Bastien003

Hi all,


I am in the need of 120 TP to make it back to Gold, I have looked at the different options and wanted to check if they are feasible.
I will be in the US for 10 days (multi-city trip) in August.

As I have one day to kill during my US trip, I could fly SFO-LAX-SFO in domestic first with AA.
This would give me the 120 TP needed for Ł215 – which is not bad. However, I will have only 1h15 in LAX to catch the plane back to SFO. Would that be feasible? I think it would as I would stay in the same terminal not needing to go out and pass security again?

Other option: during this trip, I have one transcontinental segment SFO-JFK with AA. Unfortunately, it is in economy. I have called my travel agent who has quoted the upgrade from economy to domestic first at Ł540 !!!!
So last chance is to pay for an upgrade at the airport. Does AA propose airport paid upgrades at all? Do they propose POUG?

Thank you

PS: any other suggestions are welcome.

JohnnyColombia

If you can ticket SFO LAX SFO with a 1h15m connection in LAX then I would imagine it is possible. My connections in LAX have always been very slick, sometimes amazing me that my bags made it to my destination. AA does them pretty well. Literally off one plane and onto the next.

MPH1980

A promotional upgrade at the airport won't help you - they pay out the same points.

As has been said - if you can do SFO-LAX-SFO - and it'll let you do the 1:15 connection (MCT seems to be 1:10) - then do it.

Be aware - if you hit irrops - you might get downgraded - that's likely to be a KUP fare - if you do - you'll get economy points.

corporate-wage-slave

AA does offer POUGs via email and at the kiosk, they don't get extra Avios or Tier Points however.

LAX T4 is very small/compact, a 75 minute turnaround on domestics is almost at the long end of the spectrum there. Anything over 50 minutes is fine, LAX doesn't get much bad weather, though it can get congested. Which is as well, since if you are irrop'd then you face a potential downgrade to Main Cabin, and Main Cabin TPs and Avios. I remember many years ago being shocked how small the setup in LAX was for AA. (MCT is 35 minutes for most mainstream domestics, but it does go out to 1 hr 10 in other situations).

Also check out SFO to LAS via LAX, that can be cheaper than SFO to LAX, but you do have to fly the sector. It is worth playing around with SFO/LAX/LAS/PHX and sometimes SAN to see whether there are cheaper options, though SAN doesn't carry First on all combinations.

Also watch that US goes from T6, though your ticket may look like an AA flight....

Hoch

Very true. Although I understand that the tunnel connecting the two terminals is now open (finally). I won't try it out until September, but it has to be better than waiting for the inter-terminal bus

H

Bastien003

Thank you for the replies. It's really helpful!

Nicksta

I did a similar route on Monday, but I did PHX-LAX-LAS. Anything over 45 minutes for a connection is easy - I was at my next gate in 15 minutes. The points posted this AM, 60 TPS per segment on P-class tickets.

LAX to LAS segment in F was $101, btw.

rt112

This may be because your transcon is on one of the nice new American A321Ts, which have a three class configuration, fully lie flat seats in F and J, and better ground service (e.g. lounge access for F and J pax, which is the exception on domestic flights within the US, even in F). The downside is that the flights are quite pricey, especially in F.

pauleeepaul

Moreso than 540 GBP.