Originally Posted by
no2chem
Sorry, should have it say AA ticketed, JL operated. No it's not a FD. Yes, it's a cheap fare that almost gets me where I want to be. Yes, I also need the miles. Yes, I am willing to accept some risk if I misconnect. Yes, I put a 3h buffer in case the flight is delayed. This particular flight that I've chosen seems to be on time 90%+ of the time, so it should be okay.
I just want to know what my options are if I misconnect. I know that AA isn't actually obligated to do anything. However, what they are obligated to do is quite different from what they are willing to do, and in my experience, AA is typically pretty flexible, which turns out is why I fly AA in the first place.
So again, I'm wondering not what they have to do, but what they might do if I ask nicely. And as I've said, I'm sure the PVG-LAX flight will have plenty of seats the next day.
And come on, every time I ask these kinds of questions on the AA forum, I get the "you're an idiot" response, when that's just completely unhelpful.. I mean this is FT --- we're all about MR, and taking risks causal travelers would not. ?
For example AwardBee's response is pretty good, I almost forgot about that. Thanks! I'm sure connection times are greater than MCT.
OK, so you bought USA-NRT-CGK//PVG-LAX-USA (with CGK-PVG being the open jaw), and the award segments are on top of that. Got it.
I would say that:
- CX isn't going to reroute you on a TPE-HKG-PVG award if you show up in HKG and it looks like you might miss the PVG-LAX segment. Their job is to get you to PVG. They don't care about your onward flight. The time to reroute your award is not really in the middle of your flights.
- Changing PVG-LAX to, say, NRT-LAX and changing your award to TPE-NRT will probably cost you money right now, no? It's too bad because THAT'S probably the best way to get around connecting in PVG, fixing it now. But it will likely cost change fees or refaring on a cheap fare.
- Your option if you stick to PVG on your return home would be to build in LOTS of connection time if it is unavoidable. An overnight connection might not be too much.
- If you just go ahead with the itinerary as planned and miss the PVG-LAX flight, beg and plead with AA at PVG and/or DM the AA twitter account. Status will help this.
- The connection at CGK is pretty much the same deal, except you'll be dealing with CX and AA. Probably less risk. Worst case scenario, what's a last minute LCC ticket CGK-TPE going to cost?