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Monkey Miles stumbled on a really interesting find in AA’s unannounced SAAver award specials: flights from 5K one-way between Philadelphia and Los Angeles. While that’s somewhat concerning in what it means for the future of AA Saver awards (will they abandon the award chart altogether in favor of dynamic pricing?), in the meantime it means you can get between the coasts crazy cheap in terms of miles.
The Deal
- American Airlines SAAver award availability from just 5K miles one-way between Philadelphia and Los Angeles (search availability at AA.com)
Key Details
- Pricing is variable. The most desirable prices typically have the least desirable layovers
Quick Thoughts
As shown in the picture above, pricing is kind of all over the map. Even on an individual day it varies significantly. Here is April 24th:
As you can see, the one-way price varies from 5K to 11.5K in that screen shot, but that was just one of a couple of pages of results.
On the one hand, it’s awesome to be able to land a transcon flight for just 5K miles. On the other hand, it feels like an ominous sign of things to come. Delta has obviously abolished its award chart and United is heading in the same direction (having already gotten rid of the PDF chart that used to display their pricing).
In this specific instance, flights are available via Google Flights from $99, though the 5K flights shown above actually aren’t the cheapest. In that sense, the value per mile is still decent, but it’s frustrating not knowing how much saver tickets are going to cost in terms of points. It’s further unclear to me whether all flights under 12.5K one-way will be available to partners or if it’ll turn into a Delta-esque free-for-all where you never know what’s going to be available for partner booking.
In the meantime, if you’re in LA or Philadelphia, enjoy a great use of AA miles while you can.
H/T: Monkey Miles
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[…] 5K one-way Philadelphia to Los Angeles on AA! […]
These are artificially low for good PR to avoid abruptly upsetting customers. We will slowly increase these hence devaluing without anyone noticing
If they’re trying to generate “good PR,” they’re doing a terrible job at it. These Economy Web Specials are like your moniker: “Insider” offers, that almost nobody knows about.
I needed to change travel plans for today due to a family emergency. I found DCA to BOS for 6K plus the $75 close in ticketing fee and taxes. This was a really great surprise and helped me make my decision to visit my Mom in the hospital and then fly out tonight. I would have probably burned the saver 12.5 K to make this trip happen. I am meeting my nephew and sister there for a spring break trip he has really been looking forward to. Miles saved the day today.
Looks like none of these flights are non-stop. For me, that’s a non-started. But that’s likely AA’s plan all along — eliminate all non-stops on Saver Awards. It’s probably been happening for a while, but I abandoned AA a while back, so not sure.
I booked this deal today, PHL to LAX nonstop on the A330-200. As I’m Platinum, I was able to select the premium economy seats for free. Not bad for 5k miles.
There are nonstop flights available at this price — and some for 5,500 and 6000 miles. But not tons of them. Still 5,000 points is an awesome price. With flexibility, I’d obviously book the days with 5000 mile nonstops. But if I really had to be in Philly or LA on a certain day, it’s a no-brainer to connect at this price if that’s what it takes. Many connections only add 2 hours to the trip. I’d also note that, while it’s against their official rules, you could use the connecting flights to get to those connecting cities for 5000 miles, too (and probably won’t be punished for it).
I’ve seen these lax to pdx as well
Yeah, they’ve been doing this for shorter hops. Alaska also does some 5K one-ways on the west coast. But I haven’t seen it previously for a flight quite this long.
Not saying that LAX-PDX is a short hop btw.
It’s fairly short.
It’s not just PHL. I was playing around with NYC-South Florida in January on AA. Prices for Economy Milesaver are standard 12.5K each way, but prices for Economy Web Special are literally everywhere–some are lower than 12.5K per one-way, and others are even higher than 12.5K per one-way. Clearly dynamic pricing in some form. Don’t know if this is a test or the future.
I also looked at the cash prices for the same tickets, and I can slightly beat 2 cents per mile on some of the Economy Web Special fares compared with the cash price (regular economy, not basic economy, since an Economy Web Special fare will let me select a seat).
Last week I found Chicago to Dublin on AA for 15,000 each way (some days 20,000).