American Frequent Flier tickets

A few years ago my wife and I flew American to Frankfurt. She wanted to use her FF miles. My ticket was paid. American told her there were no FF seats left on the flight. We looked at the seating diagram online, and the flight was almost empty. American wouldn't budge. In my experience, this kind of flim-flammery is typical of frequent flier programs.

Yes, that's why I use my miles for the upgrade. That said, there are ever fewer flights now than in 2009.

Part 1 of 3 number of parts to respond to Cindy's posting about using frequent flyer miles. Please read the responses in numeric order. Hi Cindy: I just successfully obtained a FF ticket from Seattle to London on July 24, 2012, just before the Olympic games. I thought the odds would be against me to get a one-way ticket at the Super Saver Economy rate of 30,000 miles as opposed to the Standard Economy rate of 55,000 points (again one way) going to a popular destination in high season just before a major world event (Olympics). I spent a lot of time talking with United Airlines reservation agents and did test reservations to see how UA's system worked so here is what I found out. Most USA carriers release tickets for sale – money or mileage points – 330 days before the day of travel. If you use awardgrabber.com you can type in the date of travel and the web site will tell you which day will be the earliest to make a reservation. For example I want to travel on July 24, 2012, so the earliest date on which I can make a reservation is August 19, 2011. The same information was conveyed to me verbally by a UA reservation agent several weeks earlier. In theory the seats are released at 12:00 midnight on the 330th day. However, this is not always the case. At 11:00 pm of August 18, one hour before the seats were to be released, I went on UA web site and noticed that they were already accepting reservations. When I spoke with a UA agent she said that they had released the seats earlier in the day. So, if you are counting days you might check with the airline – on-line, automated telephone, or human – a few hours earlier than the standard release time to see if the seats were in fact released early.

Part 2 of 3 number of parts to respond to Cindy's posting about using frequent flyer miles. Please read the responses in numeric order. Here is the part that people do not understand: airlines try to maximize their revenue on each flight and use a computer model which calculates minute by minute pricing and the number of FF seats. There might be a few FF seats available at the time that all the seats are released, and if the model determines that the sales at the current price are not going well it will lower the price and maybe make more seats available as FF seats. One FF web site says that on unpopular flights there might be many FF seats made available at the last minute. I am guessing that all the airlines feel that flights to London around the time of the Olympics will be popular so that they do not have to discount the cash price nor do they have to make many FF seats available. This is why one of the responders saw a virtually empty plane and no FF seats: the airline's model believes that all of these seats will eventually be sold for cash, which is better than being sold for FF points, and those which are not sold at the last minute (figuratively speaking - "last minute" could mean "last week") will be available as FF seats.

Part 3 of 3 The process of making a reservation can be a bit tricky, and the secret for booking an international flight using FF points is to use a human agent and pay booking fee ($25 for UA). During the past several weeks I made trial reservations using UA's on-line booking system, the automated telephone system, and by going through a UA agent. When I attempted to book a flight in the range of 320 to 330 days in advance, the on-line system and telephone system only offered flights from Seattle to London for 55,000 points one-way. When a called the UA reservation agents, the first person offered to fly me to London on Continental Airlines (via Houston) for 30,000 points plus $7 in taxes. On top of that I would have paid a $25 booking fee. A second agent offered to route me through Frankfort Germany then to London for 30,000 points. When I made my real reservation, the agent put me on an Air Canada flight through Toronto for 30,000 points plus $7 plus $25. Both Orbitz and Expedia priced the same flight at $1,400 + $200 for taxes and fees one-way which means that each mileage point is worth about 5 cents on this flight. One of the FF web sites says to always use a human reservation clerk when booking an international flight because that person will have access to flights with partnered airlines which will not be available on the other reservation systems. You will be paying $25 to save 25,000 mileage points. Hope this helps. If you have questions please post them or email me. Geor(ge)

Thank you so much for the replies and extra thanks to Geor. This has certainly given me a different perspective. In 2009, I booked 4 FF tickets from two accounts and whizzed right through it. I thought going early in June wouldn't conflict with the Olympics (not sure how early you go for the Olympics). I wonder if the Queen's Diamond Jubilee has something to do with it? I will keep looking and hoping. I did call American directly and they couldn't help with American or BA.

We always book on AA but we start at 330 days in advance of travel. If you delay one day and try to hold your tickets they will be gone. Maek up your mind and book when you can get tickets and the seats you want. He who hesitates is lost.... Schedule all else around the dates you CAN fly, not the other way around.

Here are two articles published in the Wall Street Journal during the past several months that explains what is going on with mileage programs. The first article says that, unlike foreign carriers, USA carriers have not added huge fuel surcharges to the price of a free frequent flyer ticket but have made up for this by making fewer economy seats available thus forcing folks to pay for the fuel costs by paying more points. The second article ranks airlines by the success rate people have in booking flights with mileage program points. "Why "Free" Tickets Cost So Much": http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704099704576288894063898096.html "For Frequent Fliers, a Ranking of the Stingiest Airlines": http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303654804576345254232316730.html

If I were you I would check Manchester or Birmingham. They aren't quite as popular as London, and it is a reasonable train ride to London.
Personally, I use either of these in order to avoid London and it's problems.

Hello. My husband and I have visited Lonon in May, 2009, May, 2010 and the end of September this year. We have used business class and first classes American miles. We booked all three trips 330 days in advance. That is when the tickets become avaialble. Otherwise it is slim pickins. We like it when they put us on British Air, instead of American. That is one of their partners and it doesn't cost any more miles. This year we went from LAX directly through to London (first class though) on British Air. Then we flew other airlines using our American miles for the five week trip. We returned non-stop on British Air from London.

Hello. My husband and I have visited Lonon in May, 2009, May, 2010 and the end of September this year. We have used business class and first classes American miles. We booked all three trips 330 days in advance. That is when the tickets become avaialble. Otherwise it is slim pickins. We like it when they put us on British Air, instead of American. That is one of their partners and it doesn't cost any more miles. This year we went from LAX directly through to London (first class though) on British Air. Then we flew other airlines using our coach American miles for the five week trip. We returned non-stop, business class, on British Air from London.

Once you get your FF tickets and choose your seats, again, don't hesitate or they will disappear before you can make a change. Not many FF seats will be available at 330 days but check back occasionally or call them to see if you can change seats if there are more than one person going on the flight. Just today I found two seats together when at booking last June we had to sit in separate rows. AA will often gradually release more FF seats as the departure time approaches. In our case, we don't fly home until May 4 and I just found the good seats today on their website. I've also found the night shift folks on weekends are often more amenable to going the extra mile to help you out with seat assignments.

Hello, we went to London using American miles in May, 2009, May, 2010 and September, 2011. We have ALWAYS had to book the seats 350 days in advance. We used business class two times and first class the last time. I always suggest that you need to book any award seats as soon as they become available or you are out of luck. Also the Olympics are in July in London. My husband and I just love London. In September we took the tube out to where the Olympics are going to be held. It happens to be near where a huge mall had opened just three weeks before we were there in September. We were surpised that when we flew British Air this time (using American) we were charged $1,000 in taxes. For some reason British Air charges taxes on the amount the tickets would cost, had we been paying full price for them. It was worth it though, as we much prefer BA to AA.

Thank you Elaine! We got our tickets, finally in October, but it wasn't easy. It was such a breeze getting them when we went in 2010 that I was surprised to have so much trouble. We are returning before the Olympics so I didn't think that was the problem. I checked BA and found that the fuel taxes were expensive, so kept working on AA. We can't wait for our trip in June.