FF miles on American...useless so far..

[momoftwins]

how to use my American Airlines FF miles for hotel stays?

When I look at the website I see where it says hotels, but they are coming back with a price - or am I misunderstanding the post?

Thanks and have a great day!

 

[Oh Kay!]

how to use my American Airlines FF miles for hotel stays?

When I look at the website I see where it says hotels, but they are coming back with a price - or am I misunderstanding the post?

Thanks and have a great day!

On the price grid, the AAdvantage Miles Equivalence is shown right next to the price.

 

[momoftwins]

I just sent you a PM

 

[momoftwins]

http://aav6.aavacations.com/specials/aadv_vacationawards2.asp


If you aren't going to use your FF miles for flights, what a great way!

Thanks OhKay!

 

[cruiseonmagic]

Most airlines have at most 4 FF seats available per flight. Once the flights go into the system those seats are booked pretty quickly, so the best bet for redeeming FF points is to try and book your seats at roughly a year in advance of when you want to go.

Sorry, but your info is not even close. I am a former res supervisor for a ff program and, including my time as a res agent, have booked probably close to 20,000 ff reservations.

NO ONE knows how many seats are or when they will become available for any flight. The flight goes into the system to be available to be sold 331 days in advance (for most airlines), and although a few ff seats are usually released at that time, there is no guarantee. They usually will release seats periodically throughout the year, depending on how sales for a particular flight are going. I've seen ff seats available on flights that have been overbooked. I've seen passenger lists on flights to Hawaii where 50+ seats were taken with ff miles.

Quite frankly, the ones who get the seats are the ones who call or check online for availability at least a few time/week. The people who it seems can never use there miles are the ones who called once and gave up or the ones who didn't speak with me for advice/alternatives

FINFAN, I don't know why your mom can't do a connecting flight (besides the fact that going through DFW on your way to ORD doesn't make a whole lot of sense), but you do know that you can get gate/gate assistance right? Granted, getting multiple tickets for a route that only has 1 flight/day is extra tough, but depending on how many miles you have, you can also use american's anytime award for 50,000 miles, or a lot of times they will have saver first class available for 45000. See what partners AA has for miles and make sure the res agent checks with them (you will not be able to do that). Last but not least--check Ft. Lauderdale as an alternative airport. It takes less time to drive from Naples to fll, than it did for me to go from Brookfield to Lake Geneva on a friday night.

Good luck

 

[Amberle3]

Sorry, but your info is not even close. I am a former res supervisor for a ff program and, including my time as a res agent, have booked probably close to 20,000 ff reservations.

Well then they should stop giving that information to travel agents. 4 is the number that was given in my courses, 4 is the number that's been told to me numerous times in dealing with Air Canada and Northwest.

You'll note that I did not say *all* airlines, or *all* flights. But I had to book a FF seat for myself recently and spoke with the AC rep at length about seats, who told me again they typically only have *4* seats per plane and that they do not add FF seats once those are gone.

 

[Oh Kay!]

http://aav6.aavacations.com/specials/aadv_vacationawards2.asp


If you aren't going to use your FF miles for flights, what a great way!

Thanks OhKay!

I replied to your PM before I saw your post. Glad I was able to help.

 

[FINFAN]

cruiseonmagic....it is the length of time in the air and the pressure of taking off/decscending....it is a long story, but her doctor feels that a non-stop is best, and I'm not gonna mess with that. I am leery of her traveling at all, but she is insistent on coming up north and seeing everyone and if those are her wishes.... I have looked into FLL, but again, my dad insists on being at the airport for departure (even tho he cannot go to the gate) and he cannot drive at night, so we are limited to an airport /flight that can also accomodate him.They live in Naples so RSW it is. Like I said, it is our own personal mess that is goofing this up...however, I was hopeul that I could find something...maybe we still can, We do not have enough miles to upgrade and still do 2 tix, I may be able to work something out with a partner as you suggested. You are right...DFW does seem kinda goofy as a non-direct flight... I guess it works for AA. Thanks for posting everyone....I'm not giving up yet!


Pam

 

[cruiseonmagic]

Well then they should stop giving that information to travel agents. 4 is the number that was given in my courses, 4 is the number that's been told to me numerous times in dealing with Air Canada and Northwest.

You'll note that I did not say *all* airlines, or *all* flights. But I had to book a FF seat for myself recently and spoke with the AC rep at length about seats, who told me again they typically only have *4* seats per plane and that they do not add FF seats once those are gone.

The 4 is just the max number that the computer shows at one time. UAL's number was 9. They could actually have 14 or 24 and it would read 4 until the count was really 4--then it would go down. I would imagine that AC can only put 4 ff names on 1 res. We could do 9 and it wasn't unusual to see addtl seats available after we took 9.

Unfortunately a lot of res agents either don't take the time to learn about the product (my dept dealt almost exclusively with ff tickets), or they figure that if they say the seats are gone (instead of saying they may release more), that will be one less call that they will have to take later--I would bet money that it's the latter. When I worked for UAL, we could book AC ff flights.

 

[jkfreeman33]

We use our air miles to bump up to first class. I have gone to Hawaii twice and Scotland (AA) once and London (Delta) twice in first class using miles. It's 15,000 miles each way. I wouldn't use them to go to Orlando (2 hours from Chgo) but on long trips, it's great.
We are doing an Alaska cruise/tour next year and plan on using them to fly to Anchorage (6+ hour flight) in first class.

 

[littlestar]

We just flew free with Advanage miles to Hawaii in April. We did have to book the flights about 9 months out, though. It was easy and we had no problems. They offered me a bunch of dates. We were even able to change our flights going home (moved it up a day because my daughter had surgery) and they didn't charge us extra. American was great to work with on the free flights.

 

[momoftwins]

if you have AA miles that you can't use, UPromise let's you redeem them for cash that you can withdraw.


Here is the blurb from their website

Take your college savings to new heights. Redeem your American Airlines AAdvantage® miles for college savings. Get $50 for 10,000 miles and $25 for each additional 5,000 miles.

Here is the link for the AA miles:

https://lty.s.upromise.com/origin/aadvantage.html

Here is the blurb UPromise has on their site about withdrawals:

For the protection of our members, we require that your letter either be notarized or contain a Signature Guarantee if the withdrawal request is in excess of $200. A Signature Guarantee is a guarantee you can obtain from a financial institution, such as your bank, that your signature is yours and that it is genuine.

Withdrawal letters should be sent to:

Upromise
ATTN: Customer Care
P.O. Box 55555
Boston, MA 02205-5555

Checks are sent once per calendar quarter, so you should typically receive your check within 12 weeks of your request being received.

Here is the link to that page: https://lty.s.upromise.com/8106.2.do


Have a great day!

 

[mookie]

We also booked our Hawaii trip last March through FF miles. (We flew AA.) We were told about the 331 day rule, and the miles rep told us to make sure we call TO THE DAY, especially for Hawaii. She said that with miles, people can put a flight on hold for up to 21 days, to secure the flight. When we first called to book our flight (we were going with a large group for a wedding) many of us could not all get on the same flight, as the miles were all already taken. I kept calling every other day, to see if anything opened up, and sure enough, 21 days after they were first released, I had an opening because someone decided not to use their res. (either that, or they released more miles flights, I don't really know.) While I was surely frustrated for those 21 days while calling, it paid off to keep checking back. I know Hawaii is a little different than Fla, but I would think the same logic would work. Hope this helps..

Good Luck, and ps - I'm in Chicago too!