hotstepper

I don't think it's cumulative either, here is the verbiage from the AA credit card site (http://www.aa.com/i18n/AAdvantage/ea...at1&title=citi)

† First checked bag free
For benefit to apply, the Citi® / AAdvantage® account must be open 7 days prior to air travel AND, reservation must include the primary cardmember's American Airlines AAdvantage® number 7 days prior to air travel. If your credit card account is closed for any reason, these benefits will be cancelled. Eligible Citi® / AAdvantage® primary cardmembers may check one bag free of charge when traveling to domestic destinations on flights marketed and operated by American Airlines, or on flights marketed by American Airlines and operated by American Eagle Airlines, Inc., SkyWest Airlines, Inc., ExpressJet Airlines, Inc., Republic Airline Inc., or Chautauqua Airlines, Inc. These benefits will not be available for travel on US Airways flights or codeshare flights booked with an American Airlines flight number but operated by another airline. For the Citi® / AAdvantage® card, up to four customers traveling with the eligible primary cardmember will also get their first checked bag free of charge if they are listed in the same reservation. Waiver does not apply to overweight or oversized bags. This benefit cannot be combined with any existing AAdvantage® elite program benefits, including any waiver of baggage charges. Please see aa.com for baggage weight and size restrictions. Additional terms, conditions and restrictions may apply. Applicable terms and conditions are subject to change without notice.

It's basically the same thing for all 3 CCs (Citi Plat. Select / Citi Exec. / Citi Business)

---
I can see why there may be some confusion with some FT'ers if they read this:
http://thepointsguy.com/2014/04/a-co...t-aint-pretty/

3) American Gold and US Airways Platinum and Gold elite members who currently receive two free checked bags, will only get one free. For flights operated by American, these changes take place for tickets issued starting today. For flights operated by US Airways, these changes take place for tickets issued starting April 23. If you have a Citi or Barclays card with free checked bags and are one of these lower tier elites, you can use that benefit to count for a second bag.

deeruck

Not surprising as that website benefits from every new credit card signed.

The wording for account holders on the citibank website mirrors aa.com

dbuckho

I understand and am ok with aligning to the industry. What I do not understand is going below the industry. Offering less than Delta, where when I check-in the system knows I have status + card = 2 bags, is not a great place to be. I am about to book a family trip and wanted to clarify, so have made a couple calls and the agents are confused. But based on the T&C's I imagine AA's computers will not be confused and it will indeed be 1 bag per person.

When my family travels, we have 4 bags for 3 people. Could my wife get her 2 down to 1? Maybe. But often the other bag becomes overflow for bringing things home. So this change means my twice a year, 3 passengers LAX-IAD will be heading to WN LAX-BWI or maybe AS LAX-DCA since they still show 2 bags for AA Gold (though who knows how long that will last?). That is only $2k of revenue (or a little less), so not that much impact to AA overall. They probably do not want it anyways

The real question is whether or not my work decisions or single, personal travel will change? My work travel is either LAX-JFK or international - in both cases entitled to J. So bags are not an issue, just really a question of whether the lack of personal travel loyalty spills over to work (and since WN does not have J, not a competitor)? AA has a good J product LAX-JFK and still offers me a 25% mileage bonus and earning towards upgrade stickers vs. the competition. And the one bag is enough for me when I travel alone. So probably no change for now. And probably keeping the AA credit card for the 10k miles rebate/year and the in-flight purchase discount.

It will be interesting to see whether someone else steps in to offer business class on LAX-ATL once the FL planes go away? I fly that route at least 3x per year. Used to be DL but this year have taken FL twice due to lower fares and general desire to not give Delta more money. If someone like VX entered I could see consolidating all my personal and business travel together and this Gold baggage change/not stacking the credit card benefit costing AA some real money. But then again if AA or even AS started LAX-ATL I could probably make Plat, and this whole thing would be a non-issue again!

Of course reality is probably no new entrants to challenge DL LAX-ATL, so losing the 2nd bag just means more time on WN for me and only a little incremental, low-margin revenue lost for AA.

jbdk

Well.. looks like what has been posted about MCE not being free for gold starting 4/17 is correct. I went to place two reservations and saw MCE was not free on my account. I was specifically told by an AA rep on 4/9 @ 415pm (phone log) that they were going to give me free MCE until end of the year on my account. I called AA today and I was told that no rep noted that on my account and that MCE was NEVER going to be free until the end of the year. There was just no date set due to internal issue.

So... I was lied to about free MCE on my account. Nice.

hillrider

Yep. Airline employees can lie to you with impunity. Only one of a few industries where Congress allows this to take place.

MrAndy1369

On the bright side (and a silver lining), US F/J gains 3 free bags vs. the previously allocated 2 bags, and US CP gains a 4th bag if traveling in F/J.

One improvement, few downgrades.

josmon10

Please let me know how many free bags I can check (if any). These are the details:

- My status with Iberia Plus is Silver, so I'm Ruby
- I bought some award tickets to fly LGA-YYZ on AA operated by Envoy
- Tickets bought after April 8
- I did that with avios on BA.com

According to this, I should get a free bag:

• AA Gold / oneworld Ruby reduced from 2 to 1 free bag (Platinum 2 bags, EXP 3 bags).

But the info on my ticket suggests I should pay for the first bag checked. BA didn't seem to recognize my Ruby status.

Can anybody help me get it right?

Thanks.

Rus925

When you say "info on my ticket," do you mean on BA.com or AA.com? If you look up your itinerary on AA.com, you should see a section that has your baggage allowance as recognized. If it still says zero bags, just show your Iberia card at check-in. I wouldn't worry about it.

hotstepper

Hmmm, maybe something changed or the whole system is still confused w/ itself. On today's regular Choice revenue booking for July domestic trip: (Gold status & paying via AA Visa)

At website confirmation page:
Checked Baggage/Cost (USD)/Size* Weight:
American Airlines
1st Bag
2nd Bag
No Charge
No Charge
62 din / 158 dcm
62 din / 158 dcm
Under 50 lbs/ 23 kgs
Under 50 lbs/ 23 kgs

On email receipt:

Baggage Information

Baggage charges for your itinerary will be governed by American Airlines BAG ALLOWANCE -MCOJFK-02 Pieces/ American Airlines /UP TO 50 LB/23 KG AND UP TO 62 LINEAR IN/158 LINEAR CM 1STCHECKED BAG FEE-MCOJFK-USD0.00/ American Airlines /UP TO 50 LB/23 KG AND UP TO 62 LINEAR IN/158 LINEAR CM 2NDCHECKED BAG FEE-MCOJFK-USD0.00/ American Airlines /UP TO 50 LB/23 KG AND UP TO 62 LINEAR IN/158 LINEAR CM ADDITIONAL ALLOWANCES AND/OR DISCOUNTS MAY APPLY
You have purchased a NON-REFUNDABLE fare. The itinerary must be canceled before the ticketed departure time of the first unused coupon or the ticket has no value. If the fare allows changes, a fee may be assessed for changes and restrictions may apply.
Electronic tickets are NOT TRANSFERABLE. Tickets with nonrestrictive fares are valid for one year from original date of issue. If you have questions regarding our refund policy, please visit www.aa.com/refunds.


Won't need to check in 2 bags anyway, but now i'm curious

dbuckho

I just booked a flight on AA via the AS website and wondering if I found a backdoor for getting my 2 free bag privileges back for AA Gold status?

For some reason alaskaair.com had an AA flight LAX-DCA in August for $30 cheaper than the lowest fare for the same flight on aa.com. I was buying 3 tickets and did not want to mess with the AA price guarantee (and AS showed it as a K fare vs. AA showing it as a N), so went ahead and bought via alaskaair.com. In the confirmation it says "Alaska Airlines rules and fees apply for this itinerary." Per Alaska Airlines rules, AA Gold gets 2 free bags per person traveling in the same reservation.

Guessing this round-trip policy loophole will not happen automatically and I will need to take a print out of the policy and my confirmation with me if I really want to check 4 or more bags. But the way I read the policies, booking my AA flights via AS might be a strategy for my family trips where we usually have 4 bags as long as AS allows 2 bags for AA gold.

Downside is not getting my BusinessExtra credit for the AA spend. Credit card impact should be neutral in terms of bonus points on the airline spend since I used my AS Visa on alaskaair.com (vs. my using my AA Amex on aa.com).

Still interested in the AA Gold + AA credit card question as well per hotstepper's experience. I think the price difference in this case between alaskaair.com and aa.com was an anomaly.

tramm7

Who do you call if you get charged for the 1st bag even though you have AA credit card? AA or Citi? Girlfriend applied and was approved for AA credit card 10 days prior to travel. Reservation and CC application had the same frequent flier number since day 1. Actual credit card didn't arrive until 3 days before travel. Does the 7 day window apply to account being open/approved or to card activation (via phone after receipt of card)?

Loose Cannon

Loose Cannon

When it comes to free checked bags, Southwest is best.

rrgg

That's still so unbelievable to me every time I read it -- full fare and still pay a bag fee.

no1cub17

Unfortunately if your gf had already bought her ticket at the time of the card approval (even if 7 days prior to departure), the benefit won't apply. Having said that, I don't know exactly where it says this in the T&C, but I had this issue happen to me a few years ago and go the same response from both AA and Citi.