American Advantage Miles

Sorry, I should have posted this on the transportation site.

when you book, they will take your miles and then charge you tax. Yes, you have to pay tax.

If you change your plans, they will do it as long as a FF seat is available. If it's a last minute change, like the day of flight, they'll usually put you on a flight with an empty seat.

This page may help answer many of your questions:

AAdvantage FAQ

I didn't use Advantage miles as all our miles are on Alaska. I think most let you book 330 days out, so check to see the earliest you can book. With our Alaska miles we booked mid-august 2007 for our July 2008 trip and there were some troubles finding seats. We wanted to go business class as it was our first trip, and on NW (mileage partner) there were no seats available at all in July and even part of August was full.

Some airlines only release a couple seats per flight for FF miles others are a bit more generous, so it's probably best to do this as early as possible. We ended up on British Air in their business class, which was fine, but it cost us quite a bit more miles then the NW business class. If I remember correctly, we could have canceled at any time, but would have had to pay a $50 or $100 fee. Good luck TC!

Hi TC,

Most of our European trips have been in all or part paid with AA miles! We pretty much only travel in winter when seat availability is better. In fact, it is quite possible that you would only need 40,000 miles for your trip (all of ours have been) but AA will be able to advise. You may want to start looking at travel insurance now and actually speak to some of the companies to see if any might cover the loss of miles if plans change. If they do, you might want to buy the insurance at the same time as you get the ticket. Be aware you will have to pay fees to use the miles but it is much less than a ticket would be. This year, we booked in and out of cities that AA doesn't itself fly to and the agents were WONDERFUL about helping us (very patiently too)! We were able to get exactly the dates and cities we wanted and they really worked to find us a reasonable routing. Happy travels!

If you have to cancel your flight, I think American will just redeposit your FF miles -- but probably charge you a fee of some kind (naturally!). If you have to change a reservation once you've finalized it, it will cost you $250! If you're not quite sure about your dates, you can put your reservation on hold for 14 days -- if you need to make a change during that time, you won't be charged. You shouldn't have a problem finding anything at the 60,000 mile reward level in November.

Travelling from Oct. 15 - May 15 allows you to use only 40,000 miles for what AA refers to as the Economy Super Saver (info for future trips).

I just returned from a trip where both my husband and I used air miles. The taxes were about $130.00 each. We booked in May which is late to use 60,000 air miles. We did get tickets, but had to fly the scenic route (Seattle to San Francisco to Dublin to Munich). It was a grueling 24 hour flight each way-so booking early is not a bad idea. Unfortunately, life has a way of changing plans, so there is a risk. We used a lot of American's Codeshare partners to get there and back (Alaska Air, Air Lingus, and British Air) and it is important to know that the rules for making changes are different for those airlines. I can't remember exactly what, but making changes with the American Flight would not have cost as much as making changes with a code share partner flight. Write down your questions about making changes and take notes as they talk. Overall, it was worth it. We got there and back for around $260.00 and spent almost 5 weeks over there.

Michael, the January 1st thing is something I'd never heard. I have always carefully counted and booked on the 330th day before the flight date I wanted.

That January 1 thing is not about redeeming Aadvantage miles. Every January 1, the airline clears its slate for Gold and Platinum Aadvantage members. If you had enough miles from the prior year, then starting January 1 of the following year you get elite status.

Example..if I flew 50000 miles in 2008, as soon as I reached that goal, and all of 2009, I would be platinum.

However, if I didn't fly 50000 during 2009, starting January 1 of 2010, I would no longer be platinum

AA and all airlines release and remove FF seats depending on projected passenger loads. This changes constantly.

I fly AA and have been monitoring flights for my trip next spring. I've seen seats added in the last couple of weeks. Too bad, I can't pinpoint when I can go.

Terry, you said you always book on the first available date (330 days ahead). I have it figured that I can book on 11/4. Does the return date also have to fall into the 330 days or just the date the trip starts?

TC, no, you don't have to wait until the return date to snag the first leg of your trip. If you wait until the return date 2 or 3 weeks later, then chances are the first days you want will be gone. I always (because I'm doing a family of 4 and it's really hard to get that many seats)call and get the first flight, then count 330 days (14 days later or so) and pick up the return flights. Also, remember that you also get 1 free stopover city. So when you want to schedule that flight, do so 330 days before that time. For example, we just flew to Athens. On the way back, we wanted to spend a week in Paris. So 330 days before the stopover in Paris, I called and scheduled the Athens to Paris leg. So I called the airlines 330 days before Bend to Athens, 330 days before Athens to Paris; then 330 days before Paris to Bend. It gets a little complicated and time consuming, but by doing it this way, I'm not shut out of the seats that use the minimum amount of miles.

I have used my AA advantage miles on a couple of trips now and have had no problems. I do book 330 days in advance. I had to cancel a trip last year, it cost me $100 per ticket, but I got my miles and my tax amount back. I have booked them online and on the phone. If you book over the phone I think there is a $10 charge, so I only book on the phone if I am needing to use on of the world alliance partners. Good luck with your trip.

If I am flying in and out of one city, I book online to avoid the extra fee. However, to book open jaws or to select an additional city for a free stopover, I book online. Open jaws and getting a free stopover city are HUGE values when using ff miles, so they're worth the small phone booking fee. When I book by phone, I look up all of the options first online (including all the partner airline options) so I am able to ask for the exact route what I want, usually with options the airline associate hasn't offered as possibilities. The more homework you do ahead of time, the better your flight will be.

Thanks to everyone for the help. I booked with AA yesterday as it was was now within the 329 day booking minimum. Could not book the return for another 12 days but AA left the reservation open for me to call in 12 days. Looks like I will get all 4 flights I want which is great. Since I am flying open jaw, I had to book on the phone which worked out better anyway. With two minutes of booking, I was able to select seats.
Much other planning to do before Sept 09 but already having a ball doing so. Thanks again

I have found the customer service reps from AA to be unbelievably friendly and helpful. I booked a flight with miles for next March. I was able to schedule the outbound flight at 329 days and they held it for 11 days to schedule the return. I was thrilled!

Recently, AA decided not to fly out of our local airport after Nov 1. The agent spent 20 minutes with me on the phone to make sure that we were able to change the flight to a nearby airport of MY choice. I was very appreciative of their efforts.

Again thanks to all for the info. Amer Air went all out to help me on my bookings. They even booked my return flights home before the 329 minimum booking dates were available. Using advantage miles, I got both flights to Paris, and then both flights home from Frankfurt. Now I feel like I'm pregnant and have 9.5 months to wait. Good thing is, I still have lots of planning to do. I am doing a lot of preparation for all the trains I have to take. That itself is much harder than the flights. Alone in Paris, trying to get from station to station then back to Paris and to Germany. 19 days in Europe will be wonderful and exciting especially since in 40 years of working, I have never taken more than a weeks vacation at one time. I read about 75% of the posts on this web site. Great stories, great information, and most of all great people who take the time to help everyone.
All the stories of the pickpockets and scam artist in Paris have me prepared for that. But if anyone see's a headline in a newspaper "Tennessean Lost In Paris" that might be me. Thanks Again