Equipment Changes 738 and S80
Jun 11, 12, 10:41 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: New York City
Programs: AAdvantage, Mileage Plus, Skymiles
Posts: 33
Equipment Changes 738 and S80
Anyone else notice their aircraft type change as reservations near? Booked a few flights all on 738 and as I look at my reservations, they've all changed to S80. Is this normal? Is this a supply/demand thing for AA?
Jun 11, 12, 10:48 am
#2
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: NTTB
Programs: UA 1K, Marriott Plat
Posts: 4,635
Happened often during April tornado and subsequent a/c checks that were required. Other times, it is a rare occurrence.
Jun 11, 12, 12:10 pm
#3
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: LAX
Posts: 6,768
I have had equipment changes happen to me in the past. Sometimes they're for the better, other times worse. The best swap was once I was booked on an S80 and it turned into a 777. The F suites were nice to be in for a mid-con. 
AA doesn't guarantee equipment with your contract, so while you do the right thing to select 737s, you can't really complain if they swap it out towards the end.
It's a scheduling thing, and supply/demand.
AA doesn't guarantee equipment with your contract, so while you do the right thing to select 737s, you can't really complain if they swap it out towards the end.
It's a scheduling thing, and supply/demand.
Jun 12, 12, 7:02 pm
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,133
Originally Posted by FlyMeToTheLooneyBin
AA doesn't guarantee equipment with your contract, so while you do the right thing to select 737s, you can't really complain if they swap it out towards the end.
They do adjust our seats (often forgetting we chose exit rows), so someone or something somewhere is quite aware that it's hapanning to us, it's just that we aren't unless we happen to keep checking our itenerary incessantly.
Jun 12, 12, 7:12 pm
#5
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Bay Area
Programs: WN A-List, AA good-riddance, Safeway Club Card Extraordinaire
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Originally Posted by kod92
Anyone else notice their aircraft type change as reservations near? Booked a few flights all on 738 and as I look at my reservations, they've all changed to S80. Is this normal? Is this a supply/demand thing for AA?
Jun 12, 12, 7:39 pm
#6
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: LAX
Posts: 6,768
Originally Posted by sdsearch
Ok, but how about complaining that they don't notify us when this happens (to an already-booked itenerary)?
They do adjust our seats (often forgetting we chose exit rows), so someone or something somewhere is quite aware that it's hapanning to us, it's just that we aren't unless we happen to keep checking our itenerary incessantly.
They do adjust our seats (often forgetting we chose exit rows), so someone or something somewhere is quite aware that it's hapanning to us, it's just that we aren't unless we happen to keep checking our itenerary incessantly.
Yes, they do this. Fortunately for me, the one time this happened, our equipment swapped to a 777 and I wasn't about to complain that they didn't tell me about it. I handed over my BP, and it buzzed because I just got to the gate with my old BP and didn't get my new seat. But, I can complain anyway, because 4J was too near the galley and the light from the galley is blinding when fully reclined!
Jun 13, 12, 7:46 pm
#7
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: DCA
Programs: AA EXP 1MM, UA GS, AMEX PLAT, SPG Gold, HHonors Diamond, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 184
AA swapped both the 7/18 12:05am and 1:10am departures from LAX to DFW from 738/757 to S80's. needless to say I was already dreading the redeye flights, and now I'm dreading it even more.
Jun 13, 12, 7:52 pm
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,133
Originally Posted by Science Goy
I noticed this when booking two trips today - for 10 LAX-DFW flights on August 9 between about 11am-7pm, there's a whole hodgepodge of aircraft scheduled (mostly 737s, only one S80). For 10 flights on August 27 in the same approximate time period, it's 100% S80s. Seems like a pretty radical change.
The S80s use fuel worse, but that's less signficant when oil is cheaper, more signficant when oil is more expensive. Could it be that AA moves S80s more to shorter flights when oil price goes up, but moves some of them back to longer flights when oil price goes down?
And/or:
Could they be taking some older 737s out of service temporarily (more at a time) to refurbish to the newer seats (going on for a while now, but taking forever)? And/or could the 737s be the first existing domestic plane type to get MCE, and thus taking some out of service temporarily to do that?
(I just read elsewhere on FT that DL has completed Economy Comfort installation on all mainline planes as of June 7. Just 2 or 3 new longhaul planes is not enough for AA's MCE effort...)
