Jarett's Blog

When you try to redeem your American Airlines miles online they give you different tiers of booking availability. Some flights are available as Miles sAAver (or whatever they call it) awards and some are AA anytime awards. The first takes less miles and the second about double that.

So when planning my trip to Hawaii (from Boston - an almost $800 ticket) I checked availability online and nothing came up without asking for about 70,000 miles. BUT, since Sarah made me call them to double check, I spoke with an American Airlines ticketing agent and they told me that since many of the flights from the US 48 to Hawaii are codeshared on a Hawaiian airlines flight they won't show up online. Turns out that by calling and booking your awards ticket on the phone you can get the ticket for about 35,000 miles instead of 70,000. You'll get nailed the $15/ticket phone booking fee, but not so bad considering the full price of the ticket.

Summary: You can book award tickets on American Airlines from the contiguous 48 states to Hawaii for less miles if you try and get a codeshared flight with Hawaiian Airlines via the phone. More flights and options are available over the phone than online.

You're welcome.