mcgahat

Just booked a trip to Hong Kong and showed an * next to the fares as normal. I dont think I have every seen it not show an * for my bookings.

swingaling

Mind sharing some details so I can see if I can replicate?

dantevn

I replicated this through aavacations (ORD-PEK) and showed Q* and K* special fare.

Would you happen to know if i booked same flight on Amex or Chase using cash+points or even all points, would that be considered special fare?
And if so, if i apply SWU, would that turn it into regular fare?

Looking to get EQDs out of cheap flights to Asia, but I'd like to use my SWU.

Insights are appreciated!

swingaling

Excellent. I'll check it out. I was looking at flights to HKG, NRT, SIN and CGK without any luck.

It *may* be a special fare if booked with Chase. Pull up the flight and load the fare rules. Search for any mention of "wholesale" in the fare rules. If that word is present, then it's a special/bulk fare. Otherwise, it's not.

There's no definitive answer on this, but there have been many cases when adding a SWU switches it to a regular fare. Unknown when/why this happens. If that happens, some have had success calling AA and asking them to switch it back to a special fare (while retaining the upgrade).

dantevn

I’ve looked at the fare rules on chase and Amex but haven’t been able to find wholesale or bulk.
However if it’s booked with points, would that automatically give special fare?

To call AA to switch it to special fare for SWU is that after or before taking flight?

iadisgreat

I booked an AAVacations trip that I just finished. When I booked all the flights had the *, but a schedule change had me reroute myself for free and the confirmation when that ticketed did not include the * on the new routing (half of the RT). All segments posted as distance based, so YMMV vary on this (I made my change before the language on the site changed, but I can't imagine AA IT is that smart to know that the * language only applies after that date).

ryan182

I booked a trip 2 weeks ago that I'm on now, SEA-LHR-DFW-SEA all booked under AA flt numbers but with the outbound on BA, all with * by the fare code - the BA flight posted already as a special fare...for the princely sum of $900 EQD I did use a SWU to upgrade to F on the return next Tuesday so really hoping that I get lucky and it converts to standard because the 20% AA gives on discount business fares is really lame IMO given H and K economy fares get the same rate. I get those are the rules and you win some you lose some on these fares but treating a $600 economy fare the same as a multi-thousand dollar business class fare sucks [for me in this case] - thankfully I have all the EQDs I need but still!

pmanchuk

I agree the EQD/EQM rates aren’t exactly great when compared to standard tickets but I look at it this way, with the AAV fares I’m able to book reasonably priced business class tickets to Europe pretty much year round (as opposed to having to wait for limited time sale/promo windows) and likewise if needed have the predeparture waiver... so all in all, it offers much more flexibility and better pricing than the alternative so the low EQD/EQM is a bit of a trade off for that.

Now if you want a real hoot, take a look at the mileage multiplier offers these fares offer when you manage the booking online - I had never paid attention to it before but on one of my last trips (MIA - LHR in business), the offer was somewhere a bit over $1,000 for a whopping 600 or so extra miles! Not sure if that was an error for that one ticket but it made me laugh when I saw it.

ryan182

Fully agree that the benefits of the AAV outweigh the downsides and there are some examples, ie many of the QR J fares, where one can do really well with the distance based but AA is also very uncompetitive in this regard as well as DL would offer 30% on all J fares that are distance based and as mentioned just seems wrong to have a mid-tier Y fare earn the same as a discount J fare IMO.

I never look at those, I have/earn enough miles as is, just checked for my flight back on Tuesday and it offers: Buy 6,394 miles for only Ł154 GBP so might have been a glitch on your flight

iadisgreat

If I book a special fare via AA Vacations (fare class O) and am EXP, do I earn RDMs at 1.7x the flight miles (.5 for booking class and 1.2x for status)?

nk15

I have a question, found a fare on AA vacations but thee outbound is without asterisk and the return is with asterisk, how would this work? The outbound will post as fare based and the return as distance based? How they would even calculate that fare for the outbound?

Also, my understanding is that, after applying an SWU, if the return converts to fare based, I can call and ask they re-post it as distance based?

swingaling

Not exactly. You get 1.2x applied against 0.5x (1.2 * 0.5 * distance). In other words, you'd earn a total of 1.1x award miles on an O* fare.

Beware that officially only fares proceeded by an asterisk (e.g. O*, V*, etc) will credit under the special fare rules. A regular O fare (no *) will credit as a regular fare.

swingaling

Yes.

AA will find a way (don't count on many EQDs).

Yes, I've heard this is possible.

iadisgreat

Ah gotcha, wasn't sure if the bonus was on the base miles (meaning actual distance) as opposed to what the fare class earns. Not a big deal in scheme of things for this potential itinerary but good to know. Thanks!

Jonesdds

I want to make sure I understand this calculation correctly. MR points on RT LAX TO JFK. Was one of there discounted MR fares if that possibly matters, insider fare I think, anbout 10% less MR points. Business D fare class.

Using an air miles calculator it's 4950 miles RT. According to special fares chart EQDs should be.25 per mile flown. So, that's 1237.50 EQDS by my calculation unless the insider fare lowers it further.

Do I have this correct?