HNL

Borrowing heavily from the Alaska Mileage Plan Forum.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alask...lame-free.html

Welcome the AA Forum -

The Newbie Lounge is a place where you can get answers to your questions about American Airlines and the AAdvantage program. No question is too stupid, nothing is taken for granted, and anything about American Airlines you were afraid to ask elsewhere, or weren't sure where to ask, you can ask here.

=================MODERATOR NOTE================

Thanks to thread founder HNL! Founder and previous FlyerTalk owner, Randy Petersen, quoted (with necessary word substitutions) said in the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Forum:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Randy Petersen

Welcome to FlyerTalk.

The Newbie Lounge is a place where you can get answers to your questions about American Airlines and the AAdvantage program. No question is too stupid, nothing is taken for granted, and anything about American Airlines you were afraid to ask elsewhere, or weren't sure where to ask, you can ask here.

We realize that FlyerTalk is a huge place. Until you learn your way around, feel free to post here without fear of retribution or reprimands for not using search. Our volunteer Moderators will be monitoring the lounge to assist you in finding your answers but I think you'll find that all members of FlyerTalk are here to assist you with answers and advice.

We're all glad you are here.

This is the archived, obsolete thread; the current 2013 NEWBIE LOUNGE thread is now a "sticky" thread here .

/American AAdvantage Forum Moderation Team

FlyMeToTheLooneyBin

Can non-newbies ask questions flame free here, too?

HNL

naturally.

infoe

Hey all, long time lurker (as guest) first couple of posts (most of them have been over on the buy gold coins threads (sorry if thats not a very liked subject) I'm hoping you guys will help out a noob.

I have 3 upcoming flights (havent signed up for jan16 challenge yet) late jan, early feb, early march (early march is for my wedding back home in miami) ((the earlier two flights are for preperations not like you care but thanks for reading)

I will be flying DFW-MIA and back for the first 2 trips
the third trip i will be flying dfw-mia and we dont know the honeymoon destination as of yet but essentially will probably be flying AA back into dallas either through somewhere in the us virgin islands back direct to dfw or from virgin islands-mia-dfw

essentially each flight from dfw-mia and back is 2242 x 3= 6726 enough for gold if i fly 1.0eqm

6726 x 1.5eqm would = 10089 enough for plat.

Am I right so far?

Here's my main dilemma i've read the newbie thread but i just dont understand how to land a 1.0eqm flight at the price of a .5 (deep discount which is all ive been flying cause were trying to save money every time we go home and visit family from dfw) or how to buy a 1.5eqm for the price of a 1.0 (which I would totally do to get platinum)

Can anyone check my math and tell me if so far i'm right and would anyone lend me a hand i can give them my number and or just walk me through it through PM...would greatly appreciate it. I gotta get this late Jan flight already in the next day or so at the latest. Thanks all and thanks for making this board with alot of helpful users.

I guess another question I have is as I learn about upgrades (stickers) I wonder if having them or using them from the deep discount would do me any good? my ultimate goal is of course to be able to fly first class as much as possible and of course the perks of being plat

*edit* goes to show how n00b i am..i think i should have put eqp where i put eqm

JDiver

You need to understand the difference between EQ Miles, which you earn at 1.0 per mile flown on almost all fares and AA flights, and EQ Points, which you earn at 0.5~1.5 per EQM, depending on fare class purchased.

The only way you can earn more than 1.0 EQM is to fly on the routes AA is offering Double EQM. This chart on aa.com shows you how the EQ Points work, and you earn one EQM per mile flown on all eligible fares. And you can earn status based on Points faster than on Miles if you fly the higher fares.

HNL

Yep

I use http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ and www.farecompare.com/flyertalk to find the nest fares. One thing to consider is to look for routings via ORD or NYC to MIA. Takes longer but gets you more miles and thus more points.

the use of electronic upgrades / aka "stickers" is not fare dependent.


No worries

infoe

ok i have the flight on hold through deep discount fare as told on the wiki..i found flights on ita but they seem to be the same code Q...I'd be satisifed with getting a 1.0 eqp flight for the price of the deep discount..(I think I'm saying that correct) that was the main issue of my post..can anyone help me with that?

HNL

You are not likely to get into a "higher" economy fare bucket for the same price, but you can take a longer routing for a modestly increased price and more time. e.g DFW-ORD-LGA-MIA will garner you many more points than the DFW-MIA non-stop .

BrewerSEA

You can't just get a higher fare class for free. Q will earn 0.5 EQP, no matter what. What you are trying to do is upfare a held itinerary. The strategy to choose flights for this based on price is to use something like ExpertFlyer or Travelocity to find H, K, M, L, W or V inventory availability on flights with a price that you like. AA.com may not allow you to directly book into those inventories, so once you find a fare you like in the class you hold the reservation on AA.com, call AA Reservations and have them upfare your held itinerary into your chosen inventory class. You will pay the price for that inventory class, and you're not going to get around this.

An EF subscription, or even the 5 day trial, is really the easiest way to do this. Otherwise you can just call AA and upfare your chosen deep discount ticket to H, K, M, L, W or V depending on the availability, which you can see for free on ITA. You might not get as a good of a deal compared to knowing the prices of every inventory class beforehand, as chepeast flight in Q doesn't necessarily equate to cheapest flight in L, etc.

Your math is correct, the only issue is your understanding of inventory classes. If you ensure you book into H, K, M, L, W or V on two of these three flights, you'll hit gold with 5605 EQP, or 6725 if in those classes on all three.

To reach Platinum you are correct that you would need to be booked in a 1.5EQP earning class for ALL three flights, F, A, P, J, D, I, Y or B.

If you want to fly in business/first then AA.com is pretty good IME at showing the cheapeast prices, though I'm not sure about if searching for a flexible coach ticket will show only Y or Y and B.

Inventory class does not affect upgrade priority, though there have been claims Y/B get priority over lower fares within status, the evidence doesn't seem to support this.

If you request a sticker upgrade before a fellow plat who is booked into a higher inventory class than you, you should have priority over that passenger.

vasantn

A deep discount fare is by definition a 0.5x EQP fare, so there is no way to get 1.0x EQP for it.

gemac

Hi, infoe. Welcome to FlyerTalk and the AA Newbie Lounge. You will have to call AA anyway to change that itinerary to one that will get you 1.0 EQP, so I would just call them now and ask how much it would cost. Have a list of the 1.0 EQP fare codes in front of you, because sometimes the phone agents aren't all that familiar with this concept. Sometimes the fare difference is only a little bit, sometimes it is a lot.

swag

Welcome to Flyertalk and congratulations on your upcoming wedding.

TexasPastor

Yes, this.

I put an itinerary on hold in N (0.5 EQP) and then called AA and asked for the upgrade price to V (1.0 EQP). Price was negligible (10%), so went with the higher fare because I'm not going to fly quite as much this year and still want to re-qualify.

The AAgent was very helpful and made the change for me.

HNL

Excellent approach. One that I always forget about.

glirette

I’m new to this forum and have read the newbie threads I don’t want to seem like I am Hijacking here but figure this may be a good thread to ask this.

In November I started a brand new job and at this point it appears that my future involves a lot of travel. My typical week has me flying to one destination and staying there until Friday then flying home. It is estimated that I will be home during the week 20 percent of the time. In addition I am in flux with my living arrangements and considering relocation. I do intent to travel sometimes not on the company dime. So far I have earned 6 credits with Southwest since Nov and a short round trip flight with AA.

I’ve had an AA account since 1998 and a Southwest FF account for a few years. I have never redeemed any rewards although I have earned around 65,000 over time with AA. They have all since expired. I have also entered into the challenge to reactivate my AA miles. I was intending to try and get A list status with Southwest and also work towards building my AA miles using shopping programs and some flights when appropriate. I have really been struggling trying to figure out which airline I should try to stick with. My company tends to go for the inexpensive rate so I do not expect to be buying a lot of high end tickets.

With the announcement of the change of the Southwest program I figure I would throw it out and ask for suggestions?