We may receive a commission when you use our links. Monkey Miles is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com and CardRatings. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Monkey Miles is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
A married segment is a tricky technique that airlines employ whereby they only allow award availability on a route if you fly multiple segments together, but if you break those segments apart, the availability disappears. The segments are effectively “married.” I’ve run into this before, but it’s getting downright ridiculous with American. I was able to visit some family over the 4th of July and needed to get back to Los Angeles. No saaver award avail was showing on the direct flight from IND to LAX. While some saver options were populating on United with a connection, I wanted to take advantage of AA’s reduced mileage awards, of which IND was listed as a participating city. Here’s the kicker:
If I searched various routing options I started to see that the IND-LAX flight was available, but only if I continued on to Phoenix. Absolutely ridiculous, but these are the techniques being employed these days. AA was engaging in “married segment” availability.
It’s bad enough that AA makes so little of their space available, but married segments is salt in the wound. Just another reason why I’ve aligned with AS. In the past, it has been fairly easy to drop the segment, but now – not so much. Here’s my experience and some advice if you end up in the same situation.
I wanted to fly IND-LAX. This is what I was seeing.
However, if I searched IND-PHX, I saw this. Space available on the flight I wanted.
This means that because I searched for “creative” flight routes I could potentially save over 20k AA miles.
Here’s what I did.
- I placed the award flight on hold.
- If you are outside of 24 hours you can do this, but if you’re within 24 hours it’s impossible
- I phoned in to ask for the removal of the LAX-PHX leg.
- The first rep denied it saying that it was impossible to do because IND-LAX showed no avail
- While on the phone I had her add my pet fee, and apply my reduced mileage award
- I hung up and called back
- The first rep denied it saying that it was impossible to do because IND-LAX showed no avail
- I phoned back and was given the exact same information
- I was also told that I couldn’t apply the Reduced Mileage Award that was already on there because I was departing IND not going to it.
- Ridiculous as I’ve done this many times before
- I canceled the hold
- I was also told that I couldn’t apply the Reduced Mileage Award that was already on there because I was departing IND not going to it.
- I rebooked the ticket immediately – this time with an overnight connection
- I phone back in to a different rep.
- First I added the Reduced Mileage Award, no problem
- I added my pet
- I requested to have the connection the following day removed.
- Uh oh…she couldn’t do it either; however, she instructed me to just not show up.
- I phone back in to a different rep.
So there you have it folks – an AA rep instructed me to skip a segment on what is essentially a “hidden city” award ticket/ married segment – this violates the carrier conditions, btw. But the rep said, not me.
Also…the reduced mileage award went through fine: My Aviator Red saved me 4625 miles. ( 3750 with reduced mileage, 875 with 10% back)
At this point, I wasn’t going to push further. I could have called a foreign desk like Australia, etc, but my connection was overnight – meaning I can pick up my checked bag ( my pet counts as a carry on, so I’m limited to just my backpack) when I land in LA. In the past, it’s been well documented that if you do enough HUCAs you can have this married segment removed. Now…I’m not so sure. I tried 3 times and was sent to a help desk once – hang up if this happens – it’s a waste of time, but I thought I’d see what they said. It was my last day visiting my family and I wasn’t going to waste it on the phone with AA for anecdotal purposes.
The issue for many will be what happens when the married segment is in front of leg you want, or you’re checking a bag w/o an overnight connection.
My recommendation would be to phone in to the US once, if denied, call a foreign help line – that link has a list of them all. I know Australia is great for booking Etihad tickets, that for some reason US reps can’t book/won’t book, so I’d start there first.
The most important thing you can do is be nice, act uninformed, and don’t push, otherwise a note could be made on your hold.
I was fortunate that space was available on an overnight connection, but that won’t always be the case, and I’d need to keep the hold, and keep it free of negative notes while trying to figure out an alternative.
Have you divorced married segments recently? Any further tips I should add?
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.