MKB

Thanks for the response - I missed that line in the aa.com rules. That's very useful.

However, I've now got to the bottom of what when wrong. The agent had booked my first sector for the 13th of the month rather than the 30th, causing a 17-day stopover in NRT. Correcting the date has brought the mileage down to 8547 which is very close to what I was expecting.

ajacpril

I had the same thing happen while booking my trip 10 months out, but J opened up just as I was about to ticket it. FWIW, J was full on the flight, a Monday am departure.

TR35R

Just perused this thread and am wondering if someone have done this with a BA agent in NRT.

I'd like to take a BA flight one day earlier that's been showing zero "U" inventory. "D" is currently 9 though, that is not enough to convince me to try a Banzai Attack. I might be a bit coward.

Any suggestion would be appreciated.

MKB

Since my last posting, as a result of changing my itinerary a couple of times, I can confirm what others have found, namely that the rule

"Connections of less than 24 hours are not included in the mileage calculation."

is not what the AA computer is using to calculate the mileage.

Instead, it is using the 4/6 hour rule to define stopover for the purposes of the mileage calculation, but allows me to go to 24 hours if there is no direct service within 4/6 hours.

So, flying A to B to C (outside the US) came out as just A-to-C mileage when my connection time in B was 11 hours and there was another indirect option B to D to C within 6 hours that got me into C earlier than the direct flight.

Conversely, it came as A-to-B plus B-to-C mileage when my connection time in B was 7 hours but there was an earlier direct service from B to C within 6 hours.

ajacpril

I was going to try this on BA out of LHR on 12/21, but did not have to as award availability opened up a few days before.

LH747FTL

I'm confident some flights will open in U before departure, nothing in U on that day currently.

I have the itinerary (with the addition of MAD-FRA in LAN F) on hold, but Plat desk said a paper ticket needs to be issued. Any idea what is causing this - the JNB-CPT-JNB BA/Comair segments perhaps? I'd have preferred ET on the spot in order not to argue about routing rules etc with the AA GSA in my hometown but oh well.

Just 10 mins on the phone to the Plat desk to get this booked and priced as OW180F, great agent.

ajacpril

Not due to the Comair segments. My OW220C was originally a paper ticket and was reissued as an electronic ticket partway through, but before the Comair segments.

3544quebec

I'm planning a Oneworld award which stopover to stopover on GCM comes out as

5 segment path: 20000 mi
EZE (34°49'20"S 58°32'09"W) GRU (23°25'55"S 46°28'10"W) 1070 mi
GRU (23°25'55"S 46°28'10"W) CPT (33°57'53"S 18°36'06"E) 3953 mi
CPT (33°57'53"S 18°36'06"E) JNB (26°08'21"S 28°14'46"E) 789 mi
JNB (26°08'21"S 28°14'46"E) SYD (33°56'46"S 151°10'38"E) 6862 mi
SYD (33°56'46"S 151°10'38"E) EZE (34°49'20"S 58°32'09"W) 7326 m

(The actual routing is EZE-GRU-LHR-CPT-JNB-SYD-LHR-GRU-EZE)

Am I pushing it to expect AA to come in at 20000 miles or under and what options might I have if it nudges a bit above the 20000 mile redemption level? One that I can see is to do CPT-JNB surface. Any other suggestions?

ajacpril

AA does not exactly agree with GCM and there is no grace amount and even one mile over will cause the next level to be triggered.

Besides the option you have listed, you could start and end in MVD with EZE being only a connection. It drops the mileage to 19962.

3544quebec

Thanks Ajacpril for that suggestion - it was helpful in a most unexpected way.

While I really wouldn't want to start the trip in MVD (Australians need a rather pricey visa for Uruguay) Knowing of that AA flight has helped me in the booking process today.

My original itinerary is a combination of BA and QF and the AAdvantage Award desk rep was insistent that the rules required that I have AA and at least two other Oneworld carriers in the itinerary. She wouldn't accept my assertion that it was two Oneworld carriers other than AA. I think we all know that AA doesn't need to be included.

She was trying to be helpful and was a bit perplexed as to how she could get me an AA flight in my itinerary, so with your info I have put in the MVD-EZE flight at the beginning which allowed me to put the itinerary on hold. Hopefully when I next ring I'll get an agent who knows that I don't need that AA flight at all and will be able to delete it.

The other thing she has done is quote me 330000 miles for the award ie adding up each of the individual flight segments rather than the stopover to stopover mileage. I trust that when this gets reviewed for ticketing it will come down to the correct 180000 miles. Or am I being too optimistic?

ajacpril

Probably might come down, but I recommend you get it fixed before setting it up for ticketing, especially because you are so close to 20,000 miles.

ajacpril

You could also check whether MVD allows international transit. You could then nest the award within another ticket EZE-MVD-EZE and not have to get a visa.

Do let us know how many miles AA comes up with.

olimaspecto

Mods - can we please edit the OP to take out JetStar as being an eligible affliate under Qantas. It shouldn't be listed.

http://www.aa.com/content/AAdvantage...filiates.jhtml

bigbrownboy

Not to speak for the OP, but I believe he put Jetstar there with the disclaimer that its listed on this OW Rules page--implying that it didn't seem right, but it's from the horse's mouth.

Austinrunner

That's exactly right, BBB. The first post in this thread does not need editing. If someone can convince AA that its website is wrong, then I'll change my post as soon as the AA website is corrected. Not until then.