Questions and Answers

I have 4 one-way business class awards SCL-JFK on hold (57.5k per award). The flight is in 2018.
I want to add a domestic segment to this leg (ZCO-SCL-JFK), however LATAM only publishes their domestic schedule 6 months in advance.

I want to book as one reservations in order to:
– minimize # of miles used and change fees (I have no status with AA)
– through-check bags from ZCO and be protected on the connection is case of late flight/IRROPS

My original plan was to book the SCL-JFK leg now and add the second leg later. I thought this would cost just the $150 change fee, but when I called AA to confirm I was told this wasn’t possible and a second award reservation would be necessary. Is the agent I spoke to correct?

Second idea was to book ZCO-SCL for a random date that is available-(long stopover)-SCL-JFK. Since AA does not allow stopovers, I would need to pay for a separate award for ZCO-SCL. Then, when the schedule opens up, move the ZCO-SCL flight to the same day as the SCL-JFK. Once done, it would be two awards I can can get the extra miles refunded. However, I would have to pay the reinstatement fee.

If the agent is correct about the first option, is the second my best choice? Anything else you would recommend? Thanks.

I would have thought that they could tack on the domestic leg for just the change fee.

Since it’s a short flight have you thought about using Avios for that leg? Only catch might be dealing with any checked bags on separate tickets.

Original plan seems fine – not sure why the agent says you cant add the leg later and pay the change fee. I’d call AA again to speak to another agent.

Second idea – If I’m understanding your intention correctly, you’d have to pay a reinstatement fee to cancel the ZCO-SCL award, and then pay a change fee to add that domestic leg to the award when space opens up.

How much are ZCO-SCL tickets? If they’re cheap, why not ticket the SCL-JFK award and buy separate tickets for the domestic segment? Since both segments are on LATAM, you should have no problems thru-checking bags at ZCO, assuming the agents are competent.

Or maybe ticket a complete award now for ZCO-SCL-JFK as far out as possible and keep changing the dates?

Thanks. I will try AA again first. I also expected that they could add the domestic leg no problem.

The ZCO-SCL flights are not so cheap. About ~$250 for the dates available now. I need to lock in the SCL-JFK flight now since space is hard to find and my dates are not flexible.