Apieinthesky

Yes, you may use a day pass to get into the Admirals Club. However, there is no way to buy access to the FL, and flying in domestic First without status won't do it. Here is the entry criteria for FL access.
http://www.aa.com/i18n/travelInforma...hipLounges.jsp

Ceres

Thank you. I was just hoping to get into the FL to see what it was like. I only ever end up in a DL lounge. I decided to switch days on this trip and DL was 700 rt and I got the AA F was just over 900 so I rationalized my way into paying up for the flight. I am good at that... rationalization.

many thanks again for the quick response!

aj23

Flying 3 class intl JFK to LHR on a 77W, and wondering how likely it is for AA to fill up the empty F seats with J passengers. Right now we're the only 2 people seated in F on both flights, wondering the likelihood of having the F cabin to ourselves.

Of course, if a FT'er gets bumped into F you're more then welcome to join us!

brp

Very unlikely. They just don't do that, as a general rule. Now, if they are able to oversell J by a few, the will roll people forward. They do that sort of thing a fair bit. But they will not fill open F seats with J people "just because."

Cheers.

Apieinthesky

Well, as brp says, AA doesn't typically upgrade J pax to F without an operational reason. But there's no reason seats won't be filled by paying pax, pax using instruments to upgrade from J to F, or pax redeeming miles.

You don't say how far out your flight is, but I would suggest looking at your flight on upcoming dates to see what the loads are.

mr27

Hello folks, was hoping for some help on my upcoming travel plans. I will be flying twice
monthly trips between SAN-DFW/DEN and intend to give the Gold/Plat challenge a try.
About 90% of my travel is domestic and mostly short hauls and mid-cons. Already have
status on AS but know it doesntl't help much with irrops or upgrades on AA. Intend to fly
about 30-35k miles on AA this year. Have my sights set on the Gold challenge and figure
that will help with irrops and the occasional upgrade. Will Gold be sufficient or should I
give Plat a try? Thanks in advance for any advice.

swag

I'm GLD, and used to be PLT.

For domestic travel, GLD currently has the same soft day-of benefits as PLT: F or Priority check-in, Priority TSA security, board before group 1, access to preferred Y seats, etc. For irrops, standby, and upgrades, obviously the higher on the list, the better, but it's dependent on the routes you fly as much as on status. I actually have a better upgrade rate as a GLD then I did as a PLT, since now I'm flying leisure routes, when I was PLT I was flying EXP-heavy business routes and times.

PLT does offer free access to TSA Pre-check. GLD doesn't, but you can get in for $100 via global entry - and I recommend that highly for a twice a month traveler. DEN and DFW both participate, SAN doesn't yet.

One other possible difference - PLT has access to Main Cabin Extra seats; GLD has only been promised that until the end of 2013, and may lose it after that. The extra seat pitch can be a big deal for some. But a PLT challenge now only gets you status until Feb '13; if MCE is what pushes you to want PLT, wait until late June to start the challenge to get PLT status thru Feb '14.

Otherwise, I'd say GLD is sufficient, unless the flying you do anyway is enough to get you close to PLT. (The challenge is based on points, not miles, so how close you'll be depends on the fares you pay). If one mileage run would be enough to get you PLT, then that might be money well spent. If it takes more than that, I'd be happy with the GLD.

mr27

Great advice, thanks swag ^. I will stick with Gold then and definitely look into TSA Pre-Check. Most of my fares are deep discounted so by challenging for Plat I know you only
earn 0.5 points therefore fly the 20k miles.

CX828

Which seat is better on the ERJ140/5? 1A or 2A? According to seatguru 1A might have less legroom, but anyone flown this aircraft advise me?

Thank you

italdesign

Hi everyone! Searching for E Saver flights from IND-HNL for January 2014, at the moment there's only one flight. Is it likely more will become available between now and Jan 2014? If so, what's the best strategy for finding the availability?

SFOPhD

Honestly, it's just plain too hard to guess if more will become available or not. No one can predict award availability with high confidence.

If you have particular dates in mind, a good strategy is to get a subscription to ExpertFlyer and set an alert. You'll can make design a search to notify you if two award seats open up on a given flight.

Good luck!

keggers1

I am wondering if the following is a valid use of a stopover using AA miles.

September 22: Mad - ORD (on Iberia)
Stopover in ORD
March 20: ORD-LAX-OGG (on AA)

Both have Business Saver availability.

I searched for the Iberia availability using the Qantas website.

thanks for you help!

Apieinthesky

Yes, it is.

keggers1

Great. Thanks for the response. I guess my only hang-up was that Iberia.com doesn't publish Madrid-OGG.

drsh99

I'm AA PLT, so will use a lounge--which one is best? Arriving around 6 am on a Sunday in June on BA (terminal 5). Departing 9pm-ish from Terminal 5. No checked bags and I'd like to leave rollaway at the airport then head in to town for sightseeing.
1) which lounge will be best/least crowded for shower and breakfast?
2) can leave rollaway at lounge? or need to store it elsewhere?
3) Been to London several times, so interested in less-obvious locales for walking/people-watching/museums--what's good when sunny? rainy?
4) what time to get back to airport for anxiety-free experience?

many thanks!