Questions and Answers

Is there a time (e.g. day of the week) that is better for finding available seats for aadvantage awards? I booked a flight using my miles before the award levels changed, now I want to change my travel dates. When I called the dates I want weren’t available, but the lady (who was very nice BTW) said availability changes all the time, and I should try calling back. Is there any time or day of the week when I am more likely to find available seats, or do I just need to call every day?

What’s your current route and on what airline? I dont think theres a better time of day to call but most airline award space you can search for yourself online and call to change if available.

Hi [USER=2142]@Dana Miles[/USER], and welcome!

Sometimes AA agents just say that because they don’t know how it all works either. Like [USER=29]@David W[/USER] said though, if you tell us what you’re looking for we can tell you how to search yourself 🙂

Hi, thanks for the replies. I’m flying from Madrid to Charlotte to LAX and then back to Madrid, in early October. Everything seemed to be OK except the return from LAX to Madrid, which is a business class seat on British Airways routed through London, which had no availability on Oct. 11 or 12. In reading other things on this site I’ve just discovered that with American as long as the origin and destination and award class are the same, you can change everything else, including airlines and routing. The agent I spoke with just kept saying there were no business class seats on BA on those dates, and I didn’t know I could ask her to check other airlines and other routings, which I will do next time. Any other suggestions? Thanks again for your help.

Have you tried searching segment by segment on BA for Iberia award space? They fly from Madrid to BOS/ORD/JFK/MIA and seasonally to LAX. AA’s surcharges and fees are much lower for IB than BA.

AA serves MAD from JFK/DFW/MIA/PHL and CLT(seasonally). You can also look to connect in Barcelona – AA flies direct from MIA & JFK, as well as seasonally from CLT & PHL.

AA also serves LHR from quite a few US cities so look to connect in LHR. While not the best place to connect, it can work.

AA does allow changes, like the agent told you and in most cases, there shouldn’t be any change fees. Since you must travel on certain dates, I would book anything that you find, even in economy and then switch if/when space opens up

We generally like to search ahead of time, and then ask agents for exact flight numbers. That way you’re not dependent upon the agent being friendly 🙂

The advice [USER=29]@David W[/USER] gave is perfect — it can also be worth asking about routes through Helsinki, or for flights on airberlin.