Why don't you just buy first class tickets?

Why would we pay double or triple the cost of coach if we have miles to 'spend'?

If you are wondering why we don't 'buy' first class with our miles, it's because we don't have enough miles, and further, if we pay for coach tickets, we get miles for the purchase and miles for the miles flown.

This has worked very well for 15 years until two years ago and for next year. I'm guessing there are more retirees with miles or money to spend. (Darn Boomers! LOL)

There are lots and lots of airlines that fly to Hawaii, and to Maui. Why are you restricting your routing to AA through Dallas?

When in Chicago, fly United! There are innumerable hourly flights to the West Coast and tons of West Coast flights to Hawaii (and Maui in particular). SFO-Oakland-LAX in aggregate must offer many dozen choices every day.

snidely -- Ah, but...although we are flexible for departure anytime from mid-December through the first week in January...

Our *miles* are on AA.

We want to fly first class on a 767 or better, without spending $4K pp on the tickets.

We don't want to fly 757's -- where 'first' isn't worth the trouble or money.

AA only flies two 767's via DFW.

The least good choice would be TWO 757's -- one from Chicago to the coast and one from there to Hawaii.

I realize that every airline wants to sell as many first class seats as it can at full price, and that we are a long, long way from the December day the plane pulls away from the gate at ORD. (It will be packed; it always is.) Meanwhile, though, AA and I are spending unprofitable *hours* on the phone. Some of this could be alleviated if I could see online which flights have seats eligible for upgrade. (Obviously, the agent can see this.)

Also, *every* agent I have spoken with has been in error about some detail of this flight. One said I could book March next week; calendar doesn't open until a few weeks before we want to return. One said she couldn't put a first class reservation using miles 'on hold'; they've always done this and we had two 'on hold' before today. One said she could book our March return now; she was looking at 2015. One set up an arrival to HNL less than the 75 minutes I know Hawaiian Airlines requires to shift the luggage; she checked, and I was correct. One said you can't through check luggage from ORD to OGG; yes, you can!

Today, the agent insisted we had no reservation on hold for first class, although I was looking at it AS first class on AA's website, using AA's locator letters. Insisting on a supervisor finally got us booked on that reservation.

So, snidely, how's tax 'season' going for you?

Hmmm, I too like to fly business class on longer trips but my priority is to have direct flights whenever possible without regard to what the equipment is. I haven't had to pass through Honolulu since direct flights from my area to Lihue and OGG became available. There aren't a lot of them, but there are enough to choose from. You obviously have your objectives and hopefully you'll get what you want. Personally, I don't have the patience to spend time with reservations - when it looks like what I think I want isn't going to easily happen, I try for something else.

I was lucky to retire at a relatively young age (mid-50s), so I'm currently unburdened from any work demands for my time. I did "tax work" that was mostly unrelated to tax returns over the years. Think of it as being a corporate consultant. While I had peak times, that were somewhat seasonal and somewhat not, they were unrelated to the tax return filing periods.

Good luck.

Sue, I can understand your frustration. My daughter has lots of miles on American and we had to fly through Dallas to get to Maui this year as well. She manages to pull it off and gets us business class at least one way but it takes some doing and persistence on her part. We did fly back in coach and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was one of the older AA planes but I guess the new ones have been retrofitted to have much less leg room in coach and even more luxury in business class. I think AA is notorious for being difficult to use miles on.

I just want to know did they say, but you can fly US Airways for half the price? I get so tired of hearing it. Since they bought out AA, I can't just get an AA ticket. And US Airways is the one running the show. It may be your current woes. I know when I buy my boss' tickets online, they automatically ask if I want to upgrade with miles. He's an Executive Platinum member. Are you? Maybe that's the difference.

Poor Snidely, living west coast and flying to any island in Hawaii nonstop in only five hours! LOL

We have at least a 14 hour travel day from Chicago. It's worth the hassle to have the long leg (nine hours) in first on a 767 -- especially if I can lie nearly flat and be able to sleep on the redeye returns. I'm OK in a coach seat for about three hours before I start sighing.

Fran -- There's only 'coach' and 'first' on our flights Chicago-Maui, but the 'first' is more like what's called 'business' on transatlantic flights. I see that our fake return has us on an old MD80 Chicago-Dallas, but on a B321 on the return. That aircraft seems to have three classes, and we will be in 'business' as far as I can tell (pairs of slightly canted seats along the aisle). The 'first' cabin has single seats along the central aisle. Coach is three and three facing forward.

Rob -- No, I didn't hear the pitch for flying US Airways, but the very first message asks if I want to hear all about the merger. (Not.) Your boss probably has a gazillion miles, and they want to wipe them off their books. When I select a coach flight online I do get prompted to "Upgrade to First for only..." Then I see I can pay twice the price of coach if I want to buy First. (Not.)

We are retired Seniors whose miles come from CC purchases and miles flown once a year Chicago-Maui (8K roundtrip). At our stage in life we aren't buying (charging) a lot of things, but we've managed to keep enough miles in the kitty to use them for upgrades on our annual winter trip. It's only become a struggle to find the upgrades in recent years. (We aren't profitable or important to the airline -- not frequent flyers.) I attribute the problem to there being tons of newly retiring Boomers -- more competition for the upgrades and some willing to buy first outright.

Thanks to you all for letting me vent! Remind me that you've already heard it all if I go nuts trying to get our returns set for March 2016 -- when the AA calendar opens.

My niece, her husband, and their then-4-year-old daughter had a flight booked from Sacramento, CA, to Chicago, IL, on American Airlines. For some reason, they were not able to get seat assignments in advance. When they got to the airport, they tried to get seat assignments when they checked in. They were told they would have to talk to the gate agent when they got to the boarding area.

The gate agent refused to give them seat assignments. They were the FIRST people to arrive for that flight. Ultimately, they were all seated separately. American Airlines refused to allow either parent to sit with their daughter!

Fortunately, my grand-niece is extremely intelligent and well behaved, and the folks seated on either side of her (she was put in a center seat) raved about how great she was.

Oh -- when the woman seated on the aisle seat next to my grand-niece tried to swap places with my niece, the flight attendant pitched a fit and would not allow it.

Needless to say, no one in our extended family will ever fly American Airlines again.

You can get seat assignments ahead of time with American. I just flew with them over the summer and my boss flies with them all the time. It may cost you money. And you may or may not end up with your child, but you can get them.

my small rant:

I was able to get my son's and my outbound seats together without any extra cost. I only wanted to do so because he'd never flown and I wanted to make sure he understood what was happening. He did well and loved flying, so on the return flights, I didn't even try. The only thing that bothered me is the entitled parent (just one), who bothered to pay for an upgraded boarding pass for the child, but not their own and then held up the line arguing that he needed to board with his child. Um, the plane won't leave without you, you have your assigned seat number, why can't you board her with you in your group? That's my pet peeve. It's right up there with those who hover waiting for the boarding group to be called and stampeding to get on. Sheesh. We all have a seat, why can't we just be civil?

I wish the airlines would drop luggage charges and insist that you check anything larger than a large purse/briefcase -- something big enough to hold work you plan to do on board, reading material, your meds, your valuables.

They could decrease the size of the overhead bins and increase the size of the seats and headroom. People rush to board to find space in the overhead for their kitchen sinks and lawn furniture. LOL The guy seated in Row 100 would stop shoving his stuff above Row 10 to be sure of finding space for it. The TSA lines would move faster with less 'stuff' to inspect.

First class is called right after the disabled and people with small children. It's hard to be polite getting through the jam of passengers who have become magnetized to the gate at first call, despite having seats in the rear of the plane. I've suggested color-coded boarding passes and matching 'pens' to seat waiting passengers by the group's boarding order. Each 'pen' would be opened by the gate attendant only when that grouping was called. (Moo.)