Questions and Answers

Family of 3 flying home from a cruise next spring…totally stressed out looking for Business MileSAAver award space.

Need to get from CPH to DFW and the flights I really want are not available.

Complicating the issue, we’re using two AAdvantage accounts: husband and daughter using miles from his account and me using my own. Additionally, we’d love to swing a 22 hour layover at Heathrow so we can sight-see and spend the night before our long-haul flight. Obviously I’d rather not pay BA fuel surcharges, but resigned myself to it for the CPH/LHR leg. Really would like one of 3 non-stop AA flights for the LHR/DFW portion.

I’ve been researching, monitoring Expert Flyer, and trying to anticipate availability, but it appears that AA doesn’t make awards available for at least 6 weeks after the calendar opens up, and then not on the days I want.

What strategy should I employ?

1) Book Economy seats on the exact flights I want and hope to upgrade when (and if) seats become available?
2) Book Business class on flights I don’t want and hope to tweak later?
3) Neither? Is there a better way?

P.S. This is the second year I’ve tried to book this trip…I was able to do it successfully last year (yay!) but had to cancel due to a family emergency. To add insult to injury, the mileage requirement has increased while availability for my preferred flights has decreased (since last year). Now all I do is ruminate on flight schedules, seat dimensions, etc. I’m not a frequent flyer, but seat comfort is my highest priority followed by the length of the flight. In fact, I would prefer inserting a hotel stay between legs to avoid spending all day on a plane.

If there are very specific dates you need to travel, book whatever available for the date you need to travel and then hope space opens so you can swap

[QUOTE=”David W, post: 18324, member: 29″]If there are very specific dates you need to travel, book whatever available for the date you need to travel and then hope space opens so you can swap[/QUOTE]
Thanks very much –

I made Economy MileSAAver reservations for all three of us for 30,000 miles apiece.

We have enough to upgrade to Business if space becomes available.

I set up the appropriate flight alerts on Expert Flyer.

Now I have a follow-up question: Routing is CPH/LHR/DFW – I’m only monitoring the TATL leg for upgrades…will I be able to upgrade that leg of the itinerary if there isn’t upgrade availability on the shorter leg? (CPH/LHR)

I’m only worried about the longer leg (LHR/DFW) but I don’t want to waste my efforts only to find out it’s not allowed. There were PLENTY of mixed class itineraries available searching AA, so can I reasonably infer that upgrading only one leg is possible? Don’t get me wrong, my goal is to upgrade both legs – however, I’m worried.

P.S. I considered using your paid service, but read that I need 100,000 apiece to complete the request. I don’t have the required miles, only the minimum for these awards (57,500 apiece x 3). After I use these miles I’m abandoning the AAdvantage program for awhile…I’ve already moved our spending to Chase Sapphire Preferred.

Hi [USER=2064]@Laurie[/USER], and welcome! I don’t think you need to pay anyone to do this for you, it sounds like you’ve got it covered!

You can definitely upgrade just one segment, and you can also change your routing. So if a flight to New York, Miami, Chicago, etc. opens up you can change it, as long as your origin and destination remain the same.

Hi Laurie–you can definitely upgrade only one segment when it becomes available. AA is great in that respect since there are no fees when upgrading an award. You’ll still pay the full amount for both legs (no discounts for just upgrading one leg).

I’m not sure about pointspros pricing, maybe [USER=7]@Tiffany[/USER] can clarify.

[QUOTE=”Tiffany, post: 18372, member: 7″]Hi [USER=2064]@Laurie[/USER], and welcome! I don’t think you need to pay anyone to do this for you, it sounds like you’ve got it covered!

You can definitely upgrade just one segment, and you can also change your routing. So if a flight to New York, Miami, Chicago, etc. opens up you can change it, as long as your origin and destination remain the same.[/QUOTE]
Thanks so much for your response! Glad to know I’m working in the right direction!

[QUOTE=”Gaurav, post: 18373, member: 79″]Hi Laurie–you can definitely upgrade only one segment when it becomes available. AA is great in that respect since there are no fees when upgrading an award. You’ll still pay the full amount for both legs (no discounts for just upgrading one leg).

I’m not sure about pointspros pricing, maybe [USER=7]@Tiffany[/USER] can clarify.[/QUOTE]
Thank you! I’m feeling better about the track I’m on!