fatmac70

Or are BA about to change the requirement for its's memebrs that to upgrade to CW from WT+ you need to have paid full fare.

kebosabi

Just realized: are award fuel surcharges on BA retroactive? I have a CAI-LHR-YVR award booked on BA as part of my upcoming OW trip in November that I booked way back in January.

I'd be angry if I show up at the counter and told "we need more $$$" from you

galaticos

awards can never be booked on codeshares...has to be original flight number..

bernardd

Apparently not.

Translating : MFU == "Miles for Upgrade"; BA Executive Club is the official BA presence.

Note that BAEC members have the same restrictions when using BA miles to upgrade on AA, whereas AA members have more options on their home carrier - the playing field is level.

fatmac70

I have seen that and time will tell and I hope I am wrong.
BA have given a lot away today - I am sure it needs to be paid back somehow.

jfhscott

Those up front likely do not weigh more (although since they are disproportionately men and adult, perhaps they so), but the C and F equipment is certainly heavier than Y.

The whole fuel surcharge mumbo jumbo remains ludicrous, whether practiced by BA, AC or anyone else. It is a cost of operation and should be incorporated into the cost of the ticket, perhaps reserving the right to add a surcharge if crude exceeds some benchmark which reflects recent market conditions (say, perhaps $80/bbl). But adding a "fuel surcharge" to a "free" ticket as a matter of course is pretty lame. What will they do next, decouple every aspect of travel (food, wear and tear on equipment, maintenance) from the "free" ticket, adding it as a surcharge, essentially making only the boarding pass free?

UA Fan

I'm pretty sure they won't, but if it does, it is very unfair.

bernardd

Maybe; who knows.

Overall the two carriers seem to have moved to a system where there IS some form of cross-carrier earn & burn including upgrades but they still favour their own members on their own operated flights. Whether that changes over time remains to be seen.

One thing I think we're not giving enough importance to here is the position for the big corporate customers with deep-discounted, negotiated deals is actually a lot more neutral than it is for small busines & leisure travellers. Since many of the big purchasers have discounted prices based on flexible bucket fares they will be getting a lot more seamless upgrade oportunities than the rest of us. Those folks are going to be the big winners from this.

fatmac70

I agree - I work for one of these customers. I wonder if we will get Net Fares that allow travel on all three airlines. Of so that is a major plus re flexibility.

ijgordon

Not even close. For one, a UA Y/B ticket gets you upgraded to Business Class on your choice of many airlines. With AA, a Y/B ticket allows you to upgrade to Business Class on only AA or Iberia. On BA, to get into business class you need a full fare premium economy ticket (W class), which for something like ORD-LHR is $3500++ (more than some deep discount Business "I" ticket).

I suspected people would not be happy when the FF-related details of this JV were announced. I specifically referenced the screwing-over of NYC DL fliers who want to fly to, say, Paris. DL ceded the route to be operated by AF, so there are no reciprocal upgrades (only with KLM apparently) and there is no "AAnytime" award. It definitely remains to be seen how the network shakes out. Hopefully AA will continue to operate in the big markets.

denCSA

Here's the red herring in the room that I don't see has been pointed out yet, and seals the deal for me to head to *A: Since our eVIPs are not going to be allowed to be used on BA/IB flights, we are going to see a LARGE drop in the number of applicable flights we can use these on.

Think about it, one reason AA/BA/IB are doing the ATI so they can coordinate and shift around the fleet utilization. This means that fewer routes and frequencies that we may prefer to fly on AA may be shifted mostly or ENTIRELY to BA/IB metal, which will completely shut us out from upgrades using eVIPs. Or, in the case of reduced frequencies operated by AA (i.e. JFK - LHR), upgrades will become MUCH more difficult.

Granted, AA's fleet numbers will remain constant and they will distribute to different destinations, but that 'spreading out' effect is not going to be good for upgrade inventory.

There just isn't a point to stay with AA anymore. The combination of higher fares (that will only get higher with the ATI) and reduced upgrades is not going to keep my business. I can get the same benefits, or lack thereof, over at *A but with a VASTLY superior route network.

Thunderroad

You might well be right in every part of your analysis re AA, but don't jump ship quite yet. Let's see how the CO/UA merger plays out. Before that merger, AA was generally better with upgrade and award availability than UA. If both FF programs deteriorate, which one will be better down the line remains to be seen. (I realize, of course, that there are many other *A FF options in addition to UA.)

dstan

The following AA.com links are now live (email received around noon ET):

http://www.aa.com/nowmore

BA/IB Earning: http://www.aa.com/i18n/utility/jba-earn-more-miles.jsp
BA/IB Elite Status Bonus: http://www.aa.com/i18n/AAdvantage/pr...atus/bonus.jsp

BA/IB Upgrades: http://www.aa.com/i18n/AAdvantage/pr...rades/main.jsp
General Upgrades: http://www.aa.com/i18n/utility/jba-u...servations.jsp

kebosabi

True, but UA's miles earn/burn rate for award ticket is worse compared to AA:

UA + *A from NA to EU; with no one-way award possible using *A carriers:
E: 55k RT
B: 105k RT
F: 135k RT

AA+AS+OW from NA to EU; allows one-way award using AS & OW carriers as well:
Y: 20/30 one-way/depends on off-peakor peak season
C: 50k one-way
F: 62.5k one-way


Overall, I think AA still has the upper advantage if they market this fact more clearly. One can do one-way LAX-YVR-LHR using AA partner AS and BA on the inbound with a free stopover at YVR for 20k miles, and on the return can fly BRU-ORD-LAX one-way for 20k all on AA with a free stopover at ORD; total of only 40k miles. Can't do that with UA.

worldwidedreamer

Why doesn't AA offer AC members reciprocal lounge access at BA/IB? UA and DL manage this to varying extent with their transatlantic partners; I wish AA would do the same.