Best way to book an American Airlines (ex US) flight

[renai]

Having a nightmare trying to get my head around this.

What I am trying to do:
I'm trying to fly from Boston to Santa Fe on 1 or 2 February.

What I am getting:
For a start Instant Upgrade tickets are always more expensive than "First" tickets. I don't get that at all.
There is an option for $500 on first (obviously economy to SAF). I thought it might be cheaper to go BOS-DFW first then book a cheap economy ticket, but the single trip to DFW is more than the two leg trip to SAF.

Then I need to get around this whole booking over the US aa.com site. The prices quoted through the Australian site a all over $1000.

Is the info posted by serfty in the qff program/ how-research book aa instant thread still current? (can't link to it

It seems to lay out the payment option on the US site in a much easier way than this thread (el segundo?/ UK Option?).

Any help would be most appreciated.
Cheers

 

[drron]

Sometimes the YUPP/KUPPs are more expensive than a "special" F or J fare.I had this on my last trip where the business special was cheaper than a YUPP.
The $498 fare you see is a special F fare-it is non refundable.If you are certain to travel those days then buy it.
As for payment the US site does accept Australian billing addresses now.Either leave the zip code box empty or put in a zero before your postcode-however be sure to check that that is a true zip code-just search zip codes on google.

 

[renai]

Thanks Drron,

It fell together in the end. The 'First' still booked as "P", so I wonder if it's Instant upgrades anyway... Funnily enough the instant upgrade fare on my way out to San Fran was cheaper than the "First option"... fingers crossed I suppose.

Also, wow, booking that way makes things so much easier!

Thanks again!

 

[mattm199]

Good to come across the information in this thread!
I was wanting to book SFO-SEA-NYC-SFO next month, and the AA Australia "multi-city" booking tool kept giving an error, which the local service centre also ran into. They offered to book an itinerary without booking fees, but before I got back to calling them with flights, I tried the method mentioned here, leaving out the State and Zip Code fields on AA.com, and booked just fine with my Amex.
Sharing information like this is why I enjoy visiting this website. Thanks all.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Just noticed that it's now possible to book many more destinations online (not just ex-US). Not sure when it changed but the relevant page now states

NOTE: For travel originating outside of the U.S., Canada, UK and select countries in Latin America, the Carribbean, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa, and South America , or for complex itineraries, please call AA Reservations .

and its possible to book Awards from Australia online. I have tested it with a SYD-LHR up until the credit card entry and booked HKG-SYD
Great news !!
Now all we need is CX availability online and it'll be pretty much perfect, no more calls to Fiji and maybe no more El Segundo !!

 

[get me outta here]

Just wondering about the El Segundo method. I tried a search on here for a please explain and got lots of mentions, but still not sure what it actually is? I'm guessing not similar to rhythm method.:-|

 

[drron]

Just noticed that it's now possible to book many more destinations online (not just ex-US). Not sure when it changed but the relevant page now states

NOTE: For travel originating outside of the U.S., Canada, UK and select countries in Latin America, the Carribbean, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa, and South America , or for complex itineraries, please call AA Reservations .

and its possible to book Awards from Australia online. I have tested it with a SYD-LHR up until the credit card entry and booked HKG-SYD
Great news !!
Now all we need is CX availability online and it'll be pretty much perfect, no more calls to Fiji and maybe no more El Segundo !!

Has been so for a while now-QF,BA,IB,AY,AS and HA flights all available as awards to book on line.Really makes it easy to plan ahead.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Has been so for a while now-QF,BA,IB,AY,AS and HA flights all available as awards to book on line.Really makes it easy to plan ahead.

Thanks, I thought the page used to say something like : AAwards originating outside the US could be booked and held online but paid for through telephone reservations.
Wasn't sure when it changed over

 

[Hvr]

Now if only you could book CX flights on line.

 

[Paddy55]

Now if only you could book CX flights on line.

... and all when QF seats become available, not T - 330 :shock:

 

[DC3]

Just noticed that it's now possible to book many more destinations online (not just ex-US). Not sure when it changed but the relevant page now states

Award bookings from Australia have been available online or some time. I made an online booking as an AA award SYD-LAX in early October 2012 and had been watching it for at least a month prior to that. Much easier now that you can do it this way. From memory, it was announced in one of AA's weekly emails that I received last year.

 

[get me outta here]

Would someone plse tell me what the El Segundo method is? :-|

 

[kevrosmith]

Would someone plse tell me what the El Segundo method is? :-|

As I understand it, it was a way where you put your Aussie address details in the open-text address lines, but selected USA as country, put in El Segundo for City and put its zip code. I haven't done a recent booking myself lately, but I understood that you no longer need to do this, and you can select Australia as the country and everything works fine.... Others may know more up-to-date info.

 

[legroom]

As I understand it, it was a way where you put your Aussie address details in the open-text address lines, but selected USA as country, put in El Segundo for City and put its zip code. I haven't done a recent booking myself lately, but I understood that you no longer need to do this, and you can select Australia as the country and everything works fine.... Others may know more up-to-date info.

I did a booking just last week on the US site having selected Australia as the country.

I entered the State Post-code (NSW 1234) on the second line of the address box.

The zip code box has the instruction 'for US, Canada..only' IIRC.

So, you do not need to use any fake zip code aka El Segundo method any more.

 

[reubenhills]

Hey there

Just a rookie question regarding earning QF status credits on AA.

I have just booked some first class tickets on the AA US website signing in with my AAvantage number.

I have not been asked for my QF FF number .

Will the SC`S automatically be added to my QF FF

THANKS

 

[kevrosmith]

Hey there

Just a rookie question regarding earning QF status credits on AA.

I have just booked some first class tickets on the AA US website signing in with my AAvantage number.

I have not been asked for my QF FF number .

Will the SC`S automatically be added to my QF FF

THANKS

You'll need to make sure your QFF number is recorded against the booking at some point. I'm seem to recall on my AA booking, if I went to manage it, it gave me a drop down option somewhere to Select Qantas, and then put my QFF number in.

 

[asg29e]

Hey there

Just a rookie question regarding earning QF status credits on AA.

I have just booked some first class tickets on the AA US website signing in with my AAvantage number.

I have not been asked for my QF FF number .

Will the SC`S automatically be added to my QF FF

THANKS

I assume this is a paid flight, not an award booking? If so, no, all points will all go to your AA account. You will need to get it changed if you want points to go to QFF. Probably can be done at check in I think.

 

[reubenhills]

Hi asg29e

yes fully paid..

damn the sole purpose of the first class was to gain QF SCs ..

Can anyone shed some light on how to get these changed?

Russ

 

[AV8]

You can ring AA - (AUST or USA) and they will change for you.

 

[reubenhills]

Thanks AV8

What am i asking them to change ?

Am I asking to remove my AAdvantage Number off my booking to replace with my QF FF Number