tobikosan

Anyone have any experience flying AA metal bought from Iberia and crediting it to AS? In PE. I've flown JAL bought from AA and had it credited but both those are AS partners. Thx

allset2travel

@writetorich,

Thanks for sharing such useful info.

vji

Is there a published MCT for LAX domestic-international? Does it depend on the origin of the inbound flight? I've heard agents say 2 hours, but not sure if there was a shorter one.

williwaw

allset2travel

What's ONLINE & OFFLINE mean?

williwaw

allset2travel

Got it. Thanks

VegasGambler

Premium is not a different class of service. Even with a premium seat, you are still in economy. So there's nothing to leapfrog. Your upgrade chances are the same (*)

With Gold I would not pay extra for a premium seat. You are almost guaranteed to be able to select one for free when your upgrade window opens. The key is to select the seat as SOON as your upgrade window opens -- if you wait around, other people will select your seats, and it's first come first served. There are automatic "upgrades" to premium seats too, but those are flaky at best, and someone whose upgrade window has opened can select it out from under you before the automatic processing happens.

I never failed last year, and I was MVP all year (mostly on flights to/from SFO, but I did also fly to/from SEA and also to/from of PDX). I would just fire up the app at midnight on the day my upgrade window opened and snag my seat.

(*) If you buy a higher fare bucket to get the premium seat for free, you have a better chance at the upgrade. But that's due to the higher fare bucket; it has nothing to do with premium.

VegasGambler

Did AS kill this route for good? I thought it was supposed to start up again in Feb but I'm looking for flights in April and all I see is ridiculous and overpriced connections ("overpriced" = 2-3x the cost of UA on anything other than monday-wednesday -- and about 20% more on Monday- Wednesday)

Is it just that they don't want to compete with UA here? I really don't understand AS. They spend tons of money on marketing and advertising here in SF and then all they do is slash routes.

Flying for Fun

I am flying SFO-PHX March 13th as part of my JL F award. Flying PHX-SFO-JFK On March 14th revenue to finish up my JL F award HKG-NRT-JFK-LAX-PVR award. So yes, AS is flying the route. Perhaps there are determining load factors before extending the route into any beyond April. I flew the route last fall and my SFO-PHX flight departed with 7 empty F seats.

James in Faa'a Tahiti.

I flew AKL-PPT Feb 21st arrived in PPT on Feb 20th.

DrAlex

IIRC this route only runs for spring training - thus it probably ends around the start of April when baseball season starts.

lairdb

emag_eh7

How much is MVPG really worth? I'm MVP currently and will probably earn it for next year, but not MVPG. I have a corporate fasttrack to MVPG that I believe only lasts to the end of this year, but I need to get 10k miles by the end of March. I'll be at a smidge over 5k organically, so I'd likely need to do an MR to BOS (or stop in PDX on the way to JFK maybe) to get it done.

However, I'm not really sure if the benefits of MVPG will be worth the day spent in an airplane + ~$300 for X or closer to $400 for main fare and a (small) chance of an upgrade. As of right now, I'm planning on 2 RT SEA-PIT trips this year, possibly 1 SEA-MCI, and possibly 1 SEA-IND. Otherwise mostly just trips up and down the west coast, mainly to/from FAT where MVP is enough for an F upgrade. Would MVPG get me a much greater shot of upgrades on any of those transcon or mid-con flights I might be doing?

Otherwise, I do value the no change or cancellation fees, but not $400 worth I don't think. I'll also be travelling with a companion on 1, maybe 2 at most of those transcon/mid-con trips that I mentioned, so that isn't a big factor to me either.

Is it worth it in this case?

be_rettSEA

I believe it should become effective upon approval/card activation, or shortly thereafter. Max a few weeks. If you have the physical card and show it at check-in (matching your name and MP# of course), an agent would likely waive the bag fee if it somehow hadn't attached to your account yet to waive it automatically.

Other routes to free bags: traveling in First, being an Alaska resident and joining AS' Club 49 (and travelling to/from Alaska), travel itinerary within the state of Alaska, or being active duty military. My guess is the credit card is your best option. You could also take advantage of gate-checking at boarding for free, but that doesn't help for larger items or if you're traveling with items you can't get through TSA.

williwaw

Its hard to value the complimentary upgrades (ones at the 72 hour mark for MVPG) - this year I've snagged a complimentary upgrade for a companion and I for a flight to Hawaii. You also receive the 4 GGU codes that are great if space is available. Also the extra 50% mileage earn over MVP is nothing to sneeze at. Based on your routing it might be a side benefit more than a direct one if you are already having good luck with MVP.

Edit: Another benefit - no fee cancellations (or low fee if partner) on award travel for your entire party.