One-Way "Flex" Awards announced

[JonNYC]

Originally Posted by horseguy

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.

There's a school of thought that says this change is the natural, necessary precursor to allowing some partner award bookings on AA.com down the line. But it's not something I can say with any authority whatsoever at the present.

[Rasalon]

I was able to book an award on the new system, and although it was slower than normal, takes some getting used to, and a bit buggy (web page no longer works under K-Meleon, has to be done under Internet Explorer), it seems like a good change. In the end, it comes down to a trade-off of losing stopovers (which I use) in exchange for being able to book different classes of service on a roundtrip (which I could use), improving availability.

My wife, who is a novice at the frequent flyer programs, was able to pick up on the change more quickly than I: she has a ticket to come out to FRA this month to visit me while I am working and realized this means she can fly in First for "not that many more miles" when flying out alone, then fly home with me in business, which is where I am booked.

I was REALLY hoping one of the "major changes" was going to be a Oneworld award booking engine, and had already warmed up the Happy Dance. I guess it will have to wait.

[pauleeepaul]

This is good news. But I wonder how expedite and deposit fees will work- if a roundtrip is now effectively 2 one ways.

[pdb]

Originally Posted by pauleeepaul

This is good news. But I wonder how expedite and deposit fees will work- if a roundtrip is now effectively 2 one ways.

FWIW, I was going to book a partner award LHR-FCO-LHR, yesterday. For both the economy as well as business class awards, the taxes & fees were $65.40 (whereas on ba.com, they were ~$128). In any event, when I booked today, as half economy and half business class, the agent assigned one record locator and the taxes & fees were the same $65.40.

[JonNYC]

Originally Posted by pauleeepaul

This is good news. But I wonder how expedite and deposit fees will work- if a roundtrip is now effectively 2 one ways.

I would expect the worst (while hoping for the best) especially on the latter, but probably on both, IMHO.

[JonNYC]

Originally Posted by JonNYC

I would expect the worst (while hoping for the best) especially on the latter, but probably on both, IMHO.

Hold please...

I have incoming information on the above.. -might- be good news on expedite (or even both), will advise..

EDIT TO ADD:
up to 4 one-way awards on 1 PNR, 1 fee per PNR. But if due to beyond-SABRE issues (very far out return, not yet loaded) a customer chooses to book each leg separately (book one now, wait for SABRE load, book return) that would be 2 PNRs and necessitating 2 sets of redeposit fees, and, expedite if applicable.

[JonNYC]

Best I can tell, almost all stopovers on awards are now limited (or even eliminated) with the obvious exception on stopover at N. American gateway on awards between N. America and Europe, India, Asia, Central/South America.

• No stopovers on awards within North America.

• In other words, visiting multiple Cities, for the most part will require multiple one-way awards. In substance, a one-way award is an award to a single place where you intend on stopping.

Also:

• Right now IB is unbookable using these awards. (and maybe one or two other obscure OW affliates)

• Travel via a third region exception table is unchanged.



Based on this new info, I can now see that this is a larger package/revamp than simply "adding one-way awards" so, as I quite accurately stated in my original posts here, this -is-, I'd say at this point, the "larger package of stuff" based around the switch to one-way awards (but not limited to same, in essence), and, indeed, will be great for some members, neutral for many/most, bad for some.

In other words; EXACTLY AS I EFFIN' SAID IT WOULD BE.

[Deltahater]

The loss of a stopover is a big deal to me. I never booked one way awards, so to me this is a negative, but I can see why others like it.

I do have a glimmer of hope though...


If I book an award to Europe, I am allowed one stopover in North America. No change there.
Then, however, technically, my return, is the beginning of a European oneway ticket to the USA. Should that then allow me a stopover at a European gateway?

It might require 2 PNRs (and fees) based on what I read, but at least I can squeeze in my stopover.
Any thoughts on this logic?

[JonNYC]

Originally Posted by Deltahater

The loss of a stopover is a big deal to me. I never booked one way awards, so to me this is a negative, but I can see why others like it.

I do have a glimmer of hope though...


If I book an award to Europe, I am allowed one stopover in North America. No change there.
Then, however, technically, my return, is the beginning of a European oneway ticket to the USA. Should that then allow me a stopover at a European gateway?

It might require 2 PNRs (and fees) based on what I read, but at least I can squeeze in my stopover.
Any thoughts on this logic?

I can't off the top of my head see any advantage whatsoever to doing it on two PNRs-- net result will be the same far as I can see.

Fact is, right now (and it's very early in this process), there's no reference that I know of to anything -other- than "stopover at the North American gateway" no matter where that one-way award is originating.

HOWEVER, that easily could be on omission that will be amended later (not that I have any reason to think it will, just saying it's possible)

It will definitely take a while to shake all this out, that's for sure.

This will definitely drive members to OneWorld awards on many types of trips. Especially once some of the new routing rules come out, I think there will be a "going one place? use all partner" "going more than one place? use OneWorld award" differentiation.

[richard]

Originally Posted by JonNYC

This will definitely drive members to OneWorld awards on many types of trips. Especially once some of the new routing rules come out, I think there will be a "going one place? use all partner" "going more than one place? use OneWorld award" differentiation.

OW awards require 2 non-AA airlines. This could be a problem for some destinations (assuming elimination of stopovers). For example, to visit Oz and NZ from NYC, you would have to either find a way to find a second OW airline in addition to QF or have 3 one-ways, e.g., NY-SYD, SYD-AKL, AKL-NY.

Do I have this right?