kayexalate

Hi there, flying OAK-OGG and then HNL-OAK this fall.

Booked in U class when I had MVP GOLD status last year and got upgraded to 1st class.

I no longer have MVP GOLD status in AS anymore. But I do have platinum status in AA.

My travel companion has MVP GOLD status in AS this year AND platinum status in AA.

We booked separately so are not on the same PNR (long story).

So question is, which program should we accrue miles in.

For me, it seems a no brainer: accruing in AA given I have platinum status will give me 100% bonus miles. If I accrue in AS, no bonus miles

For my companion: seems a wash. 100% bonus miles with either program

If I purchased these tix as "U" but got upgraded to 1st class, I presume I don't get the further 50% bonus for flying first class since it was not purchased in "F" class.

so for me: 100% in AS, 200% in AA
My partner: 200% in AS, 200% in AA.

beckoa

Wirelessly posted (beckoa's PWP wondrousdevice3.0: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9810; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.0.0.583 Mobile Safari/534.11+)

I'd be concerned about changing programs is this may 'reset' your upgrade, as you secured your upgrade with your AS status. And U (upgrade) class yields no bonus nor Boardroom access.

eponymous_coward

Uh, the RDM bonus for MVP status is 50%, not 100%. The RDM bonus for MVP Gold/75K is 100%, similar to AA Platinum.

And yeah, you might lose your upgrade, as the upgrade is supposed to be linked to your AS account.

kayexalate

Oops, meant to Say MVP Gold. Updated that.
There is no lounge/Boardroom at OAK, OGG or HNL that I'm aware of that AS has or has partners with.

But sounds like it might be risky losing my 1st Class upgrade, although I thought the upgrade was tied into what my status was at the time of booking not what program I accrue miles on (although now I wonder)...

johnp012001

You can get your double miles and ride in back, or leave everything as is! I know what I'd do!

baliktad

AS BR members have admittance to the DL SkyClub at HNL. First class tickets, however, do not allow complimentary SC access.

Duckouttahere

With have often AS changes flight times, I would be worried that they would do a sweep of Mileage Plan numbers for the booked reservations, see that you are no longer Gold and drop you back to coach. Then again, if you bought an instant upgradeable fare back when you were Gold, maybe they can't do anything about it since you paid extra money for that. It is certainly a loophole but it does have it's pluses and minuses for both AS and the passenger. I wonder if you had to change your flight if they would honor the no fee change policy since you booked as a Gold or if you would now have to pay any change fee. That would be one benenfit to keeping your MP # in the reservation if there happened to be any changes.

jackal

Nope, it's not. The fact that you are still in F is just a loophole in the system.

Note that it works the other way, too. If you book an instant-upgrade-qualifying fare before you are elite and subsequently become elite and upgradeable space opens up, you will not receive the upgrade. You will need to have the reservation refreshed with your new status to get put on the instant upgrade waitlist. So it's not even so much of a loophole as it is just because AS's system is too dumb to automatically realize when things change and make the appropriate adjustments.

kayexalate

So since my partner is MVP Gold, can we gain access to the DL SkyCLub lounge at HNL?

Neither of us are AS BR members (I don't believe BR membership is a perk of MVP Gold).

jerry a. laska

No. Access to the SkyClub is a benefit of Boardroom membership not elite status.

beckoa

Wirelessly posted (beckoa's PWP wondrousdevice3.0: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9810; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.0.0.583 Mobile Safari/534.11+)

Correct but the agents were more then willing to sell you a day pass for $50 ea (heard others trying to get in) at HNL. Closes too early for BLI 898 though

kayexalate

Just called and spoke to Alaska Airlines to check and rep said changing the FF # to an AA one SHOULD not affect the reservation and my 1st class upgrade (for me and my companion) but I got gunshy and didn't want to risk it, so I just left it as is.

Guess I'll never know!

missydarlin

They are incorrect. While the two aren't necessarily tied by technology...the policy is that to take advantage of your MVP Gold Upgrade, you have to accrue to Mileage Plan.

kayexalate

Maybe at the time of booking only?

missydarlin

No, you are supposed to accrue MP miles for the flight if you want to use your MP benefits.