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BAEC Tier Point Run on American Airlines - a confession

BAEC Tier Point Run on American Airlines - a confession

Old Aug 5, 2012, 2:07 pm
  #1  
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BAEC Tier Point Run on American Airlines - a confession

Here is my confession of a Tier Point Run on American Airlines. I have often read with great interest the stories on the BAEC forum of other people’s derring-do to capture those elusive 210 Tier Points for a 5 hour domestic trip in AA First; but I have also had a degree of bewilderment: are the benefits really worth such an element of sacrifice (be it of time, money or dignity)?

Tier Points (TP) are the method that British Airways uses to decide status within their Executive Club frequent flyer programme. The main incentive seems to be to get 1500 TP in one year, sufficient for Gold status (Emerald in oneworld terms, equivalent to ExecPlat with AA). Some people use the relatively low "cost" of Tier Points with American Airlines to get over the 1500 hurdle. For example a trans continental USA trip may cost under 600, and achieve over 500 TP. For a similar price in Europe one would be lucky to get 160 TP.

Well a near cost-free opportunity arose for me to try out a TP Run. I had a 500 voucher from AA that had to be used on their metal by 31 July. I also had a spare 2 days in Los Angeles, not my favourite city, with a need to get to San Francisco by Saturday evening. So following the experiences posted on this BAEC thread I decided to use it to do a Tier Point run.

Now in my case I don’t actually need the TPs – it’s a complete waste since they can’t be used for anything useful given the amount of travelling I do – but the Avios would be useful. And when I was told that I was to become an FT ambassador there were two things that I thought I would try out – a tier point run, and flying WT and WT+ (which I will get around to one day….).

Making the booking
So back in April I ended up booking the following. AUA is Aruba, the only one of the Dutch Caribbean ABC islands that I’ve not visited before:
20 July: LAX – MIA 0600-1405 AA572 (First: 210 TP, 5855 Avios)
20 July: MIA - AUA 1800-2045 AA1305 (Business: 40 TP, 2549 Avios
21 July: AUA - MIA 0915-1205 AA1036 (Business: 40 TP, 2549Avios)
21 July: MIA - LAX 1535-1750 AA287 (First: 210 TP, 5855 Avios)
21 July: LAX - SFO 2020-2135 AA1798 (First: 60 TP, 1250 Avios)
This gives a total of 560 TP and 18058 Avios for 588.68, using AA's Instant Upgrade fares. Thanks to the voucher, the net cost to me was about 90 including forex charges.

I used the multi-city option on aa.com. I set myself a one hour time limit on searching, however I am a regular AA traveller and there were various aspects of the search that I didn’t need to double check (e.g. presence of 3 class ‘planes). I also wanted to go to somewhere I’ve not been to before, so that ruled out the usual Puerto Rico option. The objective was to get to a notional 1 per TP or thereabouts, since that’s about a third of the cost of doing something similar in Europe. I also used the “one way” menu in AA to find where the cheap sectors sat, before going back to the multi-city menu. When my time limit was up, Aruba seemed my best bet.

Now I wimped out a bit. I wasn’t going to sacrifice my sleep like the hardcore TP runners; and I could also have done an extra leg around Orlando on the way back for an extra 60 TP and another $5 dollars on the fare, but the tight timings would have risked me being diverted on to a 3 class AA plane, with the risk of being placed in business on the trans-continental flight back to California. This was a tip I picked up in the forum, namely the fare is an upgrade to the next class above economy on the ‘plane, so in the event of irrops you may end up nursing both a downgraded seat for 6 hours and a TP stash downgraded from 210 TP to a paltry 40 TP. So I chose this particular TP run based on its relatively safe set of timings.

Journey start
So come the morning of Friday 20 July I found myself at the Hilton LAX. I had printed my boarding cards at the hotel the night before. For the cognoscenti, my timings were:
0400 – wake up, shave, shower, dress, pack (mostly done the night before)
0420 – leave room, get to reception to checkout, then give-up – see below
0430 – jump onto shuttle bus, ring hotel to check-out by phone instead
0440 – arrive LAX Terminal 4, no checked luggage
0447 – clear security
0448 – arrive at Admirals lounge to discover it doesn’t open until 0500! Disaster!
0501 – get into lounge to discover Flagship Lounge doesn’t open until 0515!
0527 – leave lounge, get to Gate 36B for the 0530 deadline for the 0600 flight
So I had 40-50 minutes contingency in this, complete with hotel checkout and AA lounge tragedies. The hotel checkout issue was that there was just one person on duty on the front desk at that hour, who had to handle another guest who wanted something knocked off the bill. There appears to be 87 ways of saying no politely and the Hilton agent was running down the full list, with that sincere smile that only Filipinos seem to manage. So no point getting frustrated, I got on to the shuttle bus to the airport and while travelling to the terminal I used my telephone to checkout instead. No problem at all, and the invoice was emailed to me within a few minutes.

AA572: LAX – MIA 0600-1405 hrs



The LAX-MIA ‘plane left bang of time at 0600, but was some 30 minutes late arriving into Miami due to avoiding bad weather around the Gulf of Mexico, the routing involved a westerly take off, loop back to Santa Ana, straight to El Paso, Texas, northwest to Birmingham, Alabama, then going south via the Florida coastline.

I was in 1F. Thanks to AA’s wretched upgrade programme, First was full, as it always seems to be. It was an elderly 757, so the seats are a throwback to the 1970s, lacking decent lower back support, albeit very wide. But it was a reminder just how comfortable BA’s seats are – even on shorthaul - compared to some other airlines. Breakfast was a quesadilla, which was actually great – with a scrambled egg, cheese and peppers filling, and a black bean and sweetcorn side salad, and a slow burning salsa verde. The tray came with a warm bagel with cream cheese and a small bowl of sliced melon and strawberries. Very good and just perfect for the time of day. AA’s Java City coffee knocks the socks of BA’s offering, which isn’t difficult. More friendly than average cabin crew. Central CRT screen IFE, only DC power, and the thing I really, really miss: no moving map.



Lounge in MIA
The advertised departure gate of the Aruba ‘plane was E9, which suggested the best lounge to use was that of the oneworld “Premium Lounge” on the E concourse, used by our very own airline. It was an unusual experience, clearly better than the two Admiral lounges that are at each end of Miami airport and there is no longer a Flagship lounge in MIA. It’s quite large with a lot of encloves and hidey holes, with differing seat types available. Not overly blessed with power sockets but it certainly did the job. I took a lunch of spicy tortilla soup, tuna salad and cheesecake, all of which are available without charge. This puts this lounge above the Admiral lounges, to my mind, and since there is free access between D and E terminals I am not sure why anyone with the time would need to use the Admiral lounges – particularly the rather cramped Admiral’s lounge at D15. And I got today’s copy of The Times! This lounge only opens from 1300 hrs onwards.

AA1305: MIA - AUA 1800-2045



Another on time take off from an uncongested MIA. And another elderly 757 with me in 1F. But oh, what a different sort of travelling passenger. This was emphatically a holiday flight, with absolutely everyone onboard in bucket and spade mode. Thank heavens for Shure earphones. The seat was no more comfortable than the previous flight but the shorter flight made it more bearable. The choice for supper was between chicken and pasta, I went for the pasta, which was both filling and tasty. There was also a coffee cheesecake and side salad. In the end I left about half the pasta and dessert.

Aruba
My first visit to Aruba, though I have been to both Bonaire and Curacao, the other 2 mini-states that form the Dutch Caribbean colonies known as the ABC islands. I have to say, after several weeks of solid Americana, my heart did lift somewhat when I saw the Dutch flags flying everywhere, and indeed a picture of their Queen at the Reina Beatrix Airport. I spoke in Dutch to the immigration and customs staff, who seemed pleased to hear it, well they giggled. Dutch passport holders have their very own fast track queue in Aruba Airport (which is more than they have at Schiphol). But to be honest it is otherwise a more American place than the other 2 islands, though perhaps less so than the other NL colony of St Maarten.

I stayed at the Holiday Inn using points, so it only cost me the taxi fare there, $25. This is the highest taxi fare in Aruba, if I stayed in Oranjestad, the, er, capital, it would have been quicker and cheaper, though it only took 15 minutes to get to the hotel . To be honest I don’t think I would have been happy to pay money to stay at the Holiday Inn. The staff were excellent and friendly, as everyone seemed to be there, but they gave me a fairly dreadful room with endless snags in it, such as no working lights and eccentric air conditioning. But it was just for one short night so it wasn’t worth getting het up about it, the bed was comfortable and I slept well. It also had fast access to the seashore, so I got a nice walk along Palm Beach early the next morning. The Holiday Inn is part of a complex of branded hotels known as Hi Rise hotels, at the top end of the beach, as opposed to a set of local hotels at the town end, known as Lo Rise hotels.

Departure from Aruba – a small drama

I had read on FlyerTalk that I should allow 3 hours to depart Aruba airport, which would entail arriving at 0615 for a 0915 departure. I found that extraordinary, it’s a small and very modern airport, but indeed on the AA website Aruba is listed as needing extra time for check-in. The reason being that there is US pre-clearance at the airport, allowing you to arrive into Miami as a domestic passenger. Anyone who transits Miami regularly will know what a huge advantage that is, and of course a boon to Tier Point runners. But it means the sequence is: Aruba Airport security, Aurba emigration, TSA security (which of course duplicates the first step), USA immigration. As it happens I am quite sure I could have cleared all of that in well under an hour, travelling with handluggage only.


However….
I woke up early anyway, pottered around for a bit, and mindful of the advice I thought I would leave the hotel at 0645. The taxi driver got me to the airport before 7 am. As I assembled my bags in preparation to walk into the airport building, I immediately worked out that I had left my passport on the seat in the taxi!!!! Now this is extraordinary for me to do this, basically this happens to “other people”, and in umpteen years of hardcore travelling I’ve never, ever done anything remotely so silly. The taxi was still in sight when I discovered what had happened, but I realised that waving my arms was going to be futile as the driver sped off into the distance.

Now I recalled that when that the young taxi driver was about to leave the hotel to take me to the airport, he made a call on his mobile ‘phone, in the local language of Papiamento, and I heard him start the call “Yo X acqui”, so I assumed that X was his name. So I walked over to another taxi waiting at the airport, I explained to the driver that I had left my passport in the taxi of one of his colleagues, and that I thought his name was Mr. X. The older driver looked at me with incredulity and asked me to repeat what I had just said, which I did. By this time this taxi driver was laughing his head off, his whole body shaking in mirth, and tears beginning to run down his cheeks. It took a while for him to explain that this was in fact his nickname and it was somewhat lewd. I will spare the gentle souls of FlyerTalk the exact details but it was quite impressive. The older driver then tried to find the younger driver’s number, which was difficult due to the fact he was still laughing so much, so in the end I had to manipulate his phone for him.

Mr X duly arrived with my passport 10 minutes later, with the older driver greeting him loudly as “Mr X, Mr X, how are you today?”. After presenting a hefty tip I beat a hasty retreat into the terminal building, cleared the US preclearance quickly and efficiently, and dashed into a fairly basic Priority Pass lounge with well over an hour to spare.



AA1036: AUA - MIA 0915-1205


We left on the same 757 ‘plane that we arrived on, with the same crew, who did think it a bit odd that I had spent only a brief time in Aruba. I was also back in the same seat as outbound, 1F, and again Business was filled with ExPlat upgrades. Another quite reasonable breakfast of omelette and sliced beef.



The flight was a little late in leaving (which wasn’t explained) but got into Miami 10 minutes ahead of schedule. We arrived at D33, my next flight was from D40, which is close by, and the better of the two MIA Admiral lounges is very handily at D37. Thanks to the breakfast on board I really did not need further sustenance.

AA287: MIA - LAX 1535-1750



A change of aircraft, this was a 767-300 [corrected, my original version incorrectly said 767-200]. I was in seat 2J, which is the front row of the First cabin. The footwell stretches under the bulkhead and it benefits from both modern seating and Samsung tablet inflight entertainment (though I chose to decline this option). Supper was a choice between stuffed breast of chicken or four cheese ravioli, I went for the pasta. There was also a shrimp and noodle cold starter. It was a more comfortable experience than the 757 service, and time flew quite quickly. Indeed we arrived into LAX a little early…





AA2455: LAX – SFO 1750-1910


As soon as I got off the Miami flight I looked at the screens and realised that there was a late running service to SFO which would get me into SFO a couple of hours earlier than my booked flight. So I went to the gate agent and he put me on standby for this service. In the end I got gazumped for a First seat due to an ExPlat AA cardholder pitching up at the very last moment. I was offered an Economy seat or I could stay on my later flight on AA1798. I decided that time meant more to me than the 40 TP that would be sacrificed, and I was given an entire Economy row to myself instead (seat 9A) on the 737-800. It’s a 35 minute flight but they did manage a drinks round somehow. In the end I was credited with the full Tier Points, since according to BAEC I flew F/F – it did show the revised flight number and was not delayed in getting posted to my account.

Conclusion
I did actually enjoy it. In hindsight I should have spent another night in Aruba, just to see the place a bit more. I am not sure I would have needed more than that, it was a bit of a one horse town. It was odd not eating or drinking anything apart from airline fare for 2 days and 5 flights. I was careful not to sleep onboard to avoid jetlag - given a heavy travel schedule before and after this TP run - and it didn’t feel a tiring experience at all. But if you enjoy flying, well, why not?

General points
  • I didn’t have any checked in luggage. I guess it would have been perfectly possible to do it with checked luggage, but I would not have been able to swap the SFO flight.
  • I found that I was completely fed and watered by AA from start to finish. I didn’t need to eat in Aruba at all, I simply wasn’t hungry.
  • The availability of USA pre-clearance at Aruba was both helpful and the officers were incredibly polite, but it’s not available to all parts of that area. For example it is available in Bermuda and the Bahamas, but not Grand Cayman.
  • If you print your own boarding pass from aa.com your status will be missing, though the BAEC number is there. On AA’s self service kiosks there is a tiny “EMD” on the printout. Whereas if you get it from a gate agent the word “EMERALD” is splashed over 3 locations on the boarding card. This kind of boarding card makes it easier for the lounge agents, who cannot easily spot your eligibility for the Flagship lounge or drinks tokens.
  • The Admiral lounges are very basic by European standards, whereas Flagship lounges – known generally as the First Class lounge – is fairly close to Flounge levels, particularly at JFK. You can eat properly in a Flagship lounge – hot breakfast options, sushi for supper, whereas in an Admiral lounge it’s pretzels, apples and biscuits, unless you pay up.
  • On the other hand the Admirals club in SFO is very pleasant, as is the rest of the airport. In fact SFO is excellent, with jazz music playing by the TSA passenger search area. Ok, a bit of a lipstick on the proverbial pig, but it lifts the spirits. So if I had to do it again then I’d probably try to fix it that SFO featured more heavily in the itinerary.
  • Be careful of the passenger information screens with American. They seem to be automatically programmed to do things at particular times, irrespective of what happens at the gate. So if a flight is delayed an hour, it will automatically show boarding as starting 30 minutes before the revised timing, when in reality boarding may be completed, and the flight closed off, before that time. If you are sitting in an Admirals lounge at the time, this could prove troublesome.
  • One cautionary note: a few days after going to Aruba I went on to Bermuda. This wasn’t a TP run, there was a good reason for me to go there. However HM Immigration at Bermuda Airport picked up on my very short visit to Aruba and found the reason I gave for visiting for less than 12 hours “unbelievable”. I had a folder to back up my reasons , with every piece of paper carefully filed, including BAEC statements, hotel bills, boarding passes, copy of immigration cards – this seemed to make them even more suspicious. I was questioned over a 2 hour period by 3 immigration and HM Customs officers and my bags searched. They were looking for documentation, not drugs or money (my wallet and a big bag of unwashed clothes were given the most cursory of glances) – but they photocopied almost every piece of paperwork I had on me, apart from my notebook. I lip read the immigration officers complaining in the back office that my handwriting was impossible to read (this is very true) and so it wouldn’t make sense to photocopy 200 pages of notes. They also debated among themselves whether they needed a “warrant” for me to be strip searched. In the end I wasn’t, and they let me in to Bermuda. The officers and I were calm and polite throughout, there were no raised voices, but it was an unsettling experience to say the least. I was given no explanation or apology, but they looked very disappointed to let me go. My perception was that the officers did not believe my explanation of TP runs, were over-zealous in their pursuit of the finding out “the real reason” for visiting Aruba, and got completely trapped into trying to find holes in my account. The more bullet proof the documentation, the more suspicious they got. Two minutes before I was released, someone checked my LinkedIn profile. I was travelling on a UK passport to a UK overseas territory. When I got to the hotel there was a fairly obvious plain clothed police officer hanging around the reception area.
  • The TP and Avios cleared through to BAEC 2 or 3 days after travel.

Thank you for reading this.

Last edited by corporate-wage-slave; Aug 7, 2012 at 7:21 am Reason: typos
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Old Aug 5, 2012, 2:20 pm
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Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
Thank you for reading this.
A pleasure. Thanks for posting. ^
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Old Aug 5, 2012, 2:37 pm
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Thanks for sharing. Lots of useful info in there (I might need to do a TP early next year).
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Old Aug 5, 2012, 2:41 pm
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Thank you for a thorough and useful TR. Your Bermuda experience sounds rather unsettling -- let's hope it doesn't throw a cloud on future travels.

Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
If you print your own boarding pass from aa.com your status will be missing, though he BAEC number is there.
This is definitely a YMMV situation. I printed AA boarding passes last week, for flights (in Y) that i credited to BAEC, and my Sapphire status was highly visible.
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Old Aug 5, 2012, 3:38 pm
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A fascinating insight to the workings of a supremely experienced traveller. Many thanks indeed for sharing ^
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Old Aug 5, 2012, 3:44 pm
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Thanks for such a well written and informative report. I will be doing a TP run as soon as funds allow, as currently all my flying is with points and miles, which obviously gets me no status!
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Old Aug 5, 2012, 6:27 pm
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Great TR indeed... ^
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Old Aug 5, 2012, 7:58 pm
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Nice done and extremely helpful! Thank you.
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Old Aug 6, 2012, 6:49 am
  #9  
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That's a really helpful reports, thanks for sharing.
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Old Aug 6, 2012, 2:07 pm
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Very nicely done ^
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Old Aug 7, 2012, 1:15 am
  #11  
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It is enjoyable to read a BA pax's views on AA. I'm an American and have held AA exp and BA gold cards at different times in the past five years. The offerings are really quite different between the carriers; I'm pretty partial to BA over AA.

Two small points to note.

1) Your aa287 flight was on a 767-300, which is a very different offering than an AA 767-200.
2) The AA FS lounge is by far the nicest AC in the system. The terminal that it is in is the newest major air terminal in the US at present. That terminal is not indicative of the experience in certain other of the terminals at SFO.

Thanks for sharing.
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Old Aug 7, 2012, 10:03 am
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Nice TR CWS- I probably should have done something like this- my points are being cleared tomorrow, I'm 500 off Gold
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Old Aug 7, 2012, 10:56 am
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Great report... Please feel free to PM me with what the taxi drivers nick name was...

I have SFO-LAX-LAS-MIA-SAL and back in a couple of months, quite looking forward to it!
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Old Aug 7, 2012, 12:56 pm
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Nice trip report CWS, I have a similar tier run coming up in a few weeks. Always good to see what might await.
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Old Aug 7, 2012, 4:15 pm
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Thank you for all the very kind words above, much appreciated.

Athlete95 - yes it is somewhat tragic when the great zero day arrives, the minus figures show up on the account and you're back to square one. But life continues!

NYBanker - you are quite right, it was a 767-300, and unfortunately I can tell the difference! I've amended the original version to reflect that.
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