Mar 6, 2013, 10:37 am
Last edit by: JDiver
[B]Through / direct with same flight number on multiple segments credit as single non-stop
Through or direct flights are those that use one flight number but may not be nonstop. Takeaway: all nonstop flights are direct; direct flights might not be non-stop. When speaking to agents and you want a nonstop flight, specify nonstop.
AAdvantage Terms and Conditions (link):
If one takes a through / direct flight consisting of two or more segments operated as one flight number, the miles earned are as if the flight was a nonstop. E.g. AA111 FCO-ORD (772) and AA111 ORD-LAX (738) would render miles and segment credits as if you had flown nonstop FCO-LAX, even if you had a change of aircraft, terminals and gates in ORD.
It's not uncommon to have different aircraft carry out different segments, even different "gauges" (narrow and wide bodied) and different terminals. Normally, passengers flying both segments must disembark with cabin / hand baggage at the intermediate stops.
The exception is for round trips using same flight numbers, e.g. a mileage run using AA 123 SMF-DFW-SMF would credit separately and properly.
Seat selection will normally be for seats offered on all segments (as opposed to being able to select different seats on different segments.
Upgrades must normally clear on all segments to clear.
There are other peculiarities (affecting upgrade requests, Five Star Services, etc.) discussed in this thread. Booking through / direct flights can cause challenges one doesn’t experience on connections ting flights with different flight numbers or nonstop flights.
Through or direct flights are those that use one flight number but may not be nonstop. Takeaway: all nonstop flights are direct; direct flights might not be non-stop. When speaking to agents and you want a nonstop flight, specify nonstop.
A direct (or through) flight in the aviation industry is any flight between two points by an airline with no change in flight numbers, which includes one or more stops at an intermediate point(s).
For any flights that earn mileage credit based on a percentage of distance flown, the distance is determined on the basis of nonstop distances between the airports where your flight originates and terminates. On connecting flights with different flight numbers, the distance of each segment will be used. On single-plane, through, or change of gauge flights, the nonstop origin-destination distance will be used and credit for a single elite qualifying segment will be given.
[*]AAdvantage flight mileage credit is determined on the basis of nonstop distances between the airports where your flight originates and terminates. On connecting flights with different flight numbers, you'll receive mileage credit for each segment of your trip; on single-plane, through, or change of gauge flights, you'll receive the nonstop origin-destination mileage credit and credit for a single elite qualifying segment. On American Airlines and other AAdvantage airline participants, you'll receive AAdvantage mileage credit only for the class of service on which your fare is based when you are ticketed. American Airlines is the final authority on the methodology used to calculate mileage and the amount of flight credit for a particular flight or routing. American Airlines is the final authority on qualification for mileage credit and reserves the right to deny or revoke mileage credit at any time if American Airlines determines that mileage credit was improperly given.
[*]AAdvantage flight mileage credit is determined on the basis of nonstop distances between the airports where your flight originates and terminates. On connecting flights with different flight numbers, you'll receive mileage credit for each segment of your trip; on single-plane, through, or change of gauge flights, you'll receive the nonstop origin-destination mileage credit and credit for a single elite qualifying segment. On American Airlines and other AAdvantage airline participants, you'll receive AAdvantage mileage credit only for the class of service on which your fare is based when you are ticketed. American Airlines is the final authority on the methodology used to calculate mileage and the amount of flight credit for a particular flight or routing. American Airlines is the final authority on qualification for mileage credit and reserves the right to deny or revoke mileage credit at any time if American Airlines determines that mileage credit was improperly given.
It's not uncommon to have different aircraft carry out different segments, even different "gauges" (narrow and wide bodied) and different terminals. Normally, passengers flying both segments must disembark with cabin / hand baggage at the intermediate stops.
The exception is for round trips using same flight numbers, e.g. a mileage run using AA 123 SMF-DFW-SMF would credit separately and properly.
Seat selection will normally be for seats offered on all segments (as opposed to being able to select different seats on different segments.
Upgrades must normally clear on all segments to clear.
There are other peculiarities (affecting upgrade requests, Five Star Services, etc.) discussed in this thread. Booking through / direct flights can cause challenges one doesn’t experience on connections ting flights with different flight numbers or nonstop flights.
One or multi-stop, single flight numbers: through / direct flights (master thd)
Dec 26, 2016, 10:01 am
#226
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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You did fly PHX-CUN direct. You didn't fly PHX-CUN nonstop.
Dec 26, 2016, 3:30 pm
#228
Join Date: Apr 2009
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Dec 27, 2016, 11:26 am
#229
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: PNW
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Posts: 467
Back from a lengthy conversation on the phone with one of AAdvantage supervisors, and I'm the winner, I got the full mileage!
You might ask what argument I used, well I originally booked this flight (SEA-PHX(AA895)CLT(AA895)CUN-MIA-SEA) shortly after signing up for a PLAT challenge, and I took a screenshot of the total earnings from AA's website that says I'd earn >14450 EQMs for this itinerary meaning platinum status in one go.
After the miles have been poste up on my account I ended up with 2100EQMs less which puts me under the 12500EQMs requirement for PLAT. So I used this to make them change their mind and also told them to fix the online glitch for through flights mileage (I still have a screenshot from the booking page).
Voila
You might ask what argument I used, well I originally booked this flight (SEA-PHX(AA895)CLT(AA895)CUN-MIA-SEA) shortly after signing up for a PLAT challenge, and I took a screenshot of the total earnings from AA's website that says I'd earn >14450 EQMs for this itinerary meaning platinum status in one go.
After the miles have been poste up on my account I ended up with 2100EQMs less which puts me under the 12500EQMs requirement for PLAT. So I used this to make them change their mind and also told them to fix the online glitch for through flights mileage (I still have a screenshot from the booking page).
Voila
Dec 27, 2016, 11:34 am
#230
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: PDX
Programs: AA Ex Plat, Alaska MVP Gold 75K, Hertz Gold 5*
Posts: 197
Back from a lengthy conversation on the phone with one of AAdvantage supervisors, and I'm the winner, I got the full mileage!
You might ask what argument I used, well I originally booked this flight (SEA-PHX(AA895)CLT(AA895)CUN-MIA-SEA) shortly after signing up for a PLAT challenge, and I took a screenshot of the total earnings from AA's website that says I'd earn >14450 EQMs for this itinerary meaning platinum status in one go.
After the miles have been poste up on my account I ended up with 2100EQMs less which puts me under the 12500EQMs requirement for PLAT. So I used this to make them change their mind and also told them to fix the online glitch for through flights mileage (I still have a screenshot from the booking page).
Voila
You might ask what argument I used, well I originally booked this flight (SEA-PHX(AA895)CLT(AA895)CUN-MIA-SEA) shortly after signing up for a PLAT challenge, and I took a screenshot of the total earnings from AA's website that says I'd earn >14450 EQMs for this itinerary meaning platinum status in one go.
After the miles have been poste up on my account I ended up with 2100EQMs less which puts me under the 12500EQMs requirement for PLAT. So I used this to make them change their mind and also told them to fix the online glitch for through flights mileage (I still have a screenshot from the booking page).
Voila
Dec 27, 2016, 11:35 am
#231
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: MDE
Programs: AA-PLT, HH-GLD, PP
Posts: 1,511
Back from a lengthy conversation on the phone with one of AAdvantage supervisors, and I'm the winner, I got the full mileage!
You might ask what argument I used, well I originally booked this flight (SEA-PHX(AA895)CLT(AA895)CUN-MIA-SEA) shortly after signing up for a PLAT challenge, and I took a screenshot of the total earnings from AA's website that says I'd earn >14450 EQMs for this itinerary meaning platinum status in one go.
After the miles have been poste up on my account I ended up with 2100EQMs less which puts me under the 12500EQMs requirement for PLAT. So I used this to make them change their mind and also told them to fix the online glitch for through flights mileage (I still have a screenshot from the booking page).
Voila
You might ask what argument I used, well I originally booked this flight (SEA-PHX(AA895)CLT(AA895)CUN-MIA-SEA) shortly after signing up for a PLAT challenge, and I took a screenshot of the total earnings from AA's website that says I'd earn >14450 EQMs for this itinerary meaning platinum status in one go.
After the miles have been poste up on my account I ended up with 2100EQMs less which puts me under the 12500EQMs requirement for PLAT. So I used this to make them change their mind and also told them to fix the online glitch for through flights mileage (I still have a screenshot from the booking page).
Voila
Dec 27, 2016, 12:01 pm
#232
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: PNW
Programs: BAEC Silver, DL GM, AA Plat, NEXUS
Posts: 467
Thank you!
Actually the glitch is still there, I went back to AA.com and tried to book the same AA895 PHX-CLT-CUN, see attached for a screenshot of the earnings (2815EQMs).
Though I bet when you'll come back home from Cancun's sunshine only 1760EQMs will show up, and when you book in upper classes the multiplier starts to make a big difference.
Actually the glitch is still there, I went back to AA.com and tried to book the same AA895 PHX-CLT-CUN, see attached for a screenshot of the earnings (2815EQMs).
Though I bet when you'll come back home from Cancun's sunshine only 1760EQMs will show up, and when you book in upper classes the multiplier starts to make a big difference.
Dec 28, 2016, 7:45 am
#233
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Thank you!
Actually the glitch is still there, I went back to AA.com and tried to book the same AA895 PHX-CLT-CUN, see attached for a screenshot of the earnings (2815EQMs).
Though I bet when you'll come back home from Cancun's sunshine only 1760EQMs will show up, and when you book in upper classes the multiplier starts to make a big difference.
Actually the glitch is still there, I went back to AA.com and tried to book the same AA895 PHX-CLT-CUN, see attached for a screenshot of the earnings (2815EQMs).
Though I bet when you'll come back home from Cancun's sunshine only 1760EQMs will show up, and when you book in upper classes the multiplier starts to make a big difference.
Dec 28, 2016, 9:41 am
#234
Join Date: Jul 2004
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I went to AA.com and did a booking for PHX-CLT-CUN on the same day and it is very clearly a through-flight, with only one EQS to be awarded. Sounds like you got lucky -- unless your original flight actually did have the >24 hour layover in CLT in which case you would have been in the right all along, but it doesn't sound like that's the case.
Dec 28, 2016, 10:46 am
#235
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: MDE
Programs: AA-PLT, HH-GLD, PP
Posts: 1,511
Well something's not right here. In your "screenshot," you have a >24 hour gap between PHX-CLT and CLT-CUN, which obviously separates the flights into two separate segments.
I went to AA.com and did a booking for PHX-CLT-CUN on the same day and it is very clearly a through-flight, with only one EQS to be awarded. Sounds like you got lucky -- unless your original flight actually did have the >24 hour layover in CLT in which case you would have been in the right all along, but it doesn't sound like that's the case.
I went to AA.com and did a booking for PHX-CLT-CUN on the same day and it is very clearly a through-flight, with only one EQS to be awarded. Sounds like you got lucky -- unless your original flight actually did have the >24 hour layover in CLT in which case you would have been in the right all along, but it doesn't sound like that's the case.
Dec 28, 2016, 11:49 am
#236
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: PNW
Programs: BAEC Silver, DL GM, AA Plat, NEXUS
Posts: 467
My bad I didn't pay attention to dates, though definitely in my case the total earnings were originally calculated as if PHX-CLT and CLT-CUN are two segments, yet at the end I only got credited for the nonstop flight.
AA is still very sketchy on this, next time I'll just make sure the flights I'm taking have different numbers.
Oh and here's a same day departure that shows the "advertised" EQMs
AA is still very sketchy on this, next time I'll just make sure the flights I'm taking have different numbers.
Oh and here's a same day departure that shows the "advertised" EQMs
Last edited by redadeco; Dec 28, 2016 at 11:54 am
Dec 28, 2016, 7:53 pm
#237
Join Date: Jul 2004
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I did more sleuthing and I think I can agree. Here's what I got when I entered the very same flights you entered: one segment, as a through flight, with a single "request upgrade" option--
And then here's what I got when I searched for the exact same itinerary using the multi-city option--
Theoretically, if AA really meant what it said in these screenshots, then booking as a one-segment through flight would allow a cheaper upgrade (4 stickers instead of 7), but would return fewer miles -- although the upgrade-success threads indicate that the cheaper upgrade might never happen in the first place. And booking as multi-city would cost more to upgrade but yield more upgrade security and more miles.
But it sounds like what is actually happening is that once ticketed, AA will treat is as a through flight regardless of what the screen says -- and that's a problem worth fixing.
And then here's what I got when I searched for the exact same itinerary using the multi-city option--
But it sounds like what is actually happening is that once ticketed, AA will treat is as a through flight regardless of what the screen says -- and that's a problem worth fixing.
Dec 28, 2016, 8:55 pm
#238
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 19
Standby
Do you guys know what would happen to EQMs if the through-flight is broken up by taking the first segment earlier on a standby flight?
I have AA 36 booked SFO-DFW-MAD, but am considering going to the airport early to get on an earlier SFO-DFW flight via standby. If that clears, would EQMs be earned as two separate segments?
I have AA 36 booked SFO-DFW-MAD, but am considering going to the airport early to get on an earlier SFO-DFW flight via standby. If that clears, would EQMs be earned as two separate segments?
Dec 28, 2016, 9:09 pm
#239
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: PNW
Programs: BAEC Silver, DL GM, AA Plat, NEXUS
Posts: 467
Hopefully soon!
Dec 28, 2016, 9:20 pm
#240
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: PNW
Programs: BAEC Silver, DL GM, AA Plat, NEXUS
Posts: 467
Do you guys know what would happen to EQMs if the through-flight is broken up by taking the first segment earlier on a standby flight?
I have AA 36 booked SFO-DFW-MAD, but am considering going to the airport early to get on an earlier SFO-DFW flight via standby. If that clears, would EQMs be earned as two separate segments?
I have AA 36 booked SFO-DFW-MAD, but am considering going to the airport early to get on an earlier SFO-DFW flight via standby. If that clears, would EQMs be earned as two separate segments?
The difference in your case is not significant IMO (roughly 600EQMs if you're flying coach).
If you're flying J/F where the multiplier comes into effect (which was my case), then I'd do my best to change the first leg to another departure ahead of time.