www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I tell you what, these sumbitches are something else.

Every time I try to use my air miles, I get turned down. What good is it to have these FF miles if you can't use them?

OK, about a year and a half ago, I try to take a trip to Vegas, well DJ tries too late to get a seat. About a year ago, I try to take a trip to Memphis or Washington DC, same shit, too late, and this was about 4 months in advance of my travel date.

Now Squirrel88 and myself are planning a trip to SJCR in late March 2008.........talking at least 8 months in advance and it's too early and they don't expect to have any FF seats on MIA-SJO or SJO-MIA. I can get to and from Miami from Houston on the FF seats, but can't use them for SJCR.

What is it with these pricks? They advertise the hell out of their American Advantage FF miles, but EVERY TIME I have tried to use them, there is some excuse why I can't.

This 8 months in advance to get to SJCR and can't do it.............pushed me a little too far.

Phuck em. The wheels up to wheels down on Continental from IAH to SJO is 3 hrs and 15 minutes, where AA takes about 2 hrs to MIA then another 2.5 hrs from MIA to SJO. I mean, I would fly AA for the FF miles or the FF miles plus a little cash, but I'm not going to mess with them again going to SJO. The only reason I ever flew AA is because right after nine-eleven they had r/t for less than 200 bucks, plus I enjoyed a change by flying on the wide bodies Airbus from MIA-SJO.

Looks like I will be searching Continental until they have sales on for next March.

I'm in the same boat with Delta. I can't book a trip to Rio on 50,000 miles for the next year. FWIW, I can on American. It depends somewhat on the route I guess. Airlines won't open up FF seats if they are filling their seats with paying customers, I think. But when you call to join their FF program they tell you how easy it is and that ALL YOU HAVE TO DO is call back when you have 40 or 50,000 miles and are ready to fly. Yup, I bought that line of BS. I'm not sure whether or not the people on the other end of the phone realize they're essentially lying.

DJ..... out of Houston Continential is the only way to go. Hell, out of DFW it the only way to go. AA has a direct flight out of DFW, but I won't fly with them.

Joe........

I find availability good out of Dallas good to most places on AA with miles as long as you plan a few months out. I book most of my Peru trips that way which is about a $900 ticket for same miles as San Jose. Free trips are nice.rbc100

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In Search of Fine Kittens,
Please... Bring back the Muff

Agree!

I'm an AA FF whore! I average 8 - 9 free trips annually, using their FF program. But you've really got to know how to "play the system". Many of the trips are Miami to San Jose, with an occasional landing in Liberia. But planning ahead is the key. I'm surprised that they wouldn't book seats for a flight 8 months in advance. I've always booked online at www.aa.com . I'll continue to use them. If I've got to pay for 1 or 2 trips out of 10, so be it.

MG

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You ALWAYS have an option ....... "NEXT" !!!

AA is the only domestic carrier I fly with.

Ive flown with basically all the big guns, and most have phucked things up pretty bad more then once.

Plus oneworld has the best FF program going IMO, although I usually collect mine as asiamiles, but same difference

I have flown to SJO on AA with only slight inconvenience. Like having to overnight in MIA. Also have flown Continental using Delta skymiles. As an alternative, try using a partner airline. Also, sometimes requires talking to an agent.

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My life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming...." MAN....WHAT A RIDE!!!!"

300 days out is the number to remember…that’s when they start taking reservations. Sometimes there is only ONE FF seat allocated to a flight…add on the need for connectors and it just get tougher… I made my reservation for last Memorial Day weekend exactly 300 days out at 5am…no problems…the next day I tried again, just to see if another seat was still available and noooo….

If you live in / use a hub city (MIA, DFW, LAX) you have a better chance.

IMHO…AA is not what it used to be…but then, what is?

Mendo

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"It takes a lot of good beer to make a great wine"

i am mostly united, which does not fly to cr, sjo anyways
there are times when the only paid seat for a short trip is $800, but i might be able to get it for 25K miles, sometimes 50k
other times, there will be cheap tickets, but i can not use miles
so i think you just have to be flexible and work the system

There are a couple of outher nice perks offered my AA miles program. You can hold a reservation up to 14 days for feee and change dates for free up to a year in advance of origional booking date fee to same destination. This gives one a lot of felixibility using miles.rbc100

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In Search of Fine Kittens,
Please... Bring back the Muff

You have to book 6 months to 11 months in advance.

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Hanging in Laurelas with the Paisas

United code shares with TACA. Any TACA flight that goes to SJO is available as a United flight.

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Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

Continental's website has an award calendar that shows availability by month. To see how it stacks up against AA I just checked availability of standard award seats for August and September. August was available every day but 6, and September had availability every day but 1.

thanks for the tip, I'll call this the 300 day rule.

TT

Hey AA, if you are reading this, I want a r/t from Houston, 3/24 coming back 3/30 and I want to use my FF miles.