inY

I have an award ticket for today Jan 6 GRR-ORD in economy, ORD-SJC in business so I paid 25k AAdvantage miles for it. GRR-ORD is cancelled and I stayed home. Been on hold for an hour. Does a business class award with dirt status get me any priority in calling them?

miamigrad

Unfortunately, no - the phone lines are set up to handle calls based on the flyer's status. I suspect that the phones will be jammed all day as flights continue to be cancelled.

SFOPhD

Sometimes, admittedly rarely, people report not being placed on the airport upgrade list. This may occur either through a weird computer quirk (i.e. a flight number change takes you off the waitlist but you don't notice that anything changed because the flight times were the same) or human error (sometimes when I check in in-person the agent forgets to place me on the waitlist).

My evaluation is that it's a double-check for those who want to be super-careful. I certainly don't do it routinely.

Surface Interval

Lost baggage question (not technically lost yet, delayed by about a day so far):

My flight was CUR-MIA-NYC-CLE. In MIA I had to clear customs and 're-check' our bags. The bags made it that far as we had to hand them back. Should I need to file a claim; does this count as an international lost bag or domestic?

zpaul

Hi all, 500-mile minimum "guarantee" question...

If I book a 709-mile flight in a fare bucket on LAN which allows for only 0.25% mileage accrual, will I still earn the 500-mile minimum as a PLAT? Or just the 177 miles? I've gotten the 500-mi minimum before, but I don't think I was on the lowest fare. Any thoughts?

CGRA

While I agree that weather can't normally be compensated however I'll find unfair that OP don't receive some sort of apologies (or miles from AA)
So we can't be compensated for dealing with an "arrogant" GA because of weather.
Seems that because of weather we have to forgive and accept all mistakes & poor behavor.

CGRA

I hope they'll find your bags soon.
IIRC domestic segment of intl ticket is considered international.
Is it better to be under intl or domestic for lost bags ?

TheDudeAbides

You will be able to fly in comfort if you choose to purchase or upgrade to first class on AA routing TPA-DFW-HNL. The DFW-HNL leg is on a wide body 763 with angled, lie flat seats and ~60 inches of pitch: a pretty comfortable ride IMHO and worth it for such a long flight.

Surface Interval

Depends on what your claim is. For domestic you cannot claim computers, most electronics, cameras, etc. For international you can. Domestic allows over $3k per claim, international only $1.7k. Other differences, but those seemed to be the bigger points.

Cardboard55

I'm coming from Alaska Airlines, where even as a lowly MVP, I get "unlimited" domestic upgrades (of course severely limited by being at the bottom of the priority list). I had naively thought that most US airlines offered something similar to all of their elites. If I understand correctly, my only way to upgrade (other than spending money or miles), is by using stickers? That seems like a major bummer; you get 2K miles of stickers for 10K miles of flying, so assuming you fly a consistent amount during the year, you can upgrade at most 20% of your flights (still limited by elite priority)? Is there something I'm missing? Maybe I just got spoiled as AS MVP...

patrickjb

Hello,

I'm going on my honeymoon in June with AA from BOS-MIA-PUJ RT. I have no status with AA, but will most likely try and upgrade either with an offer pre flight or at the gate (cash/AMEX certs).

I'm curious as to how much they offer this for at the gate if it's not completely sold out in first? Not an avid AA flyer, so not really sure the protocol they usually roll out a few weeks before.

Thanks in advance for responses!

SFOPhD

Your analysis is thoughtful, but incomplete. In many instances, the sticker system will yield a higher upgrade percentage than the unlimited system. For example, as MVP, on every flight every single MVP Gold automatically gets a upgrade request and is ahead of you in line. On an AA flight, as Gold, the only Platinums ahead of you will be the ones who chose to try and spend the stickers. Not every Platinum will be wait listed ahead of you. Often, the sticker system increases your upgrade chances in the routes where you want the upgrade more than average.

hitman1420

Hi: I'm super confused here, can I book award travel on AA flights (and AA prices) using Dividend miles? Can't seem to find luck doing this with SNA-KOA in March,

CGRA

thank you for the info

k3vb0t

Newb here... my main question is will segments accrue together from both airlines to hit status? I tried searching status and read the merger facts only thread, but didn't see anything definitive which leads me to believe status will be separate until further notice. Just need to know so I can start booking trips.

I am going to have ~14 business trips this year that I didn't have last year. I'm based in Knoxville. Half my trips are to Phoenix, half are toward Baltimore/DC.

Going to BWI the most sense is to fly TYS-CLT-BWI on US Airways. Going to PHX I can do TYS-CLT-PHX or TYS-DFW-PHX. I want to avoid ORD.

Flying solely US Airways will get me to ~60 segments this year (or close enough to do a MR to get the last 2-4 I need). But sometimes flying via DFW is more convenient on AA. I don't want to sacrifice segments on AA if they won't be combined with US Airways segments and result in me missing status.

Hoping that made sense.