AA Awards Booking - Getting to Athens?

[Longrass]

Booking some awards flight and notice that I can go DRW-SYD-MEL-DXB-LHR-xx_

xx_ = either Paris or Rome

However whilst Athens comes up in the search engine, it will not show me any fares.

Any reason why this would be happening? Considering it is a BA flight to europe, I would have thought I could have substituted Rome/Paris for Athens.

 

[JohnK]

I am having the same sort of issues.

I am trying to see business class award availability for SYD-ATH/SKG in June/July and only economy is available for a few of the dates which are not suitable at all.

Do I need to call to find out availability?

P.S Having the same issue with SYD-BKK in business class for September/October. Economy available almost every day but no business class availability.

 

[kempvet]

I assume that you are using the online booking engine. If this is the case and you are not seeing the flights that you need to, or the fares are not showing, you may have to ring the AA booking desk, not all flights will be displayed on the online booking engine.

 

[Longrass]

I can see seats available for my return leg out of FCO to Aus, allows to me see the flight numbers and times etc,

But when I click continue to move onto step 4 it returns me to the same page with the message "The flight you selected is no longer available. Please modify your request.

I have been on the phone to the aussie number for 30 minutes and getting nowhere.

Do I have to ask them for options?

 

[Pumbaa]

I can see seats available for my return leg out of FCO to Aus, allows to me see the flight numbers and times etc,

But when I click continue to move onto step 4 it returns me to the same page with the message "The flight you selected is no longer available. Please modify your request.

I have been on the phone to the aussie number for 30 minutes and getting nowhere.

Do I have to ask them for options?

Are you booking close to 330 days out? I had the same problem when I was booking my Per-Mel-Dxb-Lhr flight. I waited an extra day, and I could book it

 

[JohnK]

Called AA Reservations and there is no way to get to/from ATH in June/July in business using AAdvantage miles.

I guess these miles are useless for unplanned travel with little flexibility.

 

[grussellt]

I can see seats available for my return leg out of FCO to Aus, allows to me see the flight numbers and times etc,

But when I click continue to move onto step 4 it returns me to the same page with the message "The flight you selected is no longer available. Please modify your request.

I have been on the phone to the aussie number for 30 minutes and getting nowhere.

Do I have to ask them for options?

I would give the US number a call. 1-800-882-8880. If you join Gmail it's a free call on their system

 

[Longrass]

Yes i am booking on the 331 deadline.

Currently trying to depart FCO on the 8th Jan, which has us arriving on the 10th Jan.

I tried again today but no avail.

I dont want to miss out on the seats because I know they are thin on the ground.

When I call Fiji, my head starts throbbing, so I may try the US next time.

 

[DC3]

... I have been on the phone to the aussie number for 30 minutes and getting nowhere...

Never call the "Australian" Call Centre, if possible. Always call AA in the USA if you want to talk to people who know their job and who are experts. That's my experience.

Also, availability is up to 330 days out. I say "up to" because it may be a day or two less, depending on when the fares/awards are loaded. Just because you can see something at 331 days, doesn't mean you can access it. Keep your eye on it day by day.

 

[vitagen]

I calles the US line yesterday, excellent for bookings, but they couldnt and wouldnt process the payment over the phone so they held the ticket and asked for me to call the AU call centre to ticket.

 

[Danger]

I calles the US line yesterday, excellent for bookings, but they couldnt and wouldnt process the payment over the phone so they held the ticket and asked for me to call the AU call centre to ticket.

Don't!

Call the US number back and say you've got a booking on hold that you need to pay for. They'll call up the booking and ask for your CC number.

In the past few days I've booked one using this method (using an Australian CC) and did the same two days ago, although that was problematic and hasn't yet ticketed.

Ultimately, it does seem perfectly possible to use an Australian CC (even without the El Segundo method) by phoning AA in the US. Their telephone fee is only USD25 whereas in Australia it's a huge AUD80.

 

[vitagen]

Thanks for that will try again tonight. The last time i tried aus centre after online booking failed they didnt charge me.

But i dont want to pay 80 bucks. Lol BKK-HKG-PER was 30 bucks in taxes

 

[scheps]

So did it work? with australian CC at the us call centre?

 

[vitagen]

Negative i could have lied about the card being US but didnt want to risk it, was redirected to AUS call centee, so ultimately was ransomed and had to cough up the 80 bucks pp

 

[dfcatch]

AA Awards Booking

Negative i could have lied about the card being US but didnt want to risk it, was redirected to AUS call centee, so ultimately was ransomed and had to cough up the 80 bucks pp

Honestly - there is no risk.

Simply say yes it's a US card and provide a US billing address - works perfect.

I refuse to pay the $80 extortion to the non-Australians.

 

[ts911993]

Can you use a PrePaid VISA card for this? just pick one up next time you are in the states. I use them for other purchases where they want a US card.

 

[dfcatch]

AA Awards Booking

Can you use a PrePaid VISA card for this? just pick one up next time you are in the states. I use them for other purchases where they want a US card.

I have simply used my AU CC but gave the agent a US address for it.

Worked 100% several times.

 

[scheps]

Do you just use any made up us address? Can you do that?

 

[dfcatch]

AA Awards Booking

Do you just use any made up us address? Can you do that?

I use my legitimate US Post Office box but search this forum for "El Segundo"

 

[Danger]

My last attempt to use my Australian credit card failed on three occasions - until I suggested the agent place a zero at the end of my "zip" code. It worked.