DarrenChannel

Booking a trip in March, and to my dismay, the AA flights I want seem to be booking into class "O", which earns nothing with LAN. However, if I instead book via the US Airways website, I can see the same flights (with the notation "operated by AA") for the same price.

They also end up being class "O", but LAN.com says US flights in this class DO earn 100% of the km (for now, anyway).

As a US-ticketed trip, would I earn km for this trip? Anybody have any experience with differences in fare classes between AA and US?

Related to this, LAN.com's airline partner page has the new chart reflecting the downgrade in earnings on AA flights as of April 1. However, they have not updated anything on the US earnings chart. This being the case, if we simply book our AA flights through US Airways, will we continue to enjoy the 100% earnings on the lower economy class flights beyond April 1?

sdsearch

In every airline I've looked into before, you earn based on the operating airline, not the booking airline. I can't believe it's different for LAN. So you'd still earn on AA earning rules, whether you book through US, AA, or LAN itself, if it's an AA operating flight. So I don't see how booking at US would help. You have to actually book at a different fare code than "O". (Or perhaps find a more roundabout flight that's actually operated by US?)

There are ways to book an AA flight at other than the lowest fare. You have to research on the AA forum how to do that without involving a phone booking fee. (IIRC, it involves putting a reservation on hold on aa.com, calling up one number or another, asking to have your reservation changed to a higher fare code and then put back on hold, then going back to aa.com to complete the booking and payment.)

Or, perhaps there's a third-party booking site that allows you to select more fare codes?

Btw, aa.com has multiple columns for fares. There are other fares than just "O" there, I bet (it's just the leftmost column that's "O"). You could start there...


And, of course, it depends on the specific flight and specific fare code as to how much more that would cost than the "O" fare that you're seeing by default. You'll have to decide whether earning LAN miles is worth the extra cost in the case, once you see what the lowest fare that does earn LAN miles is and how it compares to that "O" fare.

IanWorthington

@sdsearch Pretty sure you're wrong here. LAN, and maybe all of OW?, flyers earn dependant on the /marketing/ airline not the metal.

@DC Looks to me that you would earn 100% in this case. (No bonus though). Seems to have been an outbreak of O classes on AA this year.

bingocallerb22

This has come up before so it would be nice to get some clarity. It makes little sense the marketing carrier could dictate what the operating carrier gives? For instance, if AA doesn't give for O class, LAN marketing the ticket can't make them. But it can be complicated...

The AA/USair differences will eventually be resolved as they meld together, no? So may depend when you plan to fly. All my USAir flights have shown up promptly in my LAN account, plus bonuses, no problem, but were in K.

miikkak

I have always received miles based on the marketing carrier when flying with oneworld carriers. There are some restrictions like the flight has to operated by oneworld carrier or by subcontractor on wet-lease basis (like Envoy Air for American).

DarrenChannel

I guess for me, the confusion is with LANPASS changing its earning rates on AA, but not US -- and its disregard for an "O" fare on AA, but not on US. Plus, neither AA nor US are downgrading their earning rates on economy class fares: "O" fares on either US or AA still earn 100% mileage with AAdvantage or Dividend Miles. (And Alaska's Mileage Plan for that matter.)

I might just add my Alaska number to this flight, so at least I'm guaranteed to earn miles. (For the moment, the next higher class fare on the flights I'm looking at bumps up the price by $150.)

krzysz

I have always earned 100% kms in the O class on AA (flights between Europe and the US and between the US and South America) regardless of what the LAN website says.

On LanPass the earnings depend on the marketing airline, not the metal. In this way LanPass is different than *Alliance programs (e.g. EuroBonus or Miles & More). For instance, last year I earned 100% kms on a LAN flight from LIM to MIA that was booked as an AA flight, booking class O.

IanWorthington

plus BONUSES?? You seeing bonuses paid on US flights now?

bingocallerb22

.2015/01/xx.LANPASS_PARTNER_NAME_US Ottawa .Philadelphia 800.
.2015/01/xx.LANPASS_PARTNER_NAME_US .Philadelphia .Miami 1.637.
.2015/01/xx LANPASS_PARTNER_NAME_US 1.637.
.2015/01/xx LANPASS_PARTNER_NAME_US 800.

IanWorthington

Cool. Looks like we can safely add US to the airlines we fly.

bingocallerb22

Even better, I remember at the lounge in PHL they took a long time to figure out how to change ff program I wanted. End result, same flights show up in my AAdvantage account too.