u/memepilot101

With the current CapitalOne to Eva transfer bonus I was looking to book a J award ticket from LAX to BKK via TPE. To my surprise there was practically no availability in J all of November.

Don’t get me wrong I know J award space for transpacific flights is quite competitive but EvaAir always had ample award space in their own award program(all the Amex and Chase influencers weren’t pushing it and the booking process itself is a little more tedious than other award programs making it relatively insulated from the masses).

For example, I booked a LAX to Japan flight with them back in November 2025(for March 2026 flight) and there was tons of award space almost everyday.

Has Eva stopped releasing tons of J award space like they used to their own award program? This is highly unusual for this program so trying to get a sense if this sweet spot is effectively dead?

Do any of you frequently or semi frequently fly the JFK to DEL route? Is it a route that routinely seems packed?

I’ve noticed AA practically never releases saver level award seats(to OneWorld partners like Alaska, Finnair etc) in business class even during “low season” for US to India travel like in February or late September on this flight.

In contrast I often see American release multiple saver level award seats in business class to more “premium” routes like DFW to LHR or JFK to LHR in business class even though I would reason these are routes that would probably have more business traffic.

Back in October 2023 I was able to score business class from DFW-JFK-DEL for 60k AA miles for 2 people. They were flying the 777-300ER for that route at the time and seemed like they had ample space. I think they downgrade that route to a 787 but even then during off season I’m surprised I never see even one seat in the saver level released to partner airlines.

I know there’s a lot of questions about being able to upgrade an award ticket using cash. The upgrade policy differs from airline to airline. My experience is mainly with American Airlines.

I was planning a July trip to Argentina. Started booking in March. My home airport is DFW. I found a return ticket in mid July on LATAM in business class to MIA from EZE using Virgin Atlantic points. Got a separate repositioning flight back to DFW.

I was trying to find a ticket to Argentina around the July 4 weekend. I couldn’t find saver space in J so just booked AA economy for a nonstop flight for 22k AA miles + $5.60 a place holder while I looked for other business class options. Today I was checking the cash upgrade offers on the AA app and saw an upgrade to business class for $441(after taxes). I checked a few times over the past few weeks and the prices fluctuated greatly but were typically above a $1000.

I think two factors may have worked in my favor for getting a “unicorn” upgrade fare

- I think a lot of corporate travel is not going on Friday July 3. So less demand. My company gave us July 3 off since July 4 is on a weekend this year so I’m assuming a lot of business travelers have that day off.
- Per AI The rising gas prices might have incentivized AA to more aggressively sell cash upgrades because they need to beef up their cash balance. This is just speculation by the way I have no idea if this is the case. Normally what I’ve heard on the AA subreddit is the unicorn upgrade fares tend to show up closer to departure time.

Roundtrip prices in AA business class for this route are around $6000 for this route in July. So assuming this ticket was worth $3000 - I got it for 22k AA miles + $446.60(around $0.11 per point). Happy with the bang for the buck for this redemption!

Disregarding CPP or that it’s not something fancy like QSuites- I’m super super happy I got a nonstop overnight flight with a lie flat seat from my home airport!

While AA’s dynamic pricing is confusing - I think if you use the calendar view on AA desktop website, Seats Aero for alerts and occasionally check the upgrade offers in the app you can occasionally snag some good deals with AA!! The folks in the AA subreddit have great insights on AA’s upgrade pricing and data points.