American Miles Question

[bboy554]

I'm more of a gambler than an airline miles aficionado, so I'm hoping someone may have some insight on this question (the boards about airline miles scare me a bit). I'm planning to do a RT flight to Vegas, departing this Friday 11/4 but haven't yet gotten a ticket. American is currently showing only AAnytime availability (and not milessaver) for my outgoing flight, which is expected since it's a Friday, but they're currently asking 30,000 miles for the flight - which I think is pretty crazy. Generally AAnytime is 20k. The return flight is currently available with Milesaver at 12,500. Does anyone have any idea whether the 30k miles "price" is likely - or even possible - to reduce the closer I get to the flight. If not, I'm likely to just book the whole thing now before the aanytime is not available for the return. I really hate spending 42,500 miles for a trip to Vegas. . . but I'm nervous to take a wait and see approach and it end up being 50k or 60 k.

Thanks in advance for any insights.

 

[SH0CK]

I would lean toward it not going down in price, but it really depends on the current demand for that flight.

On the bright side, you have 24 from the time of booking that flight to cancel it if you need to. So, if the price of that flight or another drops, then you can cancel the first and rebook.

 

[bboy554]

This is really helpful. Thank you. I'll check it out - but seems like no downside in booking now and just checking every day to see if the rate goes down. Much appreciated

 

[hammie]

I thInk you have to pay a $75 booking fee for using miles within 21 days of your date of travel.

 

[SH0CK]

I thInk you have to pay a $75 booking fee for using miles within 21 days of your date of travel.

Ouch. I'd forgot that American did that.

 

[BreakEven]

What's the price of the flight? US domestic or international?

Flyertalk isn't that scary, as long as your first post isn't a complaint http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/information-desk-730/ That's probably the right forum to start with (they might move it to the AA forum). Someone will surely be able to tell you what the current "value" of an AA mile is, and then you can see if it's worth it. Or if you're just sitting on hundreds of thousands of AA miles, maybe not a big deal

 

[bboy554]

What's the price of the flight? US domestic or international?

Flyertalk isn't that scary, as long as your first post isn't a complaint http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/information-desk-730/ That's probably the right forum to start with (they might move it to the AA forum). Someone will surely be able to tell you what the current "value" of an AA mile is, and then you can see if it's worth it. Or if you're just sitting on hundreds of thousands of AA miles, maybe not a big deal

Thanks all. The flight is just NYC to LAS, so 30k miles seems like overkill. I think I'll wait until tomorrow to see what happens. As of now, I could fly out nonstop a day earlier and save 17,500 miles. I may just do that and book a comp room at some CET property since I have no interest in maintaining any ADT there and have no qualms about giving them a low-play night. The miles hassle may just end up giving me an excuse to head to Vegas a day earlier and spend the day hiking and at the movies or something.

 

[Its Only Money]

Thanks all. The flight is just NYC to LAS, so 30k miles seems like overkill. I think I'll wait until tomorrow to see what happens. As of now, I could fly out nonstop a day earlier and save 17,500 miles. I may just do that and book a comp room at some CET property since I have no interest in maintaining any ADT there and have no qualms about giving them a low-play night. The miles hassle may just end up giving me an excuse to head to Vegas a day earlier and spend the day hiking and at the movies or something.

This seems like a no brainer to me. Have fun.