's worth AA Citi or AmEX Cards' $85 annual fees (vs. my no-fee UA Chase card) in order to accumulate more AAdvantage miles.

 

Bob

[emmy]

I am very inexperienced in using airmiles of any kind. I just checked my account with AA and I have some miles. After further checking it says they will expire on Sept 8, 2009.

 

I am in need of a one way ticket from Rome to Detroit and saw on the AA site that you can buy back miles with a bonus of extra miles added. My question is if I decide to do this is this counted as activity on your account thus extending the expirations date of my miles. This bonus offer endes on Aug 31/09

 

One other question I have about 15,000 air miles with Qantas. Can these miles be used or transfered. Unfortunately I did not give my AA advantage number when I booked the Qantas flights from last year.

 

Thanks for any help in understanding this :)

[Gardyloo]

I am very inexperienced in using airmiles of any kind. I just checked my account with AA and I have some miles. After further checking it says they will expire on Sept 8, 2009.

 

I am in need of a one way ticket from Rome to Detroit and saw on the AA site that you can buy back miles with a bonus of extra miles added. My question is if I decide to do this is this counted as activity on your account thus extending the expirations date of my miles. This bonus offer endes on Aug 31/09

 

One other question I have about 15,000 air miles with Qantas. Can these miles be used or transfered. Unfortunately I did not give my AA advantage number when I booked the Qantas flights from last year.

 

Thanks for any help in understanding this :)

You can indeed buy back your miles, but if all you need to do is extend the expiration date, the only thing needed is SOME kind of transaction earning or spending AA miles. Go to http://www.aa.com/aa/i18nForward.do?p=/AAdvantage/partners/main.jsp&anchorLocation=%2Faa%2Flayout%2FlayoutThrColHdrFtr1024.jsp&url=%2Faa%2Fi18nForward.do&_locale=en_US&reportedTitle=Partners+and+Mileage+Programs and sign up for the dining program, or look through the online retailers and buy some flowers or something you'd use anyway, and bingo, your expiration date will be extended by another 18 months.

 

As for transferring Qantas miles to AA, sadly, there's no easy way to do so. Qantas doesn't participate in http://www.points.com, so there's no intermediary method available.

 

FWIW there are billions (trillions?) of these "orphan" miles out there, and the inability of people to redeem them before they expire is actually a major revenue stream to the airlines, who usually sold the miles to a credit card company in the first place for real cash, then they escape having to provide anything in return because the miles have elapsed and/or people had too few miles to do anything productive.

[emmy]

You can indeed buy back your miles, but if all you need to do is extend the expiration date, the only thing needed is SOME kind of transaction earning or spending AA miles. Go to http://www.aa.com/aa/i18nForward.do?p=/AAdvantage/partners/main.jsp&anchorLocation=%2Faa%2Flayout%2FlayoutThrColHdrFtr1024.jsp&url=%2Faa%2Fi18nForward.do&_locale=en_US&reportedTitle=Partners+and+Mileage+Programs and sign up for the dining program, or look through the online retailers and buy some flowers or something you'd use anyway, and bingo, your expiration date will be extended by another 18 months.

 

As for transferring Qantas miles to AA, sadly, there's no easy way to do so. Qantas doesn't participate in www.points.com, so there's no intermediary method available.

 

FWIW there are billions (trillions?) of these "orphan" miles out there, and the inability of people to redeem them before they expire is actually a major revenue stream to the airlines, who usually sold the miles to a credit card company in the first place for real cash, then they escape having to provide anything in return because the miles have elapsed and/or people had too few miles to do anything productive.

 

Thank you for this reply. I will indeed do something to extend my expiration date.

 

oh I just remembered I booked a one way ticket from Detroit to FLL for April 2010 to get on the ship for this TA cruise. The flight is with AA but I neglected to give my AA advantage number... am I correct in thinking that booking alone will extend my expiration date? Do I simply go on line to the website and add my AA advantage number and my expiration will be extended?

 

Glad I found this thread:)

[FlyerTalker]

Booking doesn't extend anything. It is taking the actual flight that earns the miles. And the miles won't post until several days after the flight itself.

 

If I could just buy the ticket and not have to fly, I'd do fewer actual mileage runs and just do it by buying the ticket and collecting. You have to fly to get miles for tickets.

 

You can add your AA number at any time prior to the flight.

[emmy]

Okay I understand. I will check to see what I can purchase to accumulate miles to have my expiration date extended.

[Globaliser]

One other question I have about 15,000 air miles with Qantas.

Just a quick reminder that QF miles also expire if the account is inactive for a long period - I think 3 years, but your account page will tell you. Same hints apply for getting some activity onto it to extend the life of these miles.

[scottbee]

Other plans that offer one way:

 

Alaska Airlines: One Way is half the price of a return on any AS or QX (Horizon) operated flight.

 

Air Canada: Despite info on Aeroplan.com saying One Way is only available as Classic Plus (aka Classic Ripoff), you can get a one way flight for 1/2 + small surcharge if you call the call centre (and pay the $30 booking fee). They re-introduced it this year, and then failed to tell anyone or update their web pages/system.

[emmy]

Just a quick reminder that QF miles also expire if the account is inactive for a long period - I think 3 years, but your account page will tell you. Same hints apply for getting some activity onto it to extend the life of these miles.

 

I will remember that..in fact I did get an email not long ago notifying me of my expiration date of my Qantas miles

[NHBob]

Other plans that offer one way:

 

...Air Canada: Despite info on Aeroplan.com saying One Way is only available as Classic Plus (aka Classic Ripoff), you can get a one way flight for 1/2 + small surcharge if you call the call centre (and pay the $30 booking fee). They re-introduced it this year, and then failed to tell anyone or update their web pages/system.

 

Now that's very interesting. Since Air Canada is a Star Alliance partner, has anybody tried booking through their call centre using UA miles?

 

I've never been successful trying to book even round trip Air Canada award flights through United Reservations.

 

Bob

[Globaliser]

Other plans that offer one way:

British Airways, too.

Since Air Canada is a Star Alliance partner, has anybody tried booking through their call centre using UA miles?

Can't be done, as I understand it. If you want to use UA miles, you have to book through UA.

[FlyerTalker]

British Airways, too.Can't be done, as I understand it. If you want to use UA miles, you have to book through UA.

Just like my AS miles have to be redeemed through AS, and my DL miles though DL, and my AA miles through AA. Regardless of the operating carrier you book, the transaction itself has to be with the issuer of the "miles". I'm not aware of any exceptions - if someone knows, please tell me.

 

Now, if you are talking about using transferable points, such as Starwood or Amex MR or the like, you deal with them first. Or those "quasi-miles" with Capital One and the like.