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[2013 NEWBIE LOUNGE] Ask Your AA-Related Questions Here (flame free)

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Old Feb 13, 2013, 9:42 am
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[2013 NEWBIE LOUNGE] Ask Your AA-Related Questions Here (flame free)

 
Old Jul 19, 2013, 9:30 am
  #1741  
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Originally Posted by standingoten
Here is the exact itinerary from ITA.
That is a Cathay ticket in Cathay V class, so unfortunately this would not earn any EQMs or EQPs if you credit the flight to AA

Last edited by SFOPhD; Jul 19, 2013 at 9:31 am Reason: typo before morning coffee
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Old Jul 19, 2013, 11:26 am
  #1742  
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
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Originally Posted by LucyP
Thank you. That's exactly the information I was looking for. I don't have the miles yet; I wanted to search around and see what kind of itinerary was available using miles.

We are trying to get to Vietnam, ideally business class for the trans-Pacific leg of the journey. I gather that I need to put in each leg separately to get a sense of the total miles needed?

BTW, ITA flightsearch, usually where I go to for general flight information, doesn't seem to show itineraries to Vietnam using Cathay Pacific, although it's clear that those exist if you search on the Cathay Pacific site. Does anyone know why?
I tried SFO-SGN for an award search for June next year, and saw SFO-HKG-SGN both operated by CX. 5 seats available on both segments. Other options possible too. Vietnam falls into Asia2, so it would be 67.5k miles one way, plus a few dollars in taxes, and a $25 phone ticketing fee for non-EXPs as an oneworld/other airline award.

Total miles needed for an oneworld/other airline award is determined by origin and destination city pairs, not the number of flights nor total distance. There are, however, different award types, aka Explorer awards that are distance based.

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Old Jul 19, 2013, 12:29 pm
  #1743  
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 2
OK, I have a newbie-ish question. I am booking a trip DFW-NRT and on a separate recloc seats for my wife and father-in-law. The 50K Plan Aheads in business were sold out for the return, but I could get the 62500 in First. The ePlat desk told me to check back daily to see if they release additional plan aheads in Business.

Is there a particular day or time of day that additional seats are released? I would hate to call after someone else snatched them up.
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Old Jul 19, 2013, 12:55 pm
  #1744  
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: New York
Programs: AA EXP 1.0mm, not sure where I am with hotels these days
Posts: 2,795
Originally Posted by justkj
OK, I have a newbie-ish question. I am booking a trip DFW-NRT and on a separate recloc seats for my wife and father-in-law. The 50K Plan Aheads in business were sold out for the return, but I could get the 62500 in First. The ePlat desk told me to check back daily to see if they release additional plan aheads in Business.

Is there a particular day or time of day that additional seats are released? I would hate to call after someone else snatched them up.
I am not sure of your mileage balance, but I would recommend that you accept the mile saver F award at 62.5k. The J mile saver award seats are tough gets on many international routes. Further, on a long flight like this, your family will be more comfortable.

However, if you are not interested in F, a good way to receive notice of mile saver award flights would be to subscribe to Expert Flyer (www.expertflyer.com). You can set up email alerts for the release of award seats into inventory, in addition to plenty of other information (seat maps, inventory availability by fare class, etc.). I think it cost s $10 per month, and if you fly a lot, it is IMHO worth it.

And most important, welcome to Flyertalk!

Last edited by george 3; Jul 19, 2013 at 1:22 pm Reason: Add reference to expert flyer
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Old Jul 19, 2013, 1:24 pm
  #1745  
brp
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Originally Posted by justkj

Is there a particular day or time of day that additional seats are released? I would hate to call after someone else snatched them up.
Not that I'm aware of. However, you can get a subscription to a website called www.expertflyer.com and set up an alert that will tell you if/when it becomes available. There is a lag, so someone could snatch it, but it does tend to be pretty quick.

Cheers.
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Old Jul 19, 2013, 4:11 pm
  #1746  
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 1,126
Not a newbie here but needed a bit of "flame free" advice.
Will need fly BDL - SFO in October with some "flexibility" (not sure might need to cancel due to family circumstances, may relocate before then etc). Right now there's some great fares ($303ai) but for $68 more can do Choice Essential or $88 Choice Plus. Since have Lifetime Platinum status realize the major benefit of these options would be that though "techincally" the tickets are non-refundable I could cancel/reschedule the $$ spent without having to pay a reticketing charge... is that correct? If so, then it's "a no brainer" -- especially since I found a 5% discount code (going to a conference so it's "legit"). Now, what's the difference between Choice Essential and Plus other than being able to do some day change w/o fee (vs. standby which I'd get with status). Right now there really isn't a need to do that since I'd rather not leave SFO too early.
Any advice/suggestions would be appreciated. I feel getting 5K+ miles is definitely worth $354 vs using plan ahead award for 25K.
TIA
Carolyn

-----------------------------------------------

To add on my previous post....
what would the bonus miles be for doing Choice Plus since it would only be $19... the routing is BDL - SFO and the outbound flight would be the BDL-LAX (new nonstop)LAX-SFO... I believe the BDL - LAX is offering double miles, plus the actual platinum bonus....
thinking if it's 50% bonus it might be a very "cheap" way of earning additional miles.
TIA
Carolyn

Last edited by JY1024; Jul 20, 2013 at 11:03 pm Reason: Merged consecutive posts
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Old Jul 19, 2013, 9:09 pm
  #1747  
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: RDU
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Originally Posted by incognitoMD
I tried SFO-SGN for an award search for June next year, and saw SFO-HKG-SGN both operated by CX. 5 seats available on both segments. Other options possible too. Vietnam falls into Asia2, so it would be 67.5k miles one way, plus a few dollars in taxes, and a $25 phone ticketing fee for non-EXPs as an oneworld/other airline award.

Total miles needed for an oneworld/other airline award is determined by origin and destination city pairs, not the number of flights nor total distance. There are, however, different award types, aka Explorer awards that are distance based.


Thanks so much. That is very, very helpful. So once we've spent the miles for one leg, we can get all the legs for the same price? And that's business class? Sounds almost do-able. Now we just have to get the miles
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Old Jul 19, 2013, 9:20 pm
  #1748  
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
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Two stupid questions (semi-related):

Background: I'm currently booked on AA LIT-LAX and back 10/9/13 out and 10/23/13 back, with a separate itin on QF booked from LAX - MEL and back for the same dates. This was significantly cheaper than booking it all on AA. I'm in paid F (P fare) for the AA itin and paid J on the QF itin (also nonrefundable).

1) As anal as I am, and I fretted about this in an earlier post, I'd be more comfortable flying in to LAX the evening before, on 10/8, so I'd reduce the possibilities of missing the QF flight due to unforeseen delays. The flight I'm currently booked on arrives LAX at around 4:00 pm with the QF flight leaving around 11:30 pm or so.. I have family in LA, so I could actually get a quick visit in too, rather than just sit in the hotel or LAX.

1a)Related to this, when I try to change the flights on aa.com, it continually throws up an error. Is there a restriction that you can change same day flights with a change fee with AA, but can't change the day for a nonrefundable ticket?

1b)Also related to this, assuming I am able to change the day I fly out by paying a change fee and whatever fare difference, would I be able to pay that with a transportation voucher from AA? I have a $410 credit with them.

2) I assume that this trip would qualify me for platinum status with AA if I chose to do the challenge, without needing any other flights, correct?

Thanks all. Very much looking forward to my trip, just getting myself worked up over small details.
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Old Jul 19, 2013, 10:34 pm
  #1749  
HNL
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Originally Posted by thom1033
Two stupid questions (semi-related):

Background: I'm currently booked on AA LIT-LAX and back 10/9/13 out and 10/23/13 back, with a separate itin on QF booked from LAX - MEL and back for the same dates. This was significantly cheaper than booking it all on AA. I'm in paid F (P fare) for the AA itin and paid J on the QF itin (also nonrefundable).

1) As anal as I am, and I fretted about this in an earlier post, I'd be more comfortable flying in to LAX the evening before, on 10/8, so I'd reduce the possibilities of missing the QF flight due to unforeseen delays. The flight I'm currently booked on arrives LAX at around 4:00 pm with the QF flight leaving around 11:30 pm or so.. I have family in LA, so I could actually get a quick visit in too, rather than just sit in the hotel or LAX.

1a)Related to this, when I try to change the flights on aa.com, it continually throws up an error. Is there a restriction that you can change same day flights with a change fee with AA, but can't change the day for a nonrefundable ticket?

1b)Also related to this, assuming I am able to change the day I fly out by paying a change fee and whatever fare difference, would I be able to pay that with a transportation voucher from AA? I have a $410 credit with them.

2) I assume that this trip would qualify me for platinum status with AA if I chose to do the challenge, without needing any other flights, correct?

Thanks all. Very much looking forward to my trip, just getting myself worked up over small details.
You are fretting about this way too much. The connection time is AMPLE. If at the end of the day you must make the change you will be better to call AA. You should note that a change to the outbound flight will cause the who trip to be re-fared.

If you choose to enroll in the Platinum challenge then you will have complete that challenge on the outbound flights, so you would be a Platinum/OW Sapphire on the return trip - depending how long you will be in AUS.
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Old Jul 20, 2013, 12:22 pm
  #1750  
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
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Originally Posted by HNL
You are fretting about this way too much. The connection time is AMPLE. If at the end of the day you must make the change you will be better to call AA. You should note that a change to the outbound flight will cause the who trip to be re-fared.

If you choose to enroll in the Platinum challenge then you will have complete that challenge on the outbound flights, so you would be a Platinum/OW Sapphire on the return trip - depending how long you will be in AUS.
That's what I needed to hear, thank you. I'm two weeks in Australia, so I'd be surprised if the QF miles posted in time, though it would certainly be nice for there mileage bonus.
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Old Jul 20, 2013, 5:33 pm
  #1751  
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Posts: 595
I booked a flight on AA which was canceled due to weather/air control issues. I was rebooked on a United flight the same day. I still haven't received AA miles and flight was last Wednesday. Who owes me the miles AA or United?
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Old Jul 20, 2013, 5:59 pm
  #1752  
brp
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Originally Posted by mrstraveler
I booked a flight on AA which was canceled due to weather/air control issues. I was rebooked on a United flight the same day. I still haven't received AA miles and flight was last Wednesday. Who owes me the miles AA or United?
To start with, no one actually owes you AA miles. You can certainly get UA miles from United if you are part of their program. If you want AA miles, you can contact AA about this and ask for Original Routing Credit. Be aware that nothing is owed, and they may say yes or no. Had it been a mechanical issue, the likelihood would have been pretty good. With weather, it is less so (since it is not their "fault") but is still possible. Nothing will happen, though, unless you contact AA.

Cheers.
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Old Jul 20, 2013, 7:23 pm
  #1753  
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
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Originally Posted by thom1033
That's what I needed to hear, thank you. I'm two weeks in Australia, so I'd be surprised if the QF miles posted in time, though it would certainly be nice for there mileage bonus.
It takes about 48hrs for QF flights to post to your AA account (based on my recent experience of four QF flights in June/July)

Whenever they post, you will get the bonus miles
So, assuming you enrol in the challenge, you will complete the challenge on your LAX-MEL flight and get the 100% PLT bonus for that flight and all the following flights
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Old Jul 21, 2013, 11:12 am
  #1754  
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
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Posts: 172
Originally Posted by pandaperth
It takes about 48hrs for QF flights to post to your AA account (based on my recent experience of four QF flights in June/July)

Whenever they post, you will get the bonus miles
So, assuming you enrol in the challenge, you will complete the challenge on your LAX-MEL flight and get the 100% PLT bonus for that flight and all the following flights
Excellent, thank you!
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Old Jul 21, 2013, 3:21 pm
  #1755  
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 217
Ok I don't know if I am allowed to ask this here but...

I tried to book flights to get 25k EQP for the EXPLAT challenge and am having issues. Is there a paid service anywhere that will just find the routes for me for a fee? I want to spend less than $1500 total to get the 25k EQP.

Is there a web site or service that charges a not too hefty fee to find the routings for me and is guaranteed?
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