One-Way "Flex" Awards announced - Page 5

QF009 · 05-09-2009, 03:01 AM

I can confirm that you can now book one way awards at 50% of the cost indeed, as part of the elaborate "stuff package." Just got off the phone with the EXP desk. I'd meant to book a OW120F TXL-LHR-MEL but was told by the AAgent to "hold off" until "new awards" have been loaded which could save me some miles; when asked to elaborate, he confirmed that you could now book one way All Partners awards at 50% of the cost.

Apparently the "new awards" will be bookable from 6am CT, in approx an hour...

I look forward to more details as they emerge.

Raindeer · 05-09-2009, 04:26 AM

Judging from the new award booking engine on AA.com, it would seem that awards are now a series of one-ways. A round-trip is two one-ways. This is great, as if there is only milesaaver inventory one way, and aanytime the other way, then the award would one way at the cheap right, return at the expensive rate, and not the whole R/T at the expensive rate. Or, if J is only available one way, then you'd pay for J one way, and Y return. Again, cheaper than in the past (where, if you really wanted to fly in J where available, you'd have to buy the J r/t and downgrade into Y for the segment where it wasn't available.)

So, so far, what I've seen is a positive. I wonder what else is in store....

chj · 05-09-2009, 04:52 AM

I think this is the original "stuff" that the OP brought up, which he said would be neutral for most and positive for some. But as we may recollect, he went on to add that actually there's a whole package of stuff which is a lot bigger and will impact more people, some positively, some negatively. So "we ain't seen nuthin' yet"

If I'm wrong, I look forward to being corrected.

honu · 05-09-2009, 05:37 AM

It's possible to reserve international flights which include a free stopover in the appropriate gateway city (e.g., SFO-ORD-LHR), but I can't get the reservation to be ticketed yet... oh, well, it might take a while longer for the system to be reasonably debugged. I'm liking what I'm seeing so far, though!

QF009 · 05-09-2009, 05:56 AM

Booked for 80k miles:
TXL-LHR BA J
xLHR-MEL QF F

Quote:

Originally Posted by honu

It's possible to reserve international flights which include a free stopover in the appropriate gateway city (e.g., SFO-ORD-LHR), but I can't get the reservation to be ticketed yet... oh, well, it might take a while longer for the system to be reasonably debugged. I'm liking what I'm seeing so far, though!

I don't wish to be alarmist, and in lieu of published T&Cs please take this with a grain of salt: The AAgent mentioned something about everything being counted as one ways under the new system, and as a consequence certain stopovers have been eliminated.

JonNYC · 05-09-2009, 07:46 AM

Will try to seek confirmation today that this is the extent of the change, I hope so. Also, I'm not 100% sure that the full impact of the change to one-way awards is fully evident yet (stuff like stop-overs, etc) nor can I tell if right on the heels of this they may try and "run with" this change and make even bigger award booking improvements/changes on AA.com.

The background is this; I was first told of a switch to one-way awards in August '07. So it's been in the works since (or before) then. While I clearly never posted it here, there are enough members here who know what I'm saying is factual. I thank them for keeping the confidence these last two years.

The person who told me that (no longer with AA) stated equally as factually that there was a larger set of changes that were being worked on-- all on the award side. Since his info was in this case-- and dozens and dozens of others-- always so spot-on, I had/have no choice to assume there was/is more. But, maybe not. Or, maybe not for now. Don't know at the moment.

If you look at my posts in this thread, I never even hinted that there was a change on the earning or status side.

Flexibility-wise, for getting the "dream seats" (F to Australia, CX F, etc) this change is HUGE. Getting each leg as you need it (and -if- you need it!) and not having to find an impossible-to-find return date at the time of booking will open up tons of options as we well know those seats are easiest to get the week of the flight. Anyone who doesn't understand this is an abject idiot.

As I said, I'm not fully aware of what the stop-over limitations/changes might be and if on some awards that won't add miles, possibly substantially. Things like LHR-xYVR-DFW and the like. First person to figure that out authoritatively, please let us know!

If this change is all there is-- and that's certainly still an "if" in my mind until I get told otherwise-- it should be very happy news for all. Except, of course, the angry, jealous assholes on FT who have no interest in being happy or acknowledging what a big change this is due to the obvious issues and difficulties they have with this board, me, and, life in general.

JonNYC · 05-09-2009, 08:15 AM

Made edits to the above to incorporate some thoughts from an email I just received-- nothing major (or conclusive, more importantly)-- just wanted to memorialize it.

Hagbard Viking · 05-09-2009, 08:22 AM

Sounds like good news to me (so far). However, I fail to understand why they do not publish updated rules and award charts simultaneously with the new booking engine. Any insight into the reasoning behind the non-coordination?

JonNYC · 05-09-2009, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hagbard Viking

Sounds like good news to me (so far). However, I fail to understand why they do not publish updated rules and award charts simultaneously with the new booking engine. Any insight into the reasoning behind the non-coordination?

Not per se, it's a good question. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say that I bet there's a good reason for it.

Maybe the weekend is essentially a 'beta' period, etc., and maybe even some rules fine-tuning will result from AAgent-input, etc. I hear the AAgents are having a tough time with more complicated awards.
I have anecdotal info (pretty strong though) that May 12th they will unembargo the info and at that point I assume it will all be posted.

05-09-2009, 10:24 AM

There are a few mentions here of booking awards on partners. I can't see how to do that on-line. Is anything involving a partner still need to be done on the phone? I was really hoping to get the ability to do this on-line. If not, oh well, can't have everything. This one way change is just so wonderful!

Jon's point about being able to grab seats when they are available is excellent. Indeed, it is now even possible to mix an award with paid travel (pay one way and award the other). This is such a great change!