Response from AA regarding lack of availibility

[yitrap]

August 5, 2016


Dear Mr. Yitrap:

The Department of Transportation Aviation Consumer Protection Division has forwarded your recent correspondence regarding the availability of AAdvantage program award seats. I appreciate the opportunity to respond to your concerns.

We know that award travel is very important to our customers and we are committed to helping our customers travel on their miles. AAnytime Awards are offered without any blackout date restrictions and can be used to select travel on any American Airlines or American Eagle flight with available seats. If your travel plans are flexible, a MileSAAver award offers travel at a significant mileage savings; however, MileSAAver award space is subject to availability and capacity-control restrictions apply. Because of the specific concern you expressed about MileSAAver availability from Toronto to Chicago, I did find that in a inquiry made just today, coach class SAAver award seats can be booked on 50% of the days in September while there were only four days in September that Business/First MileSAAver was not offered.

We do advise our customers that award space is booked in a special class of service and it may not be available on all flights or on all days of the week when you choose to travel. We also encourage customers to "mix and match" award options by using one award type for the outbound portion of the trip, and another for the return. This gives customers the opportunity to get the most flexibility out of their miles. For more information, please visit https://www.aa.com/reservation/awardFlightSearchAccess.do.

Your thoughts matter to us. Please be assured that the opinions of our customers is one of our primary concerns. I've documented your comments for review and consideration of possible future changes.

Should you have any additional questions regarding award travel, our Reservations Department can be contacted by phone at 800-443-7300 and one of our specialists will be happy to assist you. (Please note that reservations booked through the reservations office or at the airport are subject to a service charge.)

Mr. Yitrap, we thank you for your loyalty and are working hard to earn your continued patronage. We hope you will give us the opportunity to do so.



Sincerely,



David Gross
Customer Relations
American Airlines

Funny thing is I just did the same search and my results were very different then his...



I'm assuming he didn't filter it to non stop only... Should've gone do DDS

[Dan]

So respond to AA and DoT with that image.

[AJK]

Even worse NYC-YYZ. Not a single seat in Septemer.



Two seats in October:

[yitrap]

So respond to AA and DoT with that image.

Already responded to AA. Gotta figure out how to respond to DoT.

[YOSEF]

You left your name in the bottom (last paragraph) of the letter, if you care.

[SearchGuy]

You left your name in the bottom (last paragraph) of the letter, if you care.

with AA this may be dangerous

[yitrap]

You left your name in the bottom (last paragraph) of the letter, if you care.

Fixed. Thanks

[rileywiles23]

Even worse NYC-YYZ. Not a single seat in Septemer.



Two seats in October:

Been searching that route for quite a while, and Nada. Going to file a complaint as well

[Malachi]

It's outrageous they've completely removed availability from YYZ-NYC.

[yitrap]

August 6, 2016


Dear Mr. Yitrap:

Thank you for your two replies regarding the availability of MileSAAver Award travel on American Airlines between .

As I wrote earlier, AAnytime awards are somewhat analogous to full fare tickets, and saver awards to discount tickets. The redemption level (cost) for the AAnytime award is higher, but as I explained, if there is any seat to be had on the flight, with an AAnytime award, you can get it.

Because I want you to find the travel you are looking for, first, I wanted to take this opportunity to make sure you are aware that travel - regardless of the method of payment - can be booked as far as 330 days in advance. For travel to our most popular locations, discounted tickets and MileSAAver seats sell out very quickly. If you don't find the travel option you are looking for, please check back on our website as additional discounted seats may become available as the date of departure approaches.

If your travel plans are flexible, please make sure you are taking advantage of our automated system that allows you to look for travel to and from additional area airports in your search that may provide flights at the mileage level you are looking for. For example, for passengers traveling from or to the New York City area, area airport options you may want to include are La Guardia, JFK, Newark, and Westchester County/White Plains. After selecting your desired date of travel & continue, you may narrow your search to specific airlines and/or area airports, as available. Unfortunately, for Toronto and Chicago, there are no alternate area airports available.

Also, if your schedule allows, you will want to include connecting flights in your search. As you may have already seen in your search for flights between Toronto and Chicago, opening your search to include connecting flights along with non-stops may significantly increase your award level options on your desired dates of travel. Again, when you have narrowed your search to a specific date, you will be able to sort your search by the number of stops.

At this time, Customer Relations is unable to open additional award seating but I can assure you that the concerns you expressed have been documented for consideration of possible future changes. We appreciate your loyalty to American Airlines and welcome the opportunity to provide your future travel needs.



Sincerely,

[Ergel]

It's outrageous they've completely removed availability from YYZ-NYC.

Yup. This used to be the easiest route. Now it's impossible. Haven't feel the hurt this year because of the Delta glitch and vayama coupon. I hope they change this

[MeirS]

IOW, we suck but if you're free to travel anytime between May and July of next year and don't mind a stopover in MIA on your way from NYC-YYZ then we're the best!

[Freddie]

So... who's doing the SPG->AA transfer?

[mgarfin]

Haven't feel the hurt this year because of the Delta glitch and vayama coupon.

Looking for something on that route. Can you elaborate pls. PM welcome!

[a mirrer]

Looking for something on that route. Can you elaborate pls. PM welcome!

this and  this

[yitzyul]

What about JFK-LAX on coach has zero Aisle seats availability ever unless your a gold + member without pre paying for more expensive seat? Is that something I an complain about???

[rileywiles23]

What about JFK-LAX on coach has zero Aisle seats availability ever unless your a gold + member without pre paying for more expensive seat? Is that something I an complain about???

Of course.

[Sam Finkelstein]

Dear Mr. Finkelstein:

The Department of Transportation Aviation Consumer Protection Division has forwarded your recent correspondence regarding the availability of AAdvantage® program award seats. I appreciate the opportunity to respond to your concerns.

We know that award travel is very important to our customers and we are committed to helping our customers travel on their miles. AAnytime Awards are offered without any blackout date restrictions and can be used to select travel on any American Airlines or American Eagle® flight with available seats. If your travel plans are flexible, a MileSAAver award offers travel at a significant mileage savings; however, MileSAAver award space is subject to availability and capacity-control restrictions apply.

We do advise our customers that award space is booked in a special class of service and it may not be available on all flights or on all days of the week when you choose to travel. We also encourage customers to "mix and match" award options by using one award type for the outbound portion of the trip, and another for the return. This gives customers the opportunity to get the most flexibility out of their miles. For more information, please visit https://www.aa.com/reservation/awardFlightSearchAccess.do.

Your thoughts matter to us. Please be assured that the opinions of our customers is one of our primary concerns. I've documented your comments for review and consideration of possible future changes.

Should you have any additional questions regarding award travel, our Reservations Department can be contacted by phone at 800-443-7300 and one of our specialists will be happy to assist you. (Please note that reservations booked through the reservations office or at the airport are subject to a service charge.)

Mr. Finkelstein, we thank you for your loyalty and are working hard to earn your continued patronage. We hope you will give us the opportunity to do so.


Sincerely,

[davidd75]

Thank you for your recent response regarding the availability of MileSAAver Award travel on American Airlines.

I have updated your file with your feedback. As we wrote previously, AAnytime awards are somewhat analogous to full fare tickets, and saver awards to discount tickets. The redemption level (cost) for the AAnytime award is higher, but as we wrote, if there is any seat to be had on the flight, with an AAnytime award, you can get it.

Because I want you to find the travel you are looking for, I wanted to take this opportunity to make sure you are aware that travel can be booked as far as 330 days in advance. For travel to our most popular locations, discounted tickets and MileSAAver seats sell out very quickly. If you don't find the travel option you are looking for, please check back on our website as additional discounted seats may become available as the date of departure approaches.

Also, if your travel plans are flexible, please make sure you are taking advantage of our automated system that allows you to look for travel to and from additional area airports in your search that may provide flights at the mileage level you are looking for. For example, for passengers traveling from or to the New York City area, area airport options you may want to include are La Guardia, JFK, Newark, and Westchester County/White Plains. Unfortunately, there are no area airports for San Diego's Lindberg Field. While travel between New York City and southern California is one of our most utilized routes, during the last half of August from one of these area airports, for example, the calendar shows that the 12.5K Economy MileSAAver award level is still available on 65% of the travel days during the remaining days of this month.

At this time, Customer Relations is unable to open additional award seating but I can assure you that the concerns you expressed have been documented for consideration of possible future changes. We appreciate your loyalty to American Airlines and welcome the opportunity to provide your future travel needs.



Sincerely,



David Gross
Customer Relations
American Airlines

[Redbull3]

Seems like "Mr. Gross" is just making s*** up about what's AAvAAilAAble