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Flame-Free Questions on A3 - ask your newbie (and not so newbie) questions here

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Old Feb 23, 2015, 6:35 am
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Last edit by: NWIFlyer
With the evolution of the Miles&Bonus program, there are a number of threads on this forum that contain outdated information, plus a further set that - whilst describing the new program - contain conflicting information that has only been crystallised as we all discover how certain aspects of the program either work or are interpreted.

It is perhaps therefore unsurprising that many new members find searching through this myriad of threads a little daunting, and consequently they post a question in one of the FAQ threads.

This tends to irk those who've been around for a while who expect the new posters to at least do some basic searching before posting a question that has probably been asked many times before. This also causes the forums to become very congested and less easy to read through with the same question being asked and answered many times.

I am therefore creating a thread, which will be stickied, for anyone to ask any question they like about the M&B program where they are unsure or it's not obvious where they should be posting it.

There is no such thing in this thread as a stupid question, no issue with asking a repeat question, and any answers should be 100% flame-free. I will take a dim view of anyone that abuses a member or provides a less than helpful answer (such as 'do a search') to any question asked in here, because this is being created to benefit all of us so the other threads flow more cleanly. Thank you for your co-operation on this.

It might be that I move questions to more appropriate threads so they receive an answer more quickly, but if I do so I will always add a note to indicate where they originated, and ask that the flame-free answer principle be respected.

NWIFlyer
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Flame-Free Questions on A3 - ask your newbie (and not so newbie) questions here

Old Aug 17, 2017, 8:23 am
  #1351  
Community Director
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Norwich, UK
Programs: A3*G, BA Gold, BD Gold (in memoriam), IHG Diamond Ambassador
Posts: 8,449
SKG-ATH is normally incredibly cheap - maybe as low as 19 Euros if you get a sale for the right period. Ex-ATH is always more because of the taxes, but SKG has the advantage that FR also fly the route (I think, still), so if you only need a single flight you might be able to mix and match to get the cheapest overall deal.

Distance is not usually the driver on price - competition, subsidies and load factor are.
NWIFlyer is offline  
Old Aug 17, 2017, 9:35 am
  #1352  
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: PAS, Paros Greece
Programs: A3 *G
Posts: 1,368
Originally Posted by SPLP007
I would think a flight closer to ATH would be cheaper than SKG or CHQ- anyone has any thoughts on this please advise
To be fair, it would take you maybe 20 minutes to look at the low fare calendar for each of the domestic destinations - there are only about 30 of them. My thoughts are - somebody very knowledgeable already told you where the cheapest flights are likely to be found and yet you disagree with them. You could have checked his suggestion, found some flights and booked them in the time the few hours since you first asked.

SKG and CHQ can be found incredibly cheaply at time - as NWI suggests, because of the competition from Ryanair. The advantage of flying ex-SKG would be that you can use one of your coupons to access the lounge.
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Old Aug 17, 2017, 2:09 pm
  #1353  
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 773
Originally Posted by Knobbgb
To be fair, it would take you maybe 20 minutes to look at the low fare calendar for each of the domestic destinations - there are only about 30 of them. My thoughts are - somebody very knowledgeable already told you where the cheapest flights are likely to be found and yet you disagree with them. You could have checked his suggestion, found some flights and booked them in the time the few hours since you first asked.

SKG and CHQ can be found incredibly cheaply at time - as NWI suggests, because of the competition from Ryanair. The advantage of flying ex-SKG would be that you can use one of your coupons to access the lounge.
I thought this was the " FLAME FREE "you make it sound like I did a terrible thing !--- I was not trying to argue in any way AND DO APPRECIATE the input just that I have found that when I have looked in the past to nearby dates flights are not so cheap especially if one wants to travel between 8:00AM AND 9:00 PM

I did not even know of a low fare calender-THANKS for the info
SPLP007 is offline  
Old Aug 17, 2017, 3:49 pm
  #1354  
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 773
Originally Posted by NWIFlyer
SKG-ATH is normally incredibly cheap - maybe as low as 19 Euros if you get a sale for the right period. Ex-ATH is always more because of the taxes, but SKG has the advantage that FR also fly the route (I think, still), so if you only need a single flight you might be able to mix and match to get the cheapest overall deal.

Distance is not usually the driver on price - competition, subsidies and load factor are.
looks like I can do ath-skg round trip on A3 for about 100-110 euros for early Sept
SPLP007 is offline  
Old Aug 17, 2017, 3:52 pm
  #1355  
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 773
Originally Posted by SPLP007
I thought this was the " FLAME FREE "you make it sound like I did a terrible thing !--- I was not trying to argue in any way AND DO APPRECIATE the input just that I have found that when I have looked in the past to nearby dates flights are not so cheap especially if one wants to travel between 8:00AM AND 9:00 PM

I did not even know of a low fare calender-THANKS for the info

Knobbgb
--Like I said - did not know about low fair calender -- found it and used it -- it is very useful tool - THANKS
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Old Sep 2, 2017, 5:29 pm
  #1356  
 
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: QND, BEG, BUD
Programs: AY Platinum; TK Elite+; MR Titanium; HH Diamond
Posts: 109
Hey guys, I need a bit of help navigating the complexities with *A benefits and codeshares/flights operated by OA.

I am looking into the following itinerary:

BEG - ATH Oct 15 A3 851 operated by OA
ATH - CAI Oct 15 A3 930

CAI - ATH Nov 6 A3 933
ATH - BEG Nov 6 A3 1102 operated by JU

I have *A gold benefits from my TK status and I wanted to know if I will have lounge access and baggage benefits in my first (OA) and last (JU) segment. Also if someone can direct me to the page where they have the specific rules in regards to this I would be really grateful, since I got completely lost in the Star Alliance website.

Cheers!
deleter is offline  
Old Sep 3, 2017, 12:42 am
  #1357  
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Norwich, UK
Programs: A3*G, BA Gold, BD Gold (in memoriam), IHG Diamond Ambassador
Posts: 8,449
Originally Posted by deleter
Hey guys, I need a bit of help navigating the complexities with *A benefits and codeshares/flights operated by OA.

I am looking into the following itinerary:

BEG - ATH Oct 15 A3 851 operated by OA
ATH - CAI Oct 15 A3 930

CAI - ATH Nov 6 A3 933
ATH - BEG Nov 6 A3 1102 operated by JU

I have *A gold benefits from my TK status and I wanted to know if I will have lounge access and baggage benefits in my first (OA) and last (JU) segment. Also if someone can direct me to the page where they have the specific rules in regards to this I would be really grateful, since I got completely lost in the Star Alliance website.

Cheers!
I'm afraid not - neither OA nor JU are Star airlines, so there are no Alliance benefits. A3 appears to allow you the courtesy of checking in for OA flights at the Business Class counters, at least in ATH - whether this is the case at an outstation isn't really clear.

For your ATH-BEG flight you'll deal with JU (albeit A3 may well check you in at CAI) and be subject to whatever their baggage policies are.
NWIFlyer is offline  
Old Sep 3, 2017, 5:31 am
  #1358  
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: PAS, Paros Greece
Programs: A3 *G
Posts: 1,368
I'm pretty sure you WILL get full benefits for the first flight. It's an actual A3 flight but they use the aircraft of OA. I know it's confusing, but a good rule is that if the flight number is a "regular sequence" A3 number then it will be treated as a full A3 flight, despite the metal flown.

This is similar to somebody who posted recently about being suprised to receive full benefits in IST while flying IST-ATH on one of these OA Q400 flights.
Knobbgb is offline  
Old Sep 6, 2017, 3:22 pm
  #1359  
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Houston, TX, USA
Programs: A3 Gold
Posts: 297
Could I verify the following information:

I am interested in an Air Canada itinerary from IAH to ATH with the MUC-ATH-MUC portions flown on A3.

Will the A3 portions flown on an AC ticket count toward A3 sectors to requalify for gold status in 2018, barring any changes to the program for 2018?
AznMadSci is offline  
Old Sep 6, 2017, 5:21 pm
  #1360  
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Heraklion, Greece
Posts: 7,557
Originally Posted by AznMadSci
Could I verify the following information:

I am interested in an Air Canada itinerary from IAH to ATH with the MUC-ATH-MUC portions flown on A3.

Will the A3 portions flown on an AC ticket count toward A3 sectors to requalify for gold status in 2018, barring any changes to the program for 2018?
Yes, absolutely!
KLouis is offline  
Old Sep 9, 2017, 1:54 am
  #1361  
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: PAS, Paros Greece
Programs: A3 *G
Posts: 1,368
Have A3 made additional schedule cuts this coming winter between January and March?

I was looking at the UK and RoI flights. I thought that Dublin had been extended through the whole winter but it seems it stops between 8th January and 28th March.

Also Manchester has been year-round recently hasn't it? That also stops between 14th January and 24th March this year.

And I thought the LHR flights were always 3x daily (with added Gatwick frequencies in the summer) but it seems the early morning departure from Athens/midday departure from Heathrow will operate into LGW on Tue, Wed, Thu and Fri - also from Mid January to Mid march.

Is this normal or did I just imagine it (that's why I'm posting in 'flame-free' hehe)? Also, has anyone noticed any cuts on other routes I'm less familiar with?

What happens to those Heathrow slots? I thought they had to be used or they would be forfeited. And what's the rationale behind moving one flight to Gatwick four days per week for nine weeks. I know it's cheaper to operate there but is it worth it for such a short time?

Last edited by Knobbgb; Sep 9, 2017 at 2:04 am
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Old Sep 9, 2017, 3:03 am
  #1362  
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: OTP
Programs: AF/KL platinum, Turkish gold, QR gold
Posts: 1,565
I can't answer your full question, nor speculate on this, but for the last two winter seasons A3 definitely operated a daily LGW flight besides the LHR ones. So doesn't seem entirely new.
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Old Sep 12, 2017, 9:14 am
  #1363  
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: 39000ft
Posts: 953
In the Winter, A3 operates the morning rotation to LHR only on 1----67. This goes back to the OA era. Complementary to these morning flights, it operates to LGW on -2345--. However, as I see it now, this flight to LGW will operate only for December/January (just in time for x-mas), so there is a reduction indeed.

They will announce new routes for S18 soon though
jerry_greece is offline  
Old Sep 19, 2017, 4:19 am
  #1364  
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: BRU
Programs: M&M FT, A3
Posts: 22
Hey guys, I need help to understand one A3 rule :

I booked a flight for february 2018 in Flex (P class). I'm now A3 blue and will become A3 silver at the beginning of November 2017.
So I'll receive 2 upgrade coupons in November.
Question is : will it be possible to upgrade (if availability) my flights with the coupons as soon as I have them ?
My confusion is about the Flex fare (which is OK for an uprgrade coupon) and the P class..

Another thing: even if the booking is already made, will it be possible to reserve my seats in economy when I'll get silver ?

Thank you very much
djsneak is offline  
Old Sep 19, 2017, 11:37 pm
  #1365  
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: PAS, Paros Greece
Programs: A3 *G
Posts: 1,368
Originally Posted by djsneak
Hey guys, I need help to understand one A3 rule :

I booked a flight for february 2018 in Flex (P class). I'm now A3 blue and will become A3 silver at the beginning of November 2017.
So I'll receive 2 upgrade coupons in November.
Question is : will it be possible to upgrade (if availability) my flights with the coupons as soon as I have them ?
My confusion is about the Flex fare (which is OK for an uprgrade coupon) and the P class..

Another thing: even if the booking is already made, will it be possible to reserve my seats in economy when I'll get silver ?

Thank you very much
Yes, subject to availability you can upgrade ANY Flex fare or a GoLight fare NOT in P,U or T classes.

You should also be able to reserve your seat once the upgrade goes through but you may have to call back an hour later as the upgrade isn't instantaneous. I have once had an agent say they would do it for me "after a few minutes" and they did!

If you DON'T get an upgrade and want to reserve your economy seat then I'm not so sure - I think that is only for Gold, not Silver. In any case, don't worry about it - seats are usually wide open when OLCI starts 48hrs before departure.
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