Worth getting the W class code? [on AA]
 

New member here, lots of reading. Member of AA advantage program, just regular elite for now. One way flight, PHX-PHL on 03/13, flight 482. economy is $220, did a search in ita matrix and it is $330 for the W class fare.

How likely would it be to bump up to business? I see miles are 1.5X with this class, so is that 1k vs 6k miles (0.5 vs 1.5).?

What would you suggest?

Thanks

You seem quite confused...

What do you mean by "regular elite"? There is no such thing.

W for domestic travel earns the same miles as discounted fares (about 2074 miles). It earns a few more elite qualifying points than deep discount fares, but for 99% of people that won't make any difference at all.

There is no preference for upgrades from a W fare vs any other discount fare.

You would almost certainly be paying extra for no benefit.

AA gives 1.5 Elite Qualifying POINTS/mi on a W fare. But, it won't change your redeemable miles at all. You'll get 1 redeemable mile per flight mile .


Take a closer look at http://www.aa.com/i18n/AAdvantage/ea...s/american.jsp

The W fare would not help for any complimentary upgrades unless you have some status. Even then it'd only help within your status level.

On AA marketed & operated flights, with a Full Fare Economy ticket (which W is not, for upgrade purposes) you could use 5000 miles to upgrade to the next class, dependent on AA releasing upgrade space. However, your noted flight is operated by US and I don't think you can yet us AA miles to upgrade a US operated flight. Not even sure if you can use US miles if its an AA flight #. You'd have to ask in US forums.

For travel on AA, W does not earn extra miles and/or points and classes as discount economy, nor does it count as Full Fare for upgrade purposes

W only earns the higher rate when it is an AA codeshare for Premium Economy on an airline offering Premium Economt

I just did a lot of reading and educated myself. So the W will not be getting 1.5X and earn 1 EQP for the trip correct?


Qualifying Points per Mile Earned on
American Airlines and American Eagle
Fare Purchased Booking Class Points Per Qualifying
Mile Earned
First Class A, F, P 1.50
Business Class D, I, J,R 1.50
Full-Fare Economy Class B, Y,W* 1.50
Discount Economy Class H, K, M, L, W, V 1.00
Deep Discount Economy Class G, Q, N, O, S 0.50
* In some cases, American Airlines codeshare flights booked in 'W' (marketed by AA and operated by other airlines), represent travel in a Premium Economy cabin or fare and will, therefore, earn 1.50 points per qualifying mile earned.

Excludes Internet fares noted as non-mileage earning.

IIRC, there is "W" fare class and then there is "W" fare class. Not to be a troublemaker, but W on a domestic AA flight gives 1.0 point per mile; W (as in Premium Economy) on certain codeshares (not AA metal) gives 1.5 points per mile. Since the OP's flight is domestic, W only gives 1.0 point per mile. As long as V class or higher, there is 1 point/mile. But, if less than V, then 0.5 point/mile, for comparison.

correct

Sorry if my post hinted that it did. I've edited it to be more clear that I was calling out only Full Fare and not W class.

I can think of two situations where seeking out a W or higher fare would make sense; one of them is if you've started an elite status challenge, which are based on EQ POINTS, not miles. You get double the EQP of a very cheap discounted fare that offers 0.5 EQP per mile flown.

The other situation would be those big spenders of OPM, usually on premium fares, who qualify (just barely) for elite status each year on EQP but don't want any "penalty" when they buy the occasional discount fares. For a modest upcharge, those elites can get 1.0 EQP per mile flown. The "penalty" I'm talking about is that those discounted fares "take away" some of the EQP bonus you earn with the expensive premium fares (which earn 1.5 EQP per mile flown). The number of elites in this category can't be a very large number, but it's a frequent criticism of the AA elite qualification scheme compared to some other airlines where you earn a qualifying mile bonus on the expensive fares yet aren't "penalized" if you buy discounted fares.

That's the crux of it. Booking W on AA gets you no advantages, but if you were to book a W fare operated by BA for the purpose of flying World Traveller Plus, you'd be earning class of service bonus miles (and paying much more than if you bought it as, say, T from BA).

In your case, buy the lowest fare that meets your needs. No need to buy up to H, K, L, M, V, W etc. unless you're planning to earn status by Elite Qualifying Points, and even then W seems a touch pricey for merely that purpose.