Apieinthesky

Nope, it's $75, IIRC. Same day standby is free for all elites though.

nwflyboy

AA Newbie here (but fairly experienced on other programs/carriers).

I'm about to pull the trigger on some flights I need to book for this coming fall (September/October 2013). It's kind of a complex mix (details below). Because of the complexity - and because I want to make sure there are no surprises - I'm thinking my best bet is to make the call to AA and spoon-feed them the details, and have them enter everything. I assume they will ding me a few bucks to speak with a live human and make the bookings (I always assume that nowadays). And I suspect the agent I get may be less informed about some aspects of what I'm trying to accomplish than I am. So my expectations are already lowered - but wanted to get a sense from the AA cognoscenti if my plan (to call) is wise or not.

Here's what I'm looking at...

Me and Mrs nwflyboy are off to Australia for a few weeks in the fall (our fall, their spring). We already have very nice flights booked from the US to Australia and back, with a stop in Thailand on the way home (in C, all booked using United miles). Those flights are all set, and will not be moving.

Now I'm looking to nail down my domestic flights within Australia. There are 3 flights we need to book. We want to use AA miles (and some AA credits) to book these flights on Qantas.

2 of the 3 flights have good award availability. I think that's a pretty straightforward booking. One flight on Qantas will need to be paid. I'm OK with that. I have $200 in AA gift cards (bought on my new Amex Plat card, and I've already been reimbursed for that ^ ). I also have $100 in statement credit from a recently acquired citi Amex card. That $300 in credit should just about cover one of the two paid tickets. Mrs nwflyboy may also have $100 in statement credit from her AA citi card that she can use.

We will be going scuba diving there, so we'll be lugging along some dive gear. The Qantas flights include 1 piece of checked luggage, but we will also want to purchase a second checked bag each.

Last little wrinkle: the paid flight is on a Qantas subsidiary ("Sunstate Airlines"), but their flights are listed as Qantas (QF) flights, and are bookable via American (at least they appear bookable when I search AA.com). This should not be an issue but it's a smaller airline that a clueless agent might not have heard of.

In order to fully utilize all of the various credits we have, and book 2 of the 3 legs using AA miles, we need to book all this stuff through American. We would also like to have our paid and award tickets "linked" (to the extent they can be), so if something goes sideways the tickets/seats/PNRs are managed together.

OK, so we have a bit of a stew here. I have gone online and determined that the award seats are available for the 2 legs, and have found available seats at a reasonable price for the 3rd leg. I've found what Qantas' policy and price is for buying a 2nd checked bag. I have the miles we need to book, plus all the various the credits we will need to apply to the paid ticket. I have the flight details, etc.

I could do most of this stuff myself online (not sure about successfully paying for the 2nd bag on 2 award flights + 1 paid flight), but I want to ensure nothing falls on the floor as it's stitched together.

I'm OK with paying a nominal live-human booking fee (exactly what should I expect for that?). Can anyone suggest the best hour of the day/day of the week for me (with no status) to reach a reasonably competent and helpful agent to book this? Any other suggestions for smoothing the transaction? I will have all pertinent details ready to go and will spoon-feed the agent each detail in turn.

Suggestions? Thanks!

tom911

Are you going to have to buy the AA codeshare to use the AA gift card (I don't know the answer as I have not tried to book partner travel with a gift card), or can you book the Qantas flight number?

Are you sure you're getting the best price for the Qantas flights on the AA website? I've always booked my travel within Australia on the Qantas website when I didn't do award travel, and the prices have always been better there, particularly if it's one of their red hot deals.

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

Short-distance QF award flights will generally cost less with BA Avios than with AAdvantage miles. Any Avios (or Chase UR points or Amex MR points to convert to Avios)?

Happy

I am not sure the AA gift card can be used to pay for the QF flight number unless it is an AA code-share (doubt it).

However it does not hurt to try booking this online and see if the website allows gift card payment.

As for the statement credit, I dont understand what OP means.

The statement credit is just that, a credit showing up on your card that can offset any charges made on the card.

Essentially I guess OP means his QF flights if purchased with an AA card, the cost would be offset by the statement credit on the AA cards.

Otherwise I dont know HOW he would be able to use the statement credit to purchase a flight. Statement credit does not work this way.

Also may be JDiver can chime in, whether checked in dive gear is a good idea. Personally I would not check in the regulator or the gauge.

nwflyboy

Thanks for the input so far. Some more info/clarifications...

Don't know.

Price looks about the same (Qantas quotes in Australian dollars, I believe).

Nah, I don't do Avios. The QF award flights seem quite a bargain to me (considering the distances covered and the small # of AA miles).

Hmm. I had assumed that if I was buying a ticket from AA I could. Hmm.

Maybe I will give the website a try.

That is indeed the plan. When pricing the purchase on the website I was surprised to see my $100 statement credit displayed below the costs - I was logged in at the time, and it appears they do a lookup to see if you have a credit, then list it right there.

Some gear, sure, but not everything. The fragile stuff (reg, dive computer, camera, etc.) all goes in my carry-on. I've flown around the planet before schlepping dive gear and know the drill.

Given the questions about paying for the QF flight, maybe I should try it on the website initially. My primary concern is making sure I pre-purchase the extra bag fees successfully; getting everything linked is a secondary concern.

Are these things relatively simple to add on after the ticket is booked?

Thanks again for the input.

swag

Standard AA gift cards can be used on oneworld partners, but not for flights outside the US. Unless the card you got from AmEx has different terms, you may be out of luck. It's worth a try to see if it's accepted, but prepare for the chance that it won't be.

https://giftcards.aa.com/terms.jsp

kauppias

Still hoping for some inside knowledge here reagarding a trip with a 9 hour layover. Is it possible to check a second bag at DFW while enroute to FRA as long as check in is open? I am flying GIG-DFW-FRA and would like to do dome shopping while in DFW area I know with star alliance its possible but what about AA? Its all AA metal and AA ticket. Any first hand knowledge is greatly appreciated

BrewerSEA

Yes, I have done this numerous times on AA and other carriers when picking up liquids at duty free or during a layover.

kauppias

Great thank you!!

blondietink

Another newbie question from me.

Booked 4 flights from CLE to HNL roundtrip today using my spg points for September! (Bummer, was that BUF and ROC points had gone way up, so we have to drive to CLE). Could not believe how many seats were already taken on both flights, and it is still more than 6 months out. Anyway, I opened AAdvantage accounts for everybody before I booked.

How would I go about looking for an upgrade? Is it possible when I booked using spg points? Would I be able to pay cash for the upgrade if one was available?

MMSB01

I have never booked an AA award via Asia or with an International Gateway stopover, so I thought I would ask if this is possible (or makes sense).

I found availability for CX F HKG > SFO | SFO > LAX > MIA (on AA in F)

I can't at the moment figure how to check if there is a published MPM for HKG to MIA, and if there is, how much it can be exceeded by.

The goal here was just to take advantage of the free leg on a route that AA offers 3 cabin service. MIA seemed about as far as we could go, so it seemed like a decent first choice. Can anyone help me Identify what routes are actually possible to add to a HKG > SFO booking?

Thanks!

JJeffrey

Well if your goal is to get on AA 3-class F for a transcon then that's easy, JFK and MIA are your only options from the west coast. LAX-MIA is your best bet, as you've got, since you can find 777 service.

If the fare rules allow it, you might be able to add on a flight from MIA-Caribbean if that's of any interest.

JJeffrey

It appears that under most circumstances air tickets booked using the new-ish spg flights book into normal, mileage earning fare classes. What is the fare basis of your tickets?

Assuming its a 'normal' ticket, you should have 2 main options for upgrades. The first is pay 15k miles and $175 per ticket, each way. For this you need upgrade availability. The second is call AA and pay the fare difference up to F.

If there are still unsold seats in F on your day of departure, there's a small chance that an upgrade will be offered for sale via the airport kiosks when you check in.

blondietink

I was told these were normal coach tickets and I would earn miles on the tickets. I will check the flight seating plans to see if there are any business class available.