ckpeter

Currently, I see that AA arrivals into NRT are timed for departure for onward connections to Southeast Asia, how will the post-JVB setup be different from the current situation?

Can you give some examples of that? Will it be tighter connection time?

kebosabi

Actually they are timed out of spite instead of true planning. If you notice all the NRT arrivals/departures to/from US and Canada, they're all within the slots of 1300-1700 due to slot restrictions.

Even though JL has a lot more flights in the morning to much more destinations, AA can't codeshare with JL on these flights because AA arrives too late in NRT and neither AA or JL can't do nothing about it.

List of AA arrivals into NRT shows the true AA metal flight from DFW is the first one in at 1300
http://www.narita-airport.jp/cgi-bin...rr&air_code=AA

versus all the JAL dpartures out of NRT earlier in the morning:
http://www.narita-airport.jp/cgi-bin...ep&air_code=JL

joejones

I thought those time slots had more to do with time zones and NRT's operating hours than anything else. The US carriers want to turn planes around before NRT closes, and the Japanese carriers want to get the planes out early so they have time to get back before NRT closes.

kebosabi

Not necessary true; AA does keep some planes overnight at NRT for AA 176. I've seen two AA 777s parked at NRT everytime I fly into NRT from ICN at 1030AM. Since there are no AA flights into NRT at that time and the earliest NRT-DFW AA 176 flight departs at 1130AM, at least one AA metal must be at NRT overnight.

KSinNYC

Hi, OP here again.

The reason I asked this question in the first place is that I was trying to change an award ticket from SFO-DFW-NRT to a non-stop SFO-NRT. I was unable to accomplish this without being hit with a $150 fee. Apparently, according to the smart folks on FT, this is technically correct, but nobody could actually point me to a URL showing how an average person would know this. It seems like you need to patch together little bits of rules and logic here and there.

I'm not familiar with the turn this thread has taken (ATI?) but I find it interesting that the SFO-NRT route seems to be in a bit of transition at the moment.

If somebody has any suggestions of how I might use this transition/ uncertainty to help frame my request to AA to get my $150 back, I would be appreciative. {please, let's save space... no need to post things like "can't be done" "you should follow the rules" or similar... that's already been covered elsewhere} Feel free to post here or to PM me if you prefer.

Thank you. -- ks

i_fly_AA

Well, let's see. You either book an award ticket on aa.com or on the phone. When you book it online, there is a clearly marked link on the passenger information page that says "changes to your award ticket may incur additional charges." When you click on that, it clearly tells you that there is a $150 change fee. Here is the link:

https://www.aa.com/i18n/AAdvantage/p...sOrTickets.jsp

When you're booking by phone, the agent will tell you at the end of the process that changes to your reservation may or will incur fees. So I'm not really sure why you think that AA is hiding this from you and that you're entitled to a free change.

kebosabi

Is there any particular reason why you need a direct SFO-NRT non-stop over SFO-DFW-NRT other than the convenience of flying non-stop?

Or is this about avoiding the hassle of connecting at DFW? If this is the one that's bothering you, you could always change the date/time of the SFO-DFW segment if its available without incurring $150 fee.

buschoi

The transition is on the SFO-NRT/HND route. Your ticketed route is not affected.

You can change your date and time of flights for free, but you have to keep the same origin/destination, same carrier(s), and same routing. If you upfare from Y->C or C->F, you can normally change the whole itin for free with the $150 re-depositing fee waived, given the origin/destination remain the same. If your ticketed flights have a significant change in schedule, you can also change your itin for free.

There used to be a very useful thread discussing all of these rules especially for the All-Partner award. Unfortunately it has not been updated, but you still can get a general idea of how things work. The rules are not posted anywhere on AA's website, so this thread is the best we have (besides some AA experts here.)

AA and All-Partner award travel stopover/transit rules *REVISED w/ ROUTING rules*

FoothillFlyer

Every day we had at least one 14,000 pound pallet of local produce. And plenty of inbound freight as well.

KSinNYC

Well, let's see. I'd like to point out that comments like this were specifically not requested, but I guess it's easy to overlook something, huh?...

But anyway... since you asked... As I posted elsewhere I spoke with two agents before booking this ticket to ask whether the particular change I wanted would incur fees and the answer was no.

Thanks for jumping in, but right now I'm looking for thoughts about how to potentially solve a problem, not a discussion about whether the problem is right, wrong, or something else.

KSinNYC

Just wanted to answer your questions.

Kebosabi, yes, I'd like to change the ticket to avoid a long layover in DFW. AA has 2 DFW-NRT flights - 10:05 am and 12:05 pm. My ticket was for the 12:05. But that's not the long part. There is only 1 same day flight SFO-DFW that can make either connection. It leaves SFO at 12:25 am, arrives in DFW at 5:35 am. So, SFO-DFW-NRT is 16.5 hours of flight time, plus either a 4.5 or 6.5 hour layover. Compare that to a 9 hour non-stop. There is a 1 LAX-NRT flight, but no availability based on multiple calls and an EF alert. A Chicago connection is the same as a DFW connection, time-wise.

Buschoi, thank you for your reply. I couldn't find anything on aa.com either when I looked before booking the flight in June.

videomaker

Call me confused.

Your original post...

appears to bear little or no resemblance to your actual question, which we finally find in post #50:

IMO, you'd receive a lot more helpful, on-point advice from FT members by getting to the real question in the first post. A descriptive thread title would help, too.

There's an ongoing discussion of redeposit fees here, maybe you'll find that helpful.

Help with fee to redeposit miles when cancelling an award flight

KSinNYC

Hi. I did ask the question in another post:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-aa-jal-2.html

I believe this title was fairly descriptive.

I received helpful information from the FT community, and based on some posts in that thread, I got the sense that the rules are not clear unless you cobble some different rules together.

I plan to write a letter to AA. One thing I want to say in my letter is that the rules require some figuring out - they certainly aren't slam dunk clear. Another thing I want to say is that there was actually no way to get from my routing to a non-stop routing without a fee, hence when two agents suggested otherwise, AA was wrong. I wanted to make sure that my assertation was correct before sending my letter. Hence this post.

I got the information I needed in the first few posts and considered this thread done, figuring it would trickle away like most others. Imagine my surprise to see an in-depth discussion of route changes! Being an FTer, I read the 40+ posts, thought "gee this is a creative bunch of folks, maybe they can use this information to help me think through my problem."

I certainly didn't expect to sow such great confusion in your mind.

Hope it's clear now.

-- ks

PS. Just read the entire thread you included. It starts in 2009, and quotes aa.com.uk, but nevertheless... there are some recent posts too. However, it just seems to confirm what I was saying - a customer has to figure out the difference between "changing a flight" and "redepositing miles and reissuing the ticket." I'd say that's a fine distinction for non-FT folks. Thanks for helping me make my point.

videomaker

OK, guess I wasn't clear on that since it was spread out over different thread. And some threads never seem to die...

Anyway, this is a helpful bunch here so hope all your questions are answered.

mvoight

It's does get a little old hearing about AA leaving SJC because rates went up.
Other airlines are adding flights. HA picked up the old SJC-HNL route a long time ago. AS picked up SJC-AUS, and WN is starting (has started) that route soon. AA decided to cutback on the west coast, when others have expanded.