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In general, search on AA.com for award availability.

BA
If you want to book a flight with Avios, it is known from Dan's Knowledgebase that BA.com doesn't show availability very well, but some flights definitely are searchable there. Nonetheless, it's easier to just search AA.com, and if you find a MileSAAver availability, check BA.com to see if it shows up there, too. If it does, book it there. If it doesn't, you can always call up BA and reference the flight you found. Note that there is usually a very long hold time before BA picks up, and they will charge a phone booking fee. If the flight was unsearchable on BA.com, try fighting that fee, but YMMV.

IB
IB availability will not show up on AA.com You can call AA to find IB availability, but it's hard without being able to browse dates and have to ask the rep to check flights over the phone. Searching on Qantas.com will show IB flights - supposedly if they appear there, they can then be booked by calling AA.

OneWorld Explorer [OWE] The OWE has officially been cancelled [4/8/14] as part of the latest AA no-warning changing to its award program. Here's what the OWE looked like:
This is an around-the-world [RTW] award that is calculated not by the mileage cost of specific flights, but rather by the actual distance travelled on your trip. It is especially valuable for flying business class, as the difference in miles needed between coach and business is not very great on longer trips. See this chart to see the different tiers of how many miles it costs to travel different distances. You can take up to 16 segments on a trip, but there are MANY rules to follow when booking such an award.

Be prepared to spend a lot of time when planning this trip. (Personally [@Yehuda], it took 2 months with a few weeks of break in the middle from frustration.) Availability changes everyday, so you need to constantly check back to see if flights you needed are now available. It will also likely require changing your itinerary/order of stops numerous times. An itinerary can be held for 5 days (and can be extended past that on Day 5, if they are willing to rebook each flight for you, getting you another 5 days), but itineraries with IB flights can usually only be held for 24 hours. You will find that you will have to use hub airports since you're limited to OW partners. You will not find a flight from CDG-FCO without either stopping off in LON or MAD - both of which are out of the way. It's unfortunate, as it adds unnecessary distance miles to your trip, but it can be done. Remember that BA flights have high YQ, IB/AB have semi-high YQ, US/AA have very little YQ. (Unsure about other airlines, as my trip was TLV-Europe-NYC, so those were the only airline I had to work with.) You should check flight availability, again, on AA.com but the ticket must be booked on the phone (and they will charge a $25 phone booking fee, but again, try to fight it since this ticket cannot be booked online - although, honestly, by the time you've ticketed, they will likely have helped you out with much more than $25 worth of time). Technically, you can book it with any OW partner, but the odds are you probably only have enough AA miles to book this trip. AA reps definitely know about this award, although most have never booked it before. You will find that after calling so many times, you'll know more about the rules than they do. Once you have your perfect itinerary, they will have to send it to their rate desk to price it out. This can take ~24 hours. Because it takes time, if you have IB flights on the itinerary, they will make sure IB allows the flights to be held for longer than 24 hours, but confirm this with the rep before you hang up. Once it's priced out, you can pay for it. You can use 2 or more AA accounts to pay for it, but they will require each account to have enough miles to pay for 1 ticket. (e.g. If it costs 80K pax and you have 2 pax, they won't ask you to have 1 account with 160K in it, but they will require 2 accounts with at least 80K in each.)

Feel free to contact @Yehuda with any questions regarding the OWE.

« Last edited by AJK on July 27, 2014, 04:45:43 PM »

Author Topic: One World Award Search Tips  (Read 591776 times)

Offline ilherman

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Re: One World Award Search Tips
« Reply #520 on: October 22, 2014, 05:33:59 PM »
Where can I search for EY availability?
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Re: One World Award Search Tips
« Reply #521 on: October 22, 2014, 05:35:10 PM »
Where can I search for EY availability?
On their website.

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Re: One World Award Search Tips
« Reply #522 on: October 22, 2014, 05:40:55 PM »
On their website.
Right, forgot... Thought I used to search on EF and when I tried to search before, I was not able to search availability. Thought they stopped showing it. Thanks.
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Re: One World Award Search Tips
« Reply #523 on: October 22, 2014, 06:01:37 PM »
Nice to see EY releasing J availability on their new A380. Lets hope F will be available as well.
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Re: One World Award Search Tips
« Reply #524 on: October 24, 2014, 12:59:08 PM »
Trying to find a RT JFK-PUJ on AA saver to book with just 20K BA, based on #2 from this awesome post, cross referenced with this one. The problem I'm running into is no direct flights available - are there particular months or seasons with more availability? I don't mind stopping over, but it seems to drive up the cost of BA since it's distance based pricing. For example the cost of NYC-MIA = 7,500 and MIA-PUJ = 7,500, while JFK-PUJ direct would be 10k. Any help appreciated!

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Re: One World Award Search Tips
« Reply #525 on: October 30, 2014, 11:05:44 AM »
I'm sorry If this has been discussed before, but I am new here and tried finding my answer before posting!
Say I'm looking to get 20-25 tickets to Israel for next Sukkos.  I have lots of American Express points and don't mind a stopover.
What is the most economical/best way to do this?

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Re: One World Award Search Tips
« Reply #526 on: October 31, 2014, 02:09:08 PM »
Trying to find a RT JFK-PUJ on AA saver to book with just 20K BA, based on #2 from this awesome post, cross referenced with this one. The problem I'm running into is no direct flights available - are there particular months or seasons with more availability? I don't mind stopping over, but it seems to drive up the cost of BA since it's distance based pricing. For example the cost of NYC-MIA = 7,500 and MIA-PUJ = 7,500, while JFK-PUJ direct would be 10k. Any help appreciated!

bump

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Re: One World Award Search Tips
« Reply #527 on: October 31, 2014, 03:15:06 PM »
bump
Seems to be a discontinued route. Though it may be a summer only route in which case stay tuned for when those routes are announced.
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Re: One World Award Search Tips
« Reply #528 on: November 03, 2014, 11:51:09 AM »
Seems to be a discontinued route. Though it may be a summer only route in which case stay tuned for when those routes are announced.

Darn. Thanks!

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Re: One World Award Search Tips
« Reply #529 on: November 04, 2014, 07:39:31 AM »
Gents, I am not a churner and do not have many miles but can use your help with one specific journey

I have 30k Avios, I am stuck in the Ukraine and would like to return to the US within the next 6 days.

Any ideas as to where I can fly from for 30k avios or less from europe to NYC - I understand that I may have to take a cash shorthaul to the point of departure such as RIX, OSL, TLL etc.

Thanks in advance.
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Re: One World Award Search Tips
« Reply #530 on: November 04, 2014, 08:21:14 AM »
SNN or DUB to BOS is 12.5K Avios.
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Re: One World Award Search Tips
« Reply #531 on: November 04, 2014, 08:48:45 AM »
I have two tickets in J on CX and one F seat just opened. I don't want to change my ticket as I need two seats in F. The AA rep told me that I can't put in hold as I can't double book. Can anyone advise me on how I can hold that F seat without giving up my seat in J?
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Re: One World Award Search Tips
« Reply #532 on: November 04, 2014, 08:53:43 AM »
I have two tickets in J on CX and one F seat just opened. I don't want to change my ticket as I need two seats in F. The AA rep told me that I can't put in hold as I can't double book. Can anyone advise me on how I can hold that F seat without giving up my seat in J?
Obviously not ideal, but you can give up 1 of your seats and book the F. If another F opens up, obviously switch your other J seat to it. If another F never opens, then on the plane offer the F seat to whoever is sitting next to your spouse - I'm sure they'll take the free upgrade! You would lost the extra miles of F over J, but that's a way to technically "pay" to hold the seat - you just can't get it refunded.

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Re: One World Award Search Tips
« Reply #533 on: November 04, 2014, 08:57:01 AM »
I have two tickets in J on CX and one F seat just opened. I don't want to change my ticket as I need two seats in F. The AA rep told me that I can't put in hold as I can't double book. Can anyone advise me on how I can hold that F seat without giving up my seat in J?
Hold under another name.

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Re: One World Award Search Tips
« Reply #534 on: November 04, 2014, 09:09:34 AM »
Hold under another name.
But how long can it actually stay on hold before it's no longer refundable?

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Re: One World Award Search Tips
« Reply #535 on: November 04, 2014, 09:18:42 AM »
But how long can it actually stay on hold before it's no longer refundable?
Depending on when the flight is, up to 5 days.
This is a hold, no miles required.

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Re: One World Award Search Tips
« Reply #536 on: November 04, 2014, 09:38:19 AM »
Obviously not ideal, but you can give up 1 of your seats and book the F. If another F opens up, obviously switch your other J seat to it. If another F never opens, then on the plane offer the F seat to whoever is sitting next to your spouse - I'm sure they'll take the free upgrade! You would lost the extra miles of F over J, but that's a way to technically "pay" to hold the seat - you just can't get it refunded.

Can't do that if on same PNR, and splitting has all the risks that entails.

And some Airlines will not allow you to play musical chairs between cabins.

Hold under another name.

No guarantee it will return to inventory if held in a other name then released.
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Re: One World Award Search Tips
« Reply #537 on: November 04, 2014, 09:48:31 AM »
Any experience with EY? Do they go back to inventory after the hold expires?
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Re: One World Award Search Tips
« Reply #538 on: November 04, 2014, 10:11:16 AM »
Can't do that if on same PNR, and splitting has all the risks that entails.

And some Airlines will not allow you to play musical chairs between cabins.

No guarantee it will return to inventory if held in a other name then released.
IME, it almost always goes back immediately and in rare cases takes up to an hour.

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Re: One World Award Search Tips
« Reply #539 on: November 04, 2014, 10:12:39 AM »
IME, it almost always goes back immediately and in rare cases takes up to an hour.
Definitely does not always go back.  If someone buys a rev ticket in the interim it can stop the seat from going back into award inventory.  Just had that happen myself with CX F.
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