Update: This issue is still ongoing and I’ll be sure to update when it’s been fixed.
When calling BA using the US 1-800 number some people have reported issues with hold times as well as with the (typically incompetent) agents finding the nonstop saver flights that show up on AA.com.
I just called the BA call center in Singapore and they had no hold time and were able to quickly find the exact nonstop saver award flights that AA.com shows.
They weren’t sure when BA.com will be fixed to show AA flights, but they proactively offered to waive the phone booking fee, making the cost of a CLE-LGA round-trip flight just 9,000 Avios+$11.20. The flight would otherwise have cost $1,141.
It costs just 2 cents per minute to make a call to the BA call center in Singapore via the Google Hangouts app. Their phone number and hours of operation can be found in the original post below.
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Originally posted on 07/05:
I’ve gotten quite a few emails from people panicking about not being able to find Avios flights like they used to on American Airlines.
Some mileage brokers have spread rumors “confirming” that you won’t be able to use Avios on American anymore 🙄
That’s nonsense, what’s going on is nothing more than an IT bug that is being worked on.
A couple of weeks ago American’s saver award availability disappeared from their website for several days. That space has returned, but it just hasn’t returned to BA.com for Avios bookings.
However BA is more than happy to book those seats over the phone. Their agents are aware of the bug and will be happy to waive the phone booking fee.
Just to confirm I found saver award space on AA.com for a flight tomorrow from Chicago to Cleveland. AA.com wanted 12.5K miles plus $80.60 to book it. I called BA and they were identified the same flights that AA.com was showing and correctly quoted a fare of 4.5K Avios plus $5.60 to book it.
It’s important to note that you aren’t limited to booking with the US based phone number for BA. You can use any of their offices to book, including:
US: 800-452-1201 (7:30am-8pm EDT)
Singapore +65-6823-2095 (9pm-5:30am EDT)
Israel: +972-3-606-1515 (2am-9am EDT)
UK: +44-191-490-7901 (2:30am-3pm EDT)
Thanks Dan for the update! Now what about Cathay availability with Avios? Also a glitch?
Thanks Dan 🙂
Thanks dan
How do we call those numbers from USA
I think a lot of it is because they’re starting to switch a lot of US Airways flights over to American. As a result the flights with dates starting when the changeover happened for a given route show up on AA but not BA. I called and they did say they had known issues and could book the flight. By the way I am about to take a flight to LGA from CHO that only cost me 4,500 Avios and $5.60 but costs $724 if I paid for it!
i have booked a nice few tickets on avios the last few days
@shmuel:
Is there an issue?
http://i.gyazo.com/6e6e63e6e6216373eb8e336fa0deb636.png
@theblaide:
I use the Google Hangouts app.
Yea spoke with one broker he says avios rate to sell has gone down a lot due to the fact that you can’t do to much w them anymore! So guess that thinking was premature
@Anonymous:
Or just a ploy to get people to sell their miles on the cheap.
@joseph your not the only one
Well, lately (6 months) there has been almost no availability with CX from Vancouver to JFK and return. What you are showing is pure luck, I spoke with BA and tried to book over 20 different dates and there was no availability even in 1st class!
@Dan: I see you found some seats, but I have spoken with BA over the phone many times searching many different dates in all classes and have returned with 0 results!
Just called BA to book, the agent said he cannot book the ticket. Think you need to do HUCA.
@shmuel:
CX opens space close in to the flight.
@shmuel:
Are you finding nonstop saver space by searching on aa.com?
Try the BA Singapore line.
@Moshe:
HUCA is always a good idea.
@Dan: If there is saver space with AA, then I can book it with BA Avios?
@Shmuel:
Please read the related post I put at the top of this post.
Any chance of getting my $25 phone booking fee back?
@Dan: I did, and you write “(Note that AA.com does not search Aer Lingus, Cathay Pacific, Iberia, JAL, LAN, Malaysia, Meridiana, Qatar, S7, and TAM.)” So how does this help for CX?
no HT?! 🙂
http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=11484.msg1187520;topicseen#msg1187520
Hi there. I was looking to book a flight from JFK to Paris in August and I found a few options on the AA website for 30K each way, and when I called British Airways they were very unhelpful and I spoke to two different people and they said they can’t book for me AA flights. When I found flights on the British Airways website, there were a million fees. Any tips as to how to get around this?
@Anonymous:
Call?
@shmuel:
It doesn’t.
@Sara:
http://www.dansdeals.com/archives/59617
I just called up and got a flight eventhough it wasn’t showing online
@Dan– I just tried again, after re-reading your post (I looked it at before I called the first time), and it was the same thing. The person I spoke with told me that American has different reward allotments and if its not showing up on British Airline’s then he can’t book it for me. SO frustrating!
@anonymous:
Congrats!
@Sara:
That’s false. What flight are you looking at?
Last week I found saver award availability on AA for LAX-LIH and couldn’t book it on BA.com. I called BA and booked it without a problem.
I have found no availability on LAN from SCL to EZE. Am I doing something wrong?
In 2014/2015 i would have no issues finding AA on BA.com
Something changed in the last few months. All i find is 1st class if at all.
I trasferred 200k during the 40% MR promo but feel like i’ll never get to use them.
@Kate:
Call.
@Moe:
Nothing has changed other than BA.com being buggy.
Search on AA.com and call BA.
Im actually on an AA flight booked thru Avios phone rep because was only showing on AA and not BA. Rep checked that no availability on their web site and gladly waived the booking fee. I’m also using complimentary gogo wifi thanks to http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=49857.msg1190128#msg1190128
(Lou, will shouy out on the way back)
Hi Dan,
If Air Berlin operated by Royal Jordanian they will charge fuel surcharges or no?
called london office about a week ago ,all AA flights from toronto to lga were sold out for end of august
been really hard to find flight availability this summer from toronto to new york
I had the exact same issue as Shmuel and Sara this morning. I found the flights I need on AA.com no issue, showing plenty of availability but when I call BA they say “There are no seats available on any flights that day”. Any ideas about how to get around this issue?
Thanks for all your help Dan, always make sure to check your site daily.
@chaya:
@SB:
Did you read the post??
Lately, ba.com isn’t showing any availability for AA (example mia-nyc)
but on AA.com it shows available “mile saver” availability. even after waiting on hold (20 min)for a rep to book the date, they say it doesn’t show available. They claim they now have different seat availability then what AA shows…
This is a big game changer!
be advised
@Avios:
Not true, just a dumb or lazy rep.
Call back. Or better yet call the Singapore call center.
Thanks Dan.
Any word when Ba.com will have their site synced with real AA availability?
Dan, I did read it, thanks. Maybe i wasn’t clear in my initial post – I called BA twice and neither rep could find availability. My experience was similar to Avios experience posted earlier. I’m going to take the advice you gave them and assume both of those were stupid/lazy reps and make another call. Thanks!
@Dan I am not going to stop panicking.
If this is a business booking mileage tickets for people then booking aa with avios is killed because who has time to sit on the phone for long hold times to make a few dollars on domestic tickets??
Unless you’re offering your services to call ba and book these tickets then this post is a waste of everyone’s time and you are fooling people.
@James W:
Grow up.
This isn’t permanent, it’s being worked on.
Dan thanks for the info!!!
I was looking for a flight from Miami to Mexico for sukot and a few weeks ago all the availability disappeared from one day to an other on aa.com.
I CAN confirmed that I just booked the tickets calling to BA USA office!!!
They where available at aa.com but not at ba.com and I still was able to book them with no problem by phone.
Flight available on American not on BA. Called twice US and twice to Singapore. No Luck. ANy other ideas?
@James W: If you are only saving a few dollars on tickets, may I suggest you learn how to make full use of miles?
Just called two different BA numbers. Virtually no avios availability for the rewards flights on aa.com They both claim aa has not released those reward flights to BA. This seems to be the new normal….
@Monica:
Call the Singapore line.
I booked several flights with availibilties found on aa.com
I booked several flights with flight found on aa.com.. the easiest way to get through to ba (for free) is calling in the morning or go to gethuman.com for them to call you.
Called earlier today to the regular US phone number (goes to the UK). 25 min hold time, but a competent agent who was able to find the flight and did not even bring up the book fee.
Since Singapore is closed today used the UK number posted here and that worked. U.S. Number kept me holding 30 minutes and then just hung up. Still was only able to find one direction (due to nothing showing on aa) of my round trip but this post definitely helped.
@DXD:
Yup, definitely YMMV.
@Anon:
They’re open now.
Been using the Singapore line for a while, late night quick calls. What else?;)
@yitzyul
How can I get complimentary Gogo wifi???
Dan- I remember you posting about this a while ago, but I can’t find the post…Ty!!
Currently on hold -close to 10 minutes now- with the Singapore line.
“Due to an increase in call volume, it is taking longer to answer your call…” 🙂
@NMN:
There are other countries…click on the link in the post.
Just called ba american office didnt know what they were doing
Called syngapore and they took care of it after waiting on hold 35 min and booking took 20 min
But thanx dan for all the tips to get us where we need to go
This BA sort of bug is here to stay for a while I can assure you this was intentionally done on BA’S part to reduce the amount of short haul redemptions on AA metal the simplest and easiest way to do that is to shutdown the online booking capability
How about Aer Lingus? Will that ever be bookable online? Will agents wave the booking fee for that too?
Random question my iphone screen has some cracks in it will that be a problem for tsa and check in
Anyone? Thanx
If instead of using the the reservation pane on the home page
click on executive club
spending avios
click on make a reservation AA is there. The calendar is different
@Midwest.ploni:
Please post a screenshot of an AA award flight on BA.com.
Gethuman.com has a callback feature that works for ba. Just used this past Friday
@Dan: I have a screen shot it won’t paste for mi inline tell me how and I’ll get it to you
My email address can be found on the top-right of this site.
I am not able to find saver award availability at AA to Argentina (EZE) for March 2016. It used to be easy to find 40K return awards, but nothing now. Any ideas? anyone else experiencing this? Thanks
Working for me now!
Just book AA flight on BA.com for tomorrow 7/14/15. Not sure if it is fully back up online or just one off.
ba.com gives the phone numbers/hours for their service centers worldwide. Bratislava and Bremen might be more convenient than Singapore for USA callers.
Would some one be able to make a list of all the # for the different offices and their hours for us to call
@Dan: Hi Dan, if there is no availability showing for CX on BA, is that 100% accurate? Trying to book JFK-YVR and NOTHING is available in any class. Maybe it is just so busy in the summer? Or is there a better way to look for mileage availability? thanks
Just keep trying different agents to book AA flights through BA. Some must just use the same interface as you do and don’t see availability. Try giving them flight numbers instead so they have to look it up another way.
Google has been charging me $0.04 per minute for the Singapore call center.