Questions and Answers

Hi all, apologies if this is a basic question, this is my first award redemption. I’m trying to get 2 premium cabin award bookings from NYC to SE Asia, but there is no availability on my dates. I want to book something now so the trip is locked in, and I’m not terribly concerned with where in the region I start, but after some research I think I have two options:
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[*]Use AA miles to book economy on JAL through NRT to HAN or SGN and hope to upgrade to a premium cabin as the date gets closer. It’s my understanding I might be able to do that on JAL or CX if availability opens up as long as the departure/arrival airport are the same.
[*]Transfer points to Krisflyer and waitlist for suites through FRA to SIN. A Singapore rep told me I could waitlist, then book economy outright and be upgraded if the waitlist clears.
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Just curious if anyone is experienced with either option and can shed light on which is more likely to land me in a premium cabin. If it makes any difference I have platinum with AA and no status with Singapore. Thanks for the help!

[USER=1793]@Mark16[/USER], welcome. Status really doesn’t have much to do here. Airlines decisions on award seats are based on a fairly complex set of factors so it is hard to forecast which airline will give you a better shot at getting into a premium cabin. You can look at available seats but that is not a certain indicator. I would book the economy cabin that you would be ok flying and go with that and keep your fingers crossed. You can always keep monitoring space on the other option in case something opens up. Good luck!

Thanks @Guarav. As much as I hoped there was a clear best path here, I thought that might be the answer!

[USER=1793]@Mark16[/USER]

Welcome.

I would like to add a small point to what Gaurav said.

While airline status have no bearing on award space availability, it does have quite a bit to say about how comfortable your trip would be if you end up back in Y after all.
[URL]https://www.oneworld.com/ffp/my-oneworld-tier-status/-/tierstatus/american-airlines/aadvantage-platinum[/URL]

Unless you also have *A status you would be in the back in every sense of the word on SQ.

Thanks [USER=268]@No Name[/USER] , that’s a great consideration. The Hanoi flight I’m looking at actually has a 6-hour layover at NRT, which while not ideal might not be as bad with lounge access. I have no status whatsoever on SQ so I would indeed be literally in the back.