There are lots of things that contribute towards a great frequent flyer program. Obviously award redemption rates and award availability are both important, but theres also something to be said for the ease with which you can search and book award seats.
Continue reading: Cathay Pacific Awards Now Bookable On American’s Website
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
The new award search tool is unspeakably bad. Basically unusable. Is there a way to use the old tool still? Sometimes the old one pops up and sometimes the new one does, but I'm not sure how to ensure that it is the old tool always.
@lucky - would you be willing to post a master list of what airlines are searchable where? Thx!
"At this point there are very few American Airlines partners that can’t be booked on aa.com."
Please list them. TY, Ben.
@Sam-I click the "Advanced-Multi-city search" point on the opening page and it always puts me into the "old" search mode.
This is terrible news; making it easier for everyone to book CX awards means more people will do so.
Is there anyway to find 2 seats in F, I've been trying for months, but even 330+ out, I can never find more than one. I booked one in J & F through alaska thinking that a second F might open up, but never did.
Bummer! Sometimes difficult enough to find what worked well for me before this development.
@Ryan @CR I am glad neither of you is in charge of an airline rewards program. Having a program that requires people to do more research and digging in order to use their miles is not customer-friendly and not respectful of our valuable free time.
Time is money. I would rather pay some more AA miles to be able to book an award on CX quickly than spend hours looking up availability to pay fewer miles. Just how many more miles one is willing to pay for this customer-friendly convenience varies on how much one values his free time.
@NewtoMiles, CX typically only opens 1 F seat per flight in advance. They may release a second seat around 72 hours prior to scheduled flight time.
I agree --- this is a lucky change for those of us have lots of miles but not a lot of time; it not a lucky change for the Lucky's of the world.
I prefer it this way. There's nothing more frustrating than searching on BA, finding space, pulling an itinerary together, spending an hour on hold waiting for the mileage desk to book a ticket, just to find out the space was phantom.
Second, we keep getting told that few people actually want to fly international premium cabins, that those of us who want to do so are in the minority. So perhaps the "increased competition" is more bluster than reality.
Third, it's only a matter of time before partner J seats become dynamically priced, putting them out of reach for most of us anyway.
I won't fly Cathay again because they've been firing air crew for supporting or participating in lawful protests in Hong Kong. Cathay's Beijing's masters are not mine.
Great news! Lot of us weren't aware of using AA miles on Cathay. Flew using BA avios but not the boatloads of AA miles...
I think this is nothing but good news. If you can get an award booking and not have to wait on hold or do the "call back" routine to get an agent that knows their product, so much the better.
FWIW, just a few minutes ago I did a search and did not have to do the Advanced option.
Been waiting for this CX feature for many years! So glad as I visit SE Asia a lot! The CX Avios US sectors are so expensive and need so many points. The AA is high miles but 110,000 for FC CX @$70 is amazing! Held it this morning with AAdvantage miles LAX-BKK and booked return with expiring Krisfkyer SQ points BKK-LAX biz class! Traveling in off season June into July.. thanks Lucky!
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