When To Book With FF Miles

[artnbarb]

I'm a plan-ahead person. As in months and months in advance. I think this might have been a good idea many years ago, but now it seems as if deals are available much closer to departure, but I still have trouble waiting! I'm looking to book our flights to Dublin next June (end of the month) and have been watching the AA site every day. I know availability changes every day, but I have no idea how the system works.

It was great when we were in Italy because I was using a VPN and I didn't worry that AA was tracking me and purposely jerking me around. Now that I'm home I'm using the incognito button on my computer, but don't think it gives me the same protections as the VPN, so I worry that once AA knows what dates/legs I want, they will disappear!

I want to use 30K miles to fly coach from PHL to DUB on a Tuesday. I've figured out my itinerary and this seems like the perfect day to leave. Today (and yesterday), after showing NO availability for months, the AA site show seats available one day earlier, on Monday. One day earlier, but one more day than I need. For a flight that's not until the end of June.

Do I jump on this flight, or do I wait to see if my perfect dates come up over the next few months?

 

[joe]

I have zero experience with the dynamics of ticket purchasing, but FWIW I'd say : if you travel relatively frequently (at least once or twice a year), it's worth experimenting and trying things you haven't before. Learning new things is always interesting - take the plunge once, and wait. The dynamics of the airline industry are such that prices are generally decreasing. Couldn't you also have someone track availability for you from their computer, and compare results?

Me - I plan and book months in advance, like you have been doing. I just love the quiet I get when I know that that part is behind me, and all the good stuff is waiting ahead of me. I don't even check before the trip if it could've gone otherwise - it's just not relevant to me.

 

[Andrew]

You can go ahead and book the available date, and change it at no charge if the preferred date becomes available, as long as the starting and ending airports are the same. This is the AA policy on awards per this FlyerTalk thread and the wiki at the top. Then you'd also need to consider how soon you need to book lodging or other ground arrangements based on your arrival date.

 

[phirhon]

We are like Joe. We do not have any FF plan so that is irrelevant for us. We plan months in advance and are returning to France in Sept next year. My husband has been waiting for flights to come up for our dates . We are from Australia and flights are expensive and the good prices disappear . We have looked in the morning and then they are gone later. So we book early. In fact , yesterday we booked our return flights in and out of Lyon departing here on Aug 30 . We know what is a good price and in fact these flights are $100 cheaper than 2016. So we are happy. We have the dates and times we want and not bad layover times ( we have two - Singapore and Munich ). We then do not look again . We move on to the next stage which is booking our gites. Sometimes you can overthink it. Planning is supposed to be enjoyable and not stressful.

 

[jan]

I am the same way--kind of obsessed with the FF mile grab. We use Delta though. I am up at early hours of the morning to check availabliity only to discover a week or 2 later new seats are there. I have no idea how it works anymore! I do know, on Delta, there are fees for changing--like for us it would be $150/ticket.

 

[DDTraveler]

My experience with United is that there are many FF seats in coach, even close to the departure date -- it's the business and first class FF seats that are the hardest to redeem especially from popular airports such as San Francisco. I will grab the first (and second as there are two of us) biz class I find going to Europe (even if it's not exactly my destination), and if the dates are close to when I want to go.

I say book the flight and then change, as Andrew suggests, if your preferred date comes up.

DD

 

[artnbarb]

I know I'll drive myself crazy over the next several months second-guessing myself, but for now we're booked on a flight from Philly to Dublin. We'll add a visit to our granddaughters in DC, then drive a rental car from DC to Philly for the 9 p.m. departure. If for some reason the decide to go on vacation before my son starts his new command at Quantico we'll fly directly to Philly - at least w/SWA you can re-book with no additional fee. And - if we do find business class sets or our preferred departure date, I can change it later. Ok, one flight down, time to book the rest! Thanks for the hand-holding!

 

[Linda Yoder]

We go through this very year. I’m a baby and will only fly Business on long hauls. We usually find anything available in Business anywhere around our dates and motify it later. They open up a lot more seats closer to the time of departure when the business class seats are not sold. We usually start our planning with a really crappy schedule and end up with a great one in the end. American does not charge a change fee as long as your final destination for arrivals and departures remains the same.

 

[Cameron]

It's fairly easy to book AA economy tickets about 8 months out. More difficult with business class unless you use the anytime that more than triples the number of miles (185k points) needed... so, I book the economy, then check periodically for a business class route (with milesaver around 57.5k mile points) that is palatable (many will be multiple stops, doubling the travel time compared to an economy with one stop).

 

[artnbarb]

If we were flying to Italy I'd check back for Business Class tickets, but since the flight is only 6 hours 45 minutes, and since I did book an extra night to adjust, I'm going to cross that off my 'to-do' list for this flight. I'm too busy check car rental prices - 4 different rentals! - with both Kemwel and AutoEurope. Kemwel was cheaper on 3 out of the 4, and so far the prices haven't gone down.

 

[Colo]

artnbarb,

Just catching up on some older threads - sorry to chime in late. I am like you in that I am always second guessing, and I know there has to be a better deal - if I can only find it. I notice you said you would be in the Quantico area, which is not far from me. So here is what worked with AA FF for me last trip.

Try adding a leg from Richmond (RIC). On our last trip I could find nothing reasonable out of WAS (IAD, BWI, DCA) or PHL. On a whim, I added RIC as point of departure and found two tickets to London for $51 and 60,000 miles per ticket.

Tickets were RIC - CLT - LHR on return AMS - PHL - RIC

We are looking at planning another trip and it seems the same results are popping up. More expensive and more miles leaving directly from the big airports. Of course, it does require you to add a stop and that makes for a longer day. As always when one travels it comes down to - money or time and which one is more important on the trip at hand.

Another thing we have done when flying out of PHL is to catch the train. We get on the train in Fredericksburg, but it stops in Quantico also. When you arrive in Philly, you take the city train directly to the airport. Pretty easy and no driving.

Happy Hunting

 

[Sharon J]

I am the same way--kind of obsessed with the FF mile grab. We use Delta though. I am up at early hours of the morning to check availabliity only to discover a week or 2 later new seats are there. I have no idea how it works anymore! I do know, on Delta, there are fees for changing--like for us it would be $150/ticket.

We are also Delta flyers, and I book way in advance. I do call every once in a while, to see if prices have dropped. Two years ago, I called, and was shocked when the prices had dropped dramatically. Even with the change fee, we saved over $900 pp. Even the agent was shocked. I usually call every month or so, just to see. Never know!!!

 

[artnbarb]

Originally I was checking FF lights from Tampa, our closest airport. Then I branched out to Miami and Orlando. Later I tried Charlotte, thinking it would be a quick flight to Charlotte, then on to Dublin. It was only when I started planning a visit to our granddaughters in Washington DC that I started checking even more gateway cities. In the end, we'll fly to DC (on SWA, just in case we have to change!) for a long weekend with our granddaughters, then drive 2 hours to Philly for the direct flight to Dublin.

AA kept trying to route me thru London, which not only increases the total travel time, but also increases the price due to the taxes for London airports. In the en we paid $5.60 ea - we still have our one-way airfare to DC, plus the cost of the rental car, but we would have spent that money anyway to visit the girls, so I see it as a win.

 

[Andrew]

For the umpteenth time, the bulk of the higher fare isn't the taxes for London airports, it's what British Airways chooses to charge even on award tickets.

There are reports that American mostly makes SAAver awards available on indirect routings: for example, if you're going Charlotte-Europe, they'll only route you via Miami, but if you're going Miami-same city in Europe, they make you go via Charlotte: that is, the non-stop flight out of Charlotte has award seats available only to passengers connecting from other cities. But then they have a rule that you can drop the first segment within the same country at no charge.

 

[artnbarb]

OK, @Andrew , I guess I'm guilty of not paying attention! I will now pound it in my head that what makes London expensive is due to the airlines greed, not to local taxes.

Regarding that theory, I can believe it's true. 9 times out of 10 I still need to talk to a real person to work through some of the routing issues. Most of the time they can help, but I think with computer algorithms it's nearly impossible to find an easy answer for the best/cheapest/shortest flight!

Thanks for letting me know about the first segment exception!