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In Where to Search Award Space for All American Airlines Partners, I suggest searching Qantas award space on aa.com because aa.com displays Qantas award space.
Don’t search Qantas award space on aa.com, at least for the moment.
For a month or so, Qantas award space has not displayed properly at aa.com. I noticed this today and then found several FlyerTalkers talking about it in a thread about redeeming American Airlines miles for Qantas flights.
Proof
Right now, you can go to ba.com and see that Los Angeles to Brisbane on December 13 has one Business Class award seat.
That seat does not appear on aa.com. In fact, no award space from Los Angeles to Brisbane on the direct Qantas flight is showing up for the month around December 13. We know that because the ability to filter results for non-stop only isn’t even available on the left side of the calendar where it normally is.
You can put on hold and book the space that is on ba.com. For instance, I put this space on the hold that didn’t appear on aa.com.
What FlyerTalkers Say
Here is the pertinent part of the Using / Redeeming AA miles on Qantas (QF) thread:
Congrats to them for uncovering it first. FlyerTalkers usually do.
The bottom line is that the proof above is not an isolated incident. There is a major problem with aa.com not displaying Qantas award space. However American Airlines phone agents can book Qantas award space, and you can search it properly on other websites.
Bottom Line
Don’t search Qantas award space on aa.com for the time being. Search it on ba.com, qantas.com, or Expert Flyer and call American Airlines to book the award space. Ask that the phone fee be waived since the award space wasn’t bookable online.
Now is a great time to book Qantas premium cabin award space to Australia or New Zealand. It is relatively plentiful (compared to how it has been in the past), and is going way up in price on March 22. So lock in your Summer 2016/2017 travel to Australia or New Zealand before then.
Current prices to Australia:
- 37.5k AA miles one way in economy
- 62.5k AA miles one way in Business
- 72.5k AA miles one way in First
Book March 22 or later to Australia:
- 40k AA miles one way in economy
- 80k AA miles one way in Business
- 110k AA miles one way in First
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Thank you for reporting this. It is the same with Finnair awards. AA.com shows way fewer biz class seats than BA.com. I had to call AA a few times to find a competent agent who knew how to book it. She admitted there was a glitch and she waved the fee.
Something tells me all these glitches weeks before devaluation are by design.
I can’t subscribe to that conspiracy theory because AA just opened up TONS of award space on their own flights at the same time.
It’s convenient that the glitch is happening AND the AA space is opened up… I wonder if it is cheaper for AA if their miles are booked onto AA metal.. or even maybe better because then the incidental revenue heads their way as well. Diverting traffic to their advantage.
well, they want us to book awards on their own metal, just like United does with their higher prices on partner awards.
aa.com not being reliable is okay and sort of known. My question is whether ba.com is reliable? If it is, why bother with qantas.com? If it is not, then I’d very much like to know. Thanks!!!
From my experience BA is no better, they used to show you partners OneWorld space but no longer, except routes they don’t fly.
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