Aug 7, 2014, 11:41 am

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Europe changes: Beginning winter 2014, AA plans seasonal adjustments to the European schedule:

Short Suspensions (MAH4546)

● ORD - Manchester / MAN suspended between January 6th and March 29th (MAN still served via PHL, JFK)
● PHL - Barcelona / BCN suspended between March 5th and March 29th (BCN still served via MIA, JFK)
● PHL - Rome / FCO suspended between February 5th and March 5th (FCO will not be served with AA metal during this time frame)

Winter Timetable Suspensions

● JFK-Dublin suspended between October 25th and March 29th (Dublin still served via PHL)
● ORD-Dusseldorf suspended between October 25th and March 29th (Dusseldorf will not be served during winter)
● PHL-Zurich suspended between October 25th and April 14th (ZRH still served via JFK)

Milan / MXP Service Temporarily Merged

● Milan / MXP service will alternate as a daily flight between Miami (3w) and JFK (4w) between January 6th and March 28th, after which both routes will go daily again.

Code:

U.S. Gateway   Dest   Suspend     Resume
JFK            DUB    25 Oct 14   29 Mar 15
ORD            DUS    25 Oct 14   29 Mar 15
PHL            ZRH    25 Oct 14   14 Apr 15
ORD            MAN    06 Jan 14?  29 Mar 15
PHL            FCO    05 Feb 15   05 Mar 15
PHL            BCN    05 Mar 15   29 Mar 15

Brazil changes:

1 Oct 2014, US discontinues CLT-GRU, channeling customers to AA's flights.

VCP flights added from MIA and JFK, adding services to São Paulo.
JFK-VCP begins 1 Dec 2014, three times a week; MIA-VCP will operate daily as of 2 Dec 2014, both with CIP Boeing 767-323ERs, fully flat beds.

All GRU flights to / from JFK, MIA and DFW will be operated by Boeing 777-323ER / 77W by Dec 2014.

(AA PR Newswire, 31 Jul 2014)

Changes to Long-Haul Schedule Announced 31 Jul '14 for AA/US (merged threads)

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Aug 6, 2014, 9:57 pm

#76

smilinganddialing

Join Date: Apr 2010

Programs: AA Platinum, Hyatt Platinum

Posts: 731

Quote:

Originally Posted by LINDEGR

I don't think people leaving the suburbs would impact Chicago's population

Please refer to the first half of the sentence in which you bolded a portion of the second part. "The Chicagoland area" includes the suburbs

Aug 7, 2014, 10:55 am

#77

biostatistician

Join Date: Aug 2013

Location: Here

Posts: 44

So any ideas when the MIA/VCP will be bookable? I know "after government approval" but is that usually soon after the route announcement?

Aug 7, 2014, 11:02 am

#78

george 3

Join Date: Apr 2011

Location: New York

Programs: AA EXP 1.0mm, not sure where I am with hotels these days

Posts: 2,795

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seat 1F

Yes....some of the suspensions are indeed very short. Nothing totally surprising here except perhaps the addition of flights to VCP.

Not really addition since they are rotating from GRU. Azul is putting a ton of money into the Campinas airport, maybe AA is coat tailing. Not surprised the CLT GRU flight died. They were just waiting until the WC was over.

The upside is that the shift of the flights away from GRU is that the AC won't be so packed.

edit- forgot that Azul is introducing flights from VCP to Orlando and Fort Lauderdale in the Fall (?). Increasing number of Brazilians living in the Miami area.

Last edited by george 3; Aug 7, 2014 at 11:23 am

Aug 7, 2014, 11:06 am

#79

george 3

Join Date: Apr 2011

Location: New York

Programs: AA EXP 1.0mm, not sure where I am with hotels these days

Posts: 2,795

Quote:

Originally Posted by anabolism

You're referring to

Obvious solution is to have a single flight number for CLT-(DFW/MIA/JFK)-GRU. AA does that with CDG-ORD-SAN. I guess it works.

I will say that for business travel heading to Centro Sao Paulo, Campinas is a terrible option. Even though it's part of the Sao Paulo metro area, for all intents and purposes its another city. I'm not sure what AA's game plan is here. The flights between GRU and JFK are pretty crowded most of the time, and I would assume its 919 (772) that will rotate over to VCP.

Aug 7, 2014, 11:07 am

#80

george 3

Join Date: Apr 2011

Location: New York

Programs: AA EXP 1.0mm, not sure where I am with hotels these days

Posts: 2,795

Quote:

Originally Posted by thaijplily

JJ has much better domestic connections from VCP than from GRU

And a new terminal eventually (if Azul lets them in)

Aug 7, 2014, 11:11 am

#81

george 3

Join Date: Apr 2011

Location: New York

Programs: AA EXP 1.0mm, not sure where I am with hotels these days

Posts: 2,795

Quote:

Originally Posted by arthrod

VCP is the main hub of Azul, the main regional airline in the country. Although Azul has an agreement with United, many Brazilians who live in medium cities (including my parents) can only fly direct to VCP. Additionally, west of São Paulo is a very rich region, which will benefit from not going to traffic-crazy GRU.

Sad for me, I just love the new GRU!

The expansion of the Transporte Metropolitano is neverneverland to say the least, but are they planning to extend it to VCP (Linha Rubi o Linha Azul) after they get it to GRU? Is there any plan for business districts up there? I like GRU because my son, daughter in-law and grandson live in Itaquera which is twenty minutes away.

Aug 7, 2014, 11:17 am

#82

george 3

Join Date: Apr 2011

Location: New York

Programs: AA EXP 1.0mm, not sure where I am with hotels these days

Posts: 2,795

Quote:

Originally Posted by MAH4546

VCP is in the Sao Paulo metro area; distance-wise, it is comparable to the distance between SJC and SFO; LAX and ONT; NRT and HND among others.

The market is there - the question is whether AA will be able to convince enough people to use a secondary airport.

The distance between the primary business (centro, Murumbi, et al) and wealthy residential areas (Jardim Europa, et al) and VCP will not be tolerable to travelers conducting business in those areas. The traffic on the rodovias from GRU are bad, but I can't imagine the trip to the Rennaissance or even to Murumbi.

Aug 7, 2014, 11:00 pm

#83

Mrtrash757

was thetravelingRedhead

Join Date: Aug 2012

Location: Western Michigan

Programs: Delta Silver Medallion, United Silver Premier

Posts: 642

Quote:

Originally Posted by LINDEGR

Why just focus on Chicago's "core"? The entire city had the largest drop in population of any in the top ten between the 2000 and 2010 census. Has this been reversed or is just the loop growing?

However, according to projections, the population as a city is growing slowly.

2013 estimate is around 20k more than 2010.

The point made about the poorer population leaving the south, west and inner suburbs is very true imo.

Aug 12, 2014, 11:53 am

#84

jaw_24

Join Date: Feb 2011

Location: Austin, TX

Programs: Delta SM, IHG Plat, Club Carlson Gold, Marriott Silver, Avis First

Posts: 48

My experience rescheduling CLT-GRU

Quote:

Originally Posted by eddieflyer

Can anyone share what happens if you're booked on one of these flights after September 30th? How are people generally accommodated in these situations?

Since I didn't see a response here, I'll give my feedback. I had a J award ticket AUS-CLT-GRU-CLT-PHX-AUS. Flights were showing as still scheduled but for all legs, no plane, seat, or meal on USAir.com (guessing they went to teleportation?)

Called reservations. First level agent didn't see anything wrong, only that the times had changed. I pressed further by saying that there is a press release with discontinuation of these flights, that I can no longer book this flight, and that I cannot pick a seat, and she put me on hold to speak with supervisor.

Came back some time later with confirmation of the cancelled flight and said they were trying to reschedule. I made a request for AA flights AUS-DFW-GRU to get on the 77W.

After a really long wait (over an hour total on the phone), she said they had multiple teams working on my reservation but confirmed the flights that I wanted. Got an AA conf#, and could immediately see on AA.com, with a nice little surprise - I was (accidentally?) upgraded from J to F! This seems odd, but it was moving from 2- to 3-cabin flight.

Aug 12, 2014, 1:03 pm

#85

flyingmusicianlax

Join Date: Dec 2008

Location: WAS, LAX

Programs: AS 100K

Posts: 1,330

Could have been moved to first class because you were booked in O inventory. Historically, US has used O to denote award domestic first class and as well as award international three class first on partners. To this date, I'm still not sure if they make a distinction in inventory between award international business and award international first.

All of this will become moot once US and AA are merged over to SABRE. But, in the meantime, this sort of favorable glitch is likely to repeat itself.

Aug 12, 2014, 2:52 pm

#86

jaw_24

Join Date: Feb 2011

Location: Austin, TX

Programs: Delta SM, IHG Plat, Club Carlson Gold, Marriott Silver, Avis First

Posts: 48

Quote:

Originally Posted by flyingmusicianlax

Could have been moved to first class because you were booked in O inventory.

Checking on the original booking, this is correct.
Amazing value - this was an off-peak US ticket. So for 55k (60k - 5k CC discount) + taxes, I'm getting 2 10.5 hr flights in F.

Aug 15, 2014, 8:50 am

#87

jaw_24

Join Date: Feb 2011

Location: Austin, TX

Programs: Delta SM, IHG Plat, Club Carlson Gold, Marriott Silver, Avis First

Posts: 48

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaw_24

Checking on the original booking, this is correct.
Amazing value - this was an off-peak US ticket. So for 55k (60k - 5k CC discount) + taxes, I'm getting 2 10.5 hr flights in F.

aaaand I was just downgraded today...back to booking class 'U' in biz. Guess someone did an audit.