Is American feeling the heat from Delta flash sales? It’s anybody’s guess, but it seems that the recently-debuted “Economy Web Specials” weren’t a one-off. Gary Leff at View from the Wing reports on some much more interesting routes this time and availability that exceeds normal saver levels. While routes are still quite limited, they seem a bit more useful than the original list (and if this is a sign of regular flash sales to come, it may be more interesting for a wider range of customers). Hopefully, this won’t be the first step towards a revenue-based system…but in the meantime, it gives folks a chance to get better value out of their miles.
The Deal
- New American Airlines “Economy Web Specials” have launched, which includes sales from 5K miles each way (pricing varies based on route). The following routes have been reported to include economy web specials:
- Austin <-> Los Angeles
- Baltimore <-> Orlando
- Dallas <-> Fort Lauderdale
- Phoenix <-> Dallas
- Portland <-> Los Angeles
- Honolulu <-> Los Angeles
- Honolulu <-> Phoenix
- and more
Quick Thoughts
First of all, there is no dedicated page for these. Apparently, you’re just supposed to stumble upon them. I got some of the routes above from Million Mile Secrets and others from View from the Wing, but each of those sites lists other routes that I didn’t include — see their posts for included routes and screen shots.
The nice thing is that these don’t seem to be under the typically-small window of flash sales. For instance, Gary Leff reports the Austin-Los Angeles route being available from January 8th onward. He also notes that if you start your search before January 8th, it will default to Economy Saver awards, not the web specials (you’ll have to click the appropriate green box). It’s worth checking out his post to see just how wide open those 5K awards appear to be.
Overall, this is a decent opportunity if you’re traveling between the included city pairs and makes it worthwhile to take a glance at American now and then since we apparently won’t know when a web special will pop up.
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