Questions and Answers

My company is putting us on furlough the last two weeks of the year. I booked my Delta business class flight out on miles with no problem from JFK to BKK 331 days in advance. Seeing as to how much routing there was on Cathay back I didn’t think it would be an issue. I reviewed seat availability on BA and then called 331 days in advance for my return flight. I was told there was nothing available yet. Same the day after, but now they had economy available. I put a seat on hold. I’ve now been calling back daily only to find no business seats have been released from Cathay to American yet, despite availability showing up on BA and Expertflyer.

My question is, in the year 2017 surely there’s a better way to find out if Business class seats from Cathay have been released to American without having to call? Also, there seems to be some confusion over routing where I’m told that Newark and JFK are being treated as completely separate routings. Previously when I’ve traveled, both of these airports have been considered New York City. Do you know the actual rule or does it come down to who you talk to as I suspect? I believe I should be able to fly to either without it being treated as a separate routing, thus opening up my options.

AA doesnt co-locate airports anymore, meaning EWR and JFK aren’t interchangeable.

At exactly 331 days out, I think AA has trouble seeing space sometimes, in my experience. Might show up at 330 or 329 days out. Otherwise space could be phantom? Verify using JL and QF as well. AA is supposed to have access to the same space that BA has.

AA is really lagging behind when it comes to showing partner availability on the online search. UA and DL show space for ton of their partner airlines