Manipulating the American Airlines booking computer

jolly-jen

Thanks Murphy for the advice, really appreciate it! Have convinced hubby that the kids would enjoy New York and just went to book the first option (£253 flights) and they have gone up £100 each! The flights for the other dates are still the same however, so there is now not much difference between the two dates in price. Am I best to book now before they go up again, or is it worth waiting to see if they come down again (I know that is probably a silly question!) There is still showing quite a bit of availability on the flight plan.

Also, checked the flights on lastminute.com and they come out about £100 cheaper. Obviously would not be able to use the 15% discount with Mastercard if I booked through last minute, so may have to work out which is the cheaper, but is it correct that you only get the 15% discount off the base rate and not the actual flight total. Sorry for all the questions, but really want to get this booked up now!

blindman

jolly-jen wrote: »

Also, checked the flights on lastminute.com and they come out about £100 cheaper. Obviously would not be able to use the 15% discount with Mastercard if I booked through last minute, so may have to work out which is the cheaper, but is it correct that you only get the 15% discount off the base rate and not the actual flight total. Sorry for all the questions, but really want to get this booked up now!

The Mastercard offer is not worth that much as it is 15% off the Base fare which is LOWER than the Fare Per person (by about £100) which is shown on AA.com

See my previous post on this.

If you are not bothered about flying on AA specifically then maybe go the MSE route and book the cheaper flights.

jolly-jen

Thanks blindman, this is what I thought. The flights with lastminute.com where actually the same AA flights, but for some reason came out cheaper than booking direct with AA. (No idea, maybe they have a special discounted rate?) thanks again for your help.

Murphy_The_Cat

jolly-jen wrote: »

Thanks blindman, this is what I thought. The flights with lastminute.com where actually the same AA flights, but for some reason came out cheaper than booking direct with AA. (No idea, maybe they have a special discounted rate?) thanks again for your help.

. AA have a price promise guarantee that booking via them is the cheapest option, but on this occassion, you've beaten the system :j:j (although I've just done it on your dates, and lastminute are £10 dearer now. BTW, flying on Monday is now £15 cheaper
I'm currently getting £1228 for 4 adults on AA, & £1266 with lastminute for the same flights.
This is a great game, isn't it ?



p.s whoops, just realised that i never took the age of your children into account when I looked 1st time. I priced it up as though they were aged 2-11

duchy

I think you're starting to see that if you see a great price-put it on hold quickly !!
(You may need to sign up for Aadvantage first to do so-but it's free )

jolly-jen

Hi Murphy, The dates I tried were actually going on March 22nd and returning March 27th. It came up with £425.00 per person, total £1700. However on LastMinute I think the fare was about the same but they discounted it for the children and the total came to around £1570. (They are aged 4 and 10). This whole system is bizarre isnt it! Do the AA prices fluctuate a lot then, would you book today or hang on?

Murphy_The_Cat

jolly-jen wrote: »

Hi Murphy, The dates I tried were actually going on March 22nd and returning March 27th. It came up with £425.00 per person, total £1700. However on LastMinute I think the fare was about the same but they discounted it for the children and the total came to around £1570. (They are aged 4 and 10). This whole system is bizarre isnt it! Do the AA prices fluctuate a lot then, would you book today or hang on?

ahh, that explains it. I was looking at 18th March & back on 25th March (as in your earlier post).
AA discount for children as well, you just need to be sure to do so on the enquiry page. have you tried looking up the flights on the 'Price & Schedule' function ? Sometimes a single day can save you hundreds on a family booking.
& yes, the system is bizarre
& yes, they do fluctuate a lot
& hmmmmmm, thats your shout. Personally, I would decide what fare I would be happy paying (& be honest/realistic with yourself), monitor the site several times a day, for several days, if you find the price, reserve it --- and then you've got 24 hours to see how the pricing goes. (BTW, AA class children as being between 2 and 11)

Murphy_The_Cat

AA have a dream deals offer on at the moment. Whilst its nowhere near as cheap as previous offers, there may be something attractive for someone on there.

duchy

Mastercard deal is definitely still on-called and got them to apply it to a friend's provisional booking without any problem yesterday.
Approx £60 each-we can make much better use of that £240 in Vegas than AA could

blindman

duchy wrote: »

Mastercard deal is definitely still on-called and got them to apply it to a friend's provisional booking without any problem yesterday.
Approx £60 each-we can make much better use of that £240 in Vegas than AA could

On what fare was that?

I only saved £30 pp on a £350 fare