Dec 1, 2015, 8:52 am
Last edit by: Shawn02139
American Airlines AirPass PrePaid Travel
NOTE: The program is Airpass; no longer named "AAirpass"
Link to aa.com AirPass contact and links page.
Prepaid, Unrestricted Air Travel at a Fixed Rate
As an AirPass member, you won’t have to search for fares or pay extra for last-minute trips. Your airfare is pre-paid at a fixed rate and your account is ready when you need to travel to any of the more than 350 destinations in the combined American Airlines and US Airways network.
As an AirPass member, you won’t have to search for fares or pay extra for last-minute trips. Your airfare is pre-paid at a fixed rate and your account is ready when you need to travel to any of the more than 350 destinations in the combined American Airlines and US Airways network.
AirPass, depending on level of purchase, includes status and may include up to Executive Platinum status and Admirals Club membership, or even Concierge Key, which includes both.
AirPass members get a courtesy drink and a snack if they're traveling in Coach, much as Executive Platinums do; unlike Executive Platinums, their traveling companion does also.
14 Jan 2016 jmappleby said: "...they take credit via wire transfer at $10k (Gold), $20k (Platinum), $30k (EP). Concierge Key is available for $50k individual spend or $75k team spend."
Contact AirPass
AirPass Customer Service
800-433-6355
817-931-9029 - Fax
Monday - Friday
8 a.m. - 5 p.m. (CT)
Send us a letter
FedEX / UPS / Overnight mail
American Airlines
AirPass Customer Service
4255 Amon Carter Blvd.
MD 4106
Fort Worth, TX 76155
U.S mail
American Airlines, Inc.
AirPass Customer Service
P.O. Box 619616
MD 4106
DFW Airport, TX 75261-9616
AirPass Customer Service
800-433-6355
817-931-9029 - Fax
Monday - Friday
8 a.m. - 5 p.m. (CT)
Send us a letter
FedEX / UPS / Overnight mail
American Airlines
AirPass Customer Service
4255 Amon Carter Blvd.
MD 4106
Fort Worth, TX 76155
U.S mail
American Airlines, Inc.
AirPass Customer Service
P.O. Box 619616
MD 4106
DFW Airport, TX 75261-9616
The best deal seems to be the -UP fares, where you pay the standard economy, but book a confirmed seat into business
AirPass Prepaid Travel (née AAirpass, not Lifetime Airpass) Master Thread
Feb 11, 2020, 12:18 pm
#556
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2019
Programs: AA: CK
Posts: 2,230
J sold out before you could check. I’ll find another. Incidentally, how much is instant upgrade to F? The Biz class price of $1808++, what’s the total of each of these two First Class options, including taxes and fees?
Feb 12, 2020, 7:37 am
#557
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 1,044
With AirPass you don’t see taxes/fees until the charges appear in your account a day or two after flight. So you can calculate the fare in first or instant upgrade to first (business) based on mileage, your mileage rate, and your multiplier for that region, but total will vary as taxes/fees vary. Your sales rep should be able to get exact pricing if you want, but the taxes/fees are generally a small delta. Recall that (except for the PlanAhead or whatever it is called) airpass tickets are totally changeable/cancelable/flexible, so compare accordingly to your use case. For me that flexibility is huge.
Feb 12, 2020, 7:47 am
#558
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2019
Programs: AA: CK
Posts: 2,230
With AirPass you don’t see taxes/fees until the charges appear in your account a day or two after flight. So you can calculate the fare in first or instant upgrade to first (business) based on mileage, your mileage rate, and your multiplier for that region, but total will vary as taxes/fees vary. Your sales rep should be able to get exact pricing if you want, but the taxes/fees are generally a small delta. Recall that (except for the PlanAhead or whatever it is called) airpass tickets are totally changeable/cancelable/flexible, so compare accordingly to your use case. For me that flexibility is huge.
Feb 12, 2020, 8:55 am
#559
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: BOS
Programs: AA EXP, UA 1K
Posts: 1,078
Correct on both fronts. The caveat is that Instant Upgrade to First (J-UP) is only available to purchase when Instant Upgrade to Business (Y-UP) is sold out on 3-cabin flights. The JFK-SFO example quoted above being a rare example when booking further out on the transcons.
Feb 12, 2020, 9:00 am
#560
Join Date: Jul 2016
Posts: 222
If you're using the $60K Airpass as a shortcut to CK status just be advised that it's highly unlikely you will get CK again the following year unless you pony up another $60K for a new Airpass contacts at then current rates and also remember that CK will expire at the 12-month end of the first year of your contract as opposed to the calendar year. Simply put, Airpass is an extremely expensive way for an individual to buy CK status (especially if you're looking to fly Flagship First Intercontinental or Transcon). Airpass is really a corporate travel program that makes sense for companies spending in $1MM per year with AA (at which point negotiation comes into play) yet at those levels there are other players (such as AMEX) that will always have a cheaper and more comprehensive corporate discount travel that covers more than just AA metal.
Lastly, Airpass contact rates were raised in 2018 and I would expect additional escalations in some of the bands by end of this year or next year. Also, the following is just conjecture, but based on my observations there is an ongoing internal struggle with in AA between AAdvantage and Airpass/Meeting Services (the two business units Airpass/Mtg Svcs were all but combined over the past year and a half). AAdvantage does not like Airpass as it costs them internal revenue bookings (as communicated to me on multiple occasions). Since AAdvantage and the sale of AA miles is basically what makes the company profitable these days I see AAdvantage winning the battle in the near future by truly limiting AAirpass to true corporate customers that spend hundreds of thousands if not millions with AA on an annual basis, Again, purely speculation at this point but the writing is on the wall.
Feb 12, 2020, 9:14 am
#561
Join Date: Jul 2016
Posts: 222
Correct on both fronts. The caveat is that Instant Upgrade to First (J-UP) is only available to purchase when Instant Upgrade to Business (Y-UP) is sold out on 3-cabin flights. The JFK-SFO example quoted above being a rare example when booking further out on the transcons.
Feb 12, 2020, 9:21 am
#562
Join Date: Jul 2016
Posts: 222
Also please be aware the married segment rules apply to Airpass bookings and are quite frequently present. For example, LAX-DFW may show D available and DFW to JFK may also show D available but LAX-DFW-JFK will then show D=0. Also, for a "through fare" meaning origin to destination mileage cost fare basis the booking code must be the same for all segments and the maximum allowed segments for a through fare is now TWO! So you can't book LAX-DFW in R and DFW to JFK in I and expect O to D mileage multiple. Also, the new rule is that if you book JFK-DFW D, DFW-LAX in D and LAX-STS in D it will not price out as the mileage between JFK and STS. Instead it will price as two segments Y-UP JFK-LAX and Y-UP LAX-STS.
Feb 12, 2020, 1:16 pm
#564
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2019
Programs: AA: CK
Posts: 2,230
Correct on both fronts. The caveat is that Instant Upgrade to First (J-UP) is only available to purchase when Instant Upgrade to Business (Y-UP) is sold out on 3-cabin flights. The JFK-SFO example quoted above being a rare example when booking further out on the transcons.
Feb 12, 2020, 1:20 pm
#565
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2019
Programs: AA: CK
Posts: 2,230
There is no such thing as a JUP with Airpass (ie JUP from Business to Flagship First). There used to be a glitch several years back when AA used F and A for domestic First Class on both three class as well as two class flights that allowed a JUP but this has long been fixed and the contract language never supported such. Only a YUP to Business/Domestic from Airpass full fare economy is valid and allowed now. Also, please be advised that Airpass has significant taxes and fees that add to the cost of a ticket when it is debited from the Airpass account. In many circumstances these can be a 30% surcharge that's added to the Airpass fare (especially if your going to LHR or likewise).
If you're using the $60K Airpass as a shortcut to CK status just be advised that it's highly unlikely you will get CK again the following year unless you pony up another $60K for a new Airpass contacts at then current rates and also remember that CK will expire at the 12-month end of the first year of your contract as opposed to the calendar year. Simply put, Airpass is an extremely expensive way for an individual to buy CK status (especially if you're looking to fly Flagship First Intercontinental or Transcon). Airpass is really a corporate travel program that makes sense for companies spending in $1MM per year with AA (at which point negotiation comes into play) yet at those levels there are other players (such as AMEX) that will always have a cheaper and more comprehensive corporate discount travel that covers more than just AA metal.
Lastly, Airpass contact rates were raised in 2018 and I would expect additional escalations in some of the bands by end of this year or next year. Also, the following is just conjecture, but based on my observations there is an ongoing internal struggle with in AA between AAdvantage and Airpass/Meeting Services (the two business units Airpass/Mtg Svcs were all but combined over the past year and a half). AAdvantage does not like Airpass as it costs them internal revenue bookings (as communicated to me on multiple occasions). Since AAdvantage and the sale of AA miles is basically what makes the company profitable these days I see AAdvantage winning the battle in the near future by truly limiting AAirpass to true corporate customers that spend hundreds of thousands if not millions with AA on an annual basis, Again, purely speculation at this point but the writing is on the wall.
If you're using the $60K Airpass as a shortcut to CK status just be advised that it's highly unlikely you will get CK again the following year unless you pony up another $60K for a new Airpass contacts at then current rates and also remember that CK will expire at the 12-month end of the first year of your contract as opposed to the calendar year. Simply put, Airpass is an extremely expensive way for an individual to buy CK status (especially if you're looking to fly Flagship First Intercontinental or Transcon). Airpass is really a corporate travel program that makes sense for companies spending in $1MM per year with AA (at which point negotiation comes into play) yet at those levels there are other players (such as AMEX) that will always have a cheaper and more comprehensive corporate discount travel that covers more than just AA metal.
Lastly, Airpass contact rates were raised in 2018 and I would expect additional escalations in some of the bands by end of this year or next year. Also, the following is just conjecture, but based on my observations there is an ongoing internal struggle with in AA between AAdvantage and Airpass/Meeting Services (the two business units Airpass/Mtg Svcs were all but combined over the past year and a half). AAdvantage does not like Airpass as it costs them internal revenue bookings (as communicated to me on multiple occasions). Since AAdvantage and the sale of AA miles is basically what makes the company profitable these days I see AAdvantage winning the battle in the near future by truly limiting AAirpass to true corporate customers that spend hundreds of thousands if not millions with AA on an annual basis, Again, purely speculation at this point but the writing is on the wall.
Feb 12, 2020, 1:23 pm
#566
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2019
Programs: AA: CK
Posts: 2,230
Also please be aware the married segment rules apply to Airpass bookings and are quite frequently present. For example, LAX-DFW may show D available and DFW to JFK may also show D available but LAX-DFW-JFK will then show D=0. Also, for a "through fare" meaning origin to destination mileage cost fare basis the booking code must be the same for all segments and the maximum allowed segments for a through fare is now TWO! So you can't book LAX-DFW in R and DFW to JFK in I and expect O to D mileage multiple. Also, the new rule is that if you book JFK-DFW D, DFW-LAX in D and LAX-STS in D it will not price out as the mileage between JFK and STS. Instead it will price as two segments Y-UP JFK-LAX and Y-UP LAX-STS.
Feb 12, 2020, 4:18 pm
#567
Join Date: May 2014
Location: PHL and beyond
Programs: AA CK, Marriott Platinum, Hertz PC
Posts: 247
Correct on both fronts. The caveat is that Instant Upgrade to First (J-UP) is only available to purchase when Instant Upgrade to Business (Y-UP) is sold out on 3-cabin flights. The JFK-SFO example quoted above being a rare example when booking further out on the transcons.
Feb 12, 2020, 4:25 pm
#568
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2019
Programs: AA: CK
Posts: 2,230
Really? Wow, I didn’t know it sold out in Y all the time. What days/times were your flying patterns?
Feb 12, 2020, 4:25 pm
#569
Join Date: May 2014
Location: PHL and beyond
Programs: AA CK, Marriott Platinum, Hertz PC
Posts: 247
There is no such thing as a JUP with Airpass (ie JUP from Business to Flagship First). There used to be a glitch several years back when AA used F and A for domestic First Class on both three class as well as two class flights that allowed a JUP but this has long been fixed and the contract language never supported such. Only a YUP to Business/Domestic from Airpass full fare economy is valid and allowed now. Also, please be advised that Airpass has significant taxes and fees that add to the cost of a ticket when it is debited from the Airpass account. In many circumstances these can be a 30% surcharge that's added to the Airpass fare (especially if your going to LHR or likewise).
If you're using the $60K Airpass as a shortcut to CK status just be advised that it's highly unlikely you will get CK again the following year unless you pony up another $60K for a new Airpass contacts at then current rates and also remember that CK will expire at the 12-month end of the first year of your contract as opposed to the calendar year. Simply put, Airpass is an extremely expensive way for an individual to buy CK status (especially if you're looking to fly Flagship First Intercontinental or Transcon). Airpass is really a corporate travel program that makes sense for companies spending in $1MM per year with AA (at which point negotiation comes into play) yet at those levels there are other players (such as AMEX) that will always have a cheaper and more comprehensive corporate discount travel that covers more than just AA metal.
Lastly, Airpass contact rates were raised in 2018 and I would expect additional escalations in some of the bands by end of this year or next year. Also, the following is just conjecture, but based on my observations there is an ongoing internal struggle with in AA between AAdvantage and Airpass/Meeting Services (the two business units Airpass/Mtg Svcs were all but combined over the past year and a half). AAdvantage does not like Airpass as it costs them internal revenue bookings (as communicated to me on multiple occasions). Since AAdvantage and the sale of AA miles is basically what makes the company profitable these days I see AAdvantage winning the battle in the near future by truly limiting AAirpass to true corporate customers that spend hundreds of thousands if not millions with AA on an annual basis, Again, purely speculation at this point but the writing is on the wall.
If you're using the $60K Airpass as a shortcut to CK status just be advised that it's highly unlikely you will get CK again the following year unless you pony up another $60K for a new Airpass contacts at then current rates and also remember that CK will expire at the 12-month end of the first year of your contract as opposed to the calendar year. Simply put, Airpass is an extremely expensive way for an individual to buy CK status (especially if you're looking to fly Flagship First Intercontinental or Transcon). Airpass is really a corporate travel program that makes sense for companies spending in $1MM per year with AA (at which point negotiation comes into play) yet at those levels there are other players (such as AMEX) that will always have a cheaper and more comprehensive corporate discount travel that covers more than just AA metal.
Lastly, Airpass contact rates were raised in 2018 and I would expect additional escalations in some of the bands by end of this year or next year. Also, the following is just conjecture, but based on my observations there is an ongoing internal struggle with in AA between AAdvantage and Airpass/Meeting Services (the two business units Airpass/Mtg Svcs were all but combined over the past year and a half). AAdvantage does not like Airpass as it costs them internal revenue bookings (as communicated to me on multiple occasions). Since AAdvantage and the sale of AA miles is basically what makes the company profitable these days I see AAdvantage winning the battle in the near future by truly limiting AAirpass to true corporate customers that spend hundreds of thousands if not millions with AA on an annual basis, Again, purely speculation at this point but the writing is on the wall.
Not sure where you will get CK for less, on the CK thread people spending $75k are being asked to spend more to stay in. If it's offered at $60k that would be a good value. Though note, most AirPass customers also book regular flights some of the time, for example, I just flew PHL-SFO-JFK for $1000 and J was empty so I got almost instantly bumped to J in 767 both ways. When I did AirPass I spent about $40k on AirPass and another $20k on aa.com
As to AirPass changes, the people I speak to in that department told me they are focused on expansion. I did the cost per mile comparison before and after AirPass and AirPass is INSANELY profitable. I'm sure there's interdepartmental rivalry but that's big companies for you.
Feb 12, 2020, 4:32 pm
#570
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2019
Programs: AA: CK
Posts: 2,230
I've bought J-UPs multiple times on AirPass. Not sure where you're getting your information from. Of course, inventory has to exist.
Not sure where you will get CK for less, on the CK thread people spending $75k are being asked to spend more to stay in. If it's offered at $60k that would be a good value. Though note, most AirPass customers also book regular flights some of the time, for example, I just flew PHL-SFO-JFK for $1000 and J was empty so I got almost instantly bumped to J in 767 both ways. When I did AirPass I spent about $40k on AirPass and another $20k on aa.com
As to AirPass changes, the people I speak to in that department told me they are focused on expansion. I did the cost per mile comparison before and after AirPass and AirPass is INSANELY profitable. I'm sure there's interdepartmental rivalry but that's big companies for you.
Not sure where you will get CK for less, on the CK thread people spending $75k are being asked to spend more to stay in. If it's offered at $60k that would be a good value. Though note, most AirPass customers also book regular flights some of the time, for example, I just flew PHL-SFO-JFK for $1000 and J was empty so I got almost instantly bumped to J in 767 both ways. When I did AirPass I spent about $40k on AirPass and another $20k on aa.com
As to AirPass changes, the people I speak to in that department told me they are focused on expansion. I did the cost per mile comparison before and after AirPass and AirPass is INSANELY profitable. I'm sure there's interdepartmental rivalry but that's big companies for you.