oak522

I just completed a PLT challenge to match my US status and I think I'll just start flying AA for the rest of the year as a result. Most of my domestic flying is in the NE or connections that I will I guess do over DFW.

Question: is there any food/beverage offering in First on flights under two hours?

onesocalkid

How long of a delay (or have you) have folks noticed between flights (AS codeshare on AA metal) to have the segments and miles post to Aadvantage?

Flew an AS codeshare (marketed) for the first time and was curious, thanks for your help!

SFOPhD

Definitely a beverage and a bag of pretzels (or something similar) turbulence permitting.

swimdude92

Hello,

I am taking advantage of the LAX-SIN MR. I will be booking my NYC-LAX and LAX-SIN tickets separately. If I want to take advantage of the Miles + Copay upgrade to NRT, can I also have requested my NYC-LAX leg to upgrade, even though it will be a different PNR?

Thanks

bdemaria

No, it must be on the same PNR. According to the FAQs re: mileage upgrades:

Splitting the trip into two separate PNRs = two separate, as opposed to one single, trip.

Apieinthesky

It depends on the specific flight and route. Pretzel/snack mix + beverage is guaranteed, except for turbulence on super short flights (STL-ORD, or similar).

Check out the domestic meals thread. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...solidated.html
Depending on the route and time of day, it is not uncommon at all to get a full meal on flights under two hours. For example (from p. 20 on that thread), DFW-DEN and RDU-ORD both get full meals, but not DEN-DFW and ORD-RDU.

Apieinthesky

Relevant thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...needs-fly.html

Apieinthesky

Indeed, AA does not currently enforce this requirement (or at least, as reported here on FT). However, we do not know whether they will continue to ignore this rule, or start enforcing it later on.

See these threads.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-only-jal.html

ijgordon's suggestion (post 9) here is a good one, I think.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...quirement.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...n-gaining.html

opalfruit

Hi.

Could anyone tell me what the service in First/Business will consist of on the JFK-BGI route? Five hours is a long old stint in a 738.

Do these aircraft have the same First config as AA's regular 738 fleet? My only experience of these planes is hopping around California on them where it's a bag of pretzels and a drink in the domestic first seats.

Cheers

Apieinthesky

It will be a standard domestic service, but you will get a full meal.

Seats will be the same as the domestic config, 16F with articulating reclining seats.

joedev

This is my first time playing with a frequent flyer program.

I heard about this AA challenge thing, and I'm ready to take a trip to Switzerland from LAX, so it's a good time.

I reserved a flight on aa.com. It's on a 24 hour hold. $1600 bucks. LAX->Geneva via Heathrow.

Tried to call +1 800-882-8880 to start the challenge, but they're only open 7:30-2:30 Pacific Time iirc.

It just hit me, maybe you pros have a better idea for me than reserving a $1600 flight on aa.com. If anyone has tips for doing this better, please let me know.

I've got a couple trips recently with 8030 Total Available Miles.

Thank you!

HNL

Welcome to Flyer Talk. Before you register for the Gold or Platinum Challenge I recommend reading through parts of the thread we have here in this forum on the topic.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-platinum.html

Additionally there is a Wiki Page dedicated to Gold & Platinum Challenges.
http://www.flyerguide.com/wiki/index...lenge_%28AA%29

Good Luck and enjoy that trip to Switzerland.

JDiver

Welcome to FlyerTalk, joedev.

If yu will be flying the oneworld alliance in your future, the Challenge is a fast track to mid-level (AAdvantage Platinum / oneworld Sapphire) status; the members' guide can be downloaded in PDF format here.

One important thing about the Challenge - and I heartily recommend you read more about it in the Challenge Help Desk thread here and in our FlyerGuide AA Wiki here - is it is based on POINTS, not miles flown.

How many EQ Points you earn will depend on the fare - $1,600 doesn't tell us much; some highly discounted fares earn a half-point per base mile / mile flown, so your itinerary - LAX-LHR-GVA-LHR-LAX renders 11,852 miles flown / base miles. For Coach:

Highly discounted fares (G, Q, N, O & S) = 5,926 points, not sufficient for a Challenge
Discounted fares (H, K, M, L, W & V) = 11,852 points, sufficient
Full (Y and B) coach fares = 17,778 points (also for Business / First)

See the table and explanation here.

The Help Desk thread explains, among other things, how you can put a booking on hold (you can see the fare class when you do that and see the detailed fare rules), call Web Services, upfare to a fare than offers 1.0 point per mile if you need to do so, and then complete the purchase on aa.com.

I believe AA is offering the new 777-300ER on LAX-LHR currently - it would offer Main Cabin Extra, so you might look at what you can do to purchase those seats - extra legroom, and one less seat across than in plain coach. (Yep, there's a thread for that...)

And sometimes one can find discounted "I" Business fares for not much more than some coach fares.

MrDoubleB

Hi all,

I am a total newbie, and am really glad I found this thread. I hope one of you experienced AA Adv. flyers can help me understand how this works.

I've been collecting miles for 3 years and just reached 124k, which, together with the hotel points i can migrate to AA, will bring me to the 130k i was looking for. My plan was to fly with my gf to the US for a week and take her on business class. We wanted to go when my next business trip is due as my company pays for my trip, so we would only need to pay for her tickets. But i never redeemed miles before and just started looking into this...

My company uses a travel agency to book my flights, i don't have much of a say in it. I normally fly the BUD-LHR leg of my trips via BA, and the LHR-IAH part via BA or AA - whichever has the cheaper fare. I wanted to book her trip to match the flights they book me.

Or so i thought. I know, total, newbie...

The plan was that she comes with me to Houston, spends 3 days there while i work. My company pays for my ticket, i use miles to by hers (business class = 50k miles). Then, we would fly from Houston to New York on economy, paying for both of our tickets with my miles (2x15K miles). Finally, we would fly back from New York to Budapest via LHR on business, again my company paying for me, me buying her ticket with miles (another 50k; total spent = 130k).

Having looked into this, I now believe there is almost no way in hell we will be lucky enough to book her trip using miles to match my pre-scheduled business trip.

The AA advantage site normally does not even offer the BA flight from BUD-LHR, it always suggest Air Berlin with an extra stop in Germany. We want to travel together, of course...

Also, most of the dates around my supposed next business trip do not even offer any options on business, sometimes not even on economy. When they do, they hardly ever allow direct JFK-LHR either.

1, Do you guys believe calling AA they could book me flights the online system does not allow, if there are still seats available on them? Or do their people only see the options i see online?

2, Does it make sense to book economy (if we were lucky enough to get her a ticket on my flight), and try to upgrade to business at the airport, before the flight? Or if it is not offered now, chances are it won't be available?

I am starting to think i should collect another 70k miles, and just take her at a later date on a non-business related trip, and pay for both of us with miles. We could be flexible, could plan the rip around available flights, and we would not need the 30k miles for the US domestic flight...

RDUWanderer

This is probably correct. Booking with miles requires a significant degree of flexibility and/or extreme luck. Trying to get a specific itinerary on relatively short notice is just...unlikely.

Probably not. If you are EXP, just maybe, but still very unlikely.

The odds are not in your favor.

Your new plan sounds like a much better option.