777lover

Has an airpass fro about 5 years -- it was a good deal.

But with the prices now --- it seems to make sense on for those last minute trips in full Y.

FullFare

Gosh, if your employer is going to buy an AAirpass for you, simply shut up, give thanks, and accept it in the spirit in which it's given! If you can combine other travel into your account, you'd probably hit Plat without much effort.

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AAExecPlat; Lifetime AAirpass; 3MillMiles; UApremier-PassPlus

azmmza

this is a topic that i have not seen disscused here.what is the program that is reffered to as AAirpass? it is called "a pre pay" program. any one have any info on this program, and to whom it would be AAdvantageous to participate in this program?

lavasushi

The website is http://www.aairpass.com/

It seems pretty informative

azmmza

i checked the web site and the prices seem confusing can any one explane it to me in english?

robb

While I think these pass plans were attractive at one time, they are way overpriced at today's rates.

If you currently fly 50,000 miles per year, and wanted to try this payment scheme out for the next 2 years, it would cost you:

$25,500 (Base 2-Year, 25K Pass)
+$12,500 (Excess 25K miles for Year 1)
+$12,500 (Excess 25K miles for Year 2)
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$50,500 (Total investment for the entire 2-year period)

However, you are given a free Admiral's Club membership, and most importantly can travel at a moment's notcie, as your pass is considered full fare payment.

Where it gets a little confusing is when you want to fly international or in another cabin. You draw down your miles faster by travelling in First or Business, but oddly enough, you get international coach for fewer miles charged against you.

So, if you regularly fly last minute flights and pay full fare, then this might be worthwhile, but with the availability of discount fares, I can't imagine buying this plan.

fredz

I am looking for anyone with information on a lifetime AAirpass for sale. I believe that the contract allows for 1 transfer from the original owner.

FullFare

fredz: I bought one of the last lifetime AAirpasses sold back in 1994. I believe they stopped selling them in 1995. Given that they were "lifetime" I have not been aware that one could transfer them to someone else's "life". Hence, if one were purchased by a 70 year old man, would the airline feel it was a square deal to let him dump it off to a 20 year old kid?

The only AAirpasses being sold now are for 2 years and 5 years.

I can't imagine that the AAirpass program is doing well, given that business sucks (business was what mostly bought these) and they raised the prices through the roof. Given what UA is doing, by lowering walk-up full Y fares, such fares would be profoundly lower than the prices charged by AAirpass, on a per-mile basis.

Anyway, the word "lifetime" is likely not to be limited to the customer's lifetime, but rather the airline's. A recent quote by Airline scholar Joe Bracantelli struck me: "Never let an airline be your bank". Ten years ago I would't have agreed. Right now he looks right on.

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AAExecPlat; Lifetime AAirpass; 3MillMiles; UApremier-PassPlus

fredz

FullFare: I owned one of the first AAirpasses in the Boston area back in 1989, when the per mile charge was about $0.21. At that time, the contract allowed for 1 transfer during the life of the contract on lifetime passes. You would probably see this in your contract unless they changed it (back then, the cost of an unlimited lifetime AAirpass with companion was $650k)!
I was hoping that with all of the .com crashes, that someone may own one through a company that went bust and was looking top unload it.
BTW - I believe that the contract also had provisions for work stoppage and bankruptcy that were very favorable to the purchaser.

azmmza

i know that airpass members get free access to the ac and ac members ca use the qf lounge, could an aairpass member use the qf lounge, or is that reciprical agreement only for paying members?

FullFare

I believe AAirpass customers have truly "paid" for AC access, and the symbol of the AC is duly noted on the AAirpass card. Thus, I would hope an AAirpass memeber is treated the same as any other "paying" AC member, and allowed appropriate access.

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AAExecPlat; Lifetime AAirpass; 3MillMiles; UApremier-PassPlus

TrAAvis

After more than 3 years of travelling on AAirpass, I haven't had much trouble at all....until yesterday.

My company got me a ticket on Delta, but I wanted to go on American [coach seat power outlets & re-platinum challenge]. I found an AA flight that would get me into DFW a half hour later but was $230 cheaper on my AAirpass.

I get to the AA counter and they have trouble ticketing it. Three ladies worked on it for 40 minutes before calling someone at AAirpass for help. With that help they had it working in about five more minutes. By that time the plane was full. The next flight to DFW wasn't for another 6 miserable hours. They tried to accomodate me on other airlines, but there wasn't anything much better available due to spring break. They got me on their last flight out and gave me a "non-Carty maximum" voucher for my inconvenience, but that's 6 valuable hours at home that are gone forever. Next time I will ask them to call for help after about 10 minutes of trouble.

Here's the question. One lady who worked on my problem offered this excuse: "After we started bombing Iraq they changed the ticketing procedure for AAirpass." Does this make any sense to anyone?

T/BE20/G

The only ticketing change that I'm aware of is that AAirpass tickets are now electronic. I'm not an agent, so I don't know if there are any other changer, or whether the fact that the tickets are now electronic makes any significant difference in the ticketing procedure. As an aside, the switch to electronic AAirpass tickets is not a result of the war, it's just coincidental timing. AA announced some time ago that all ticketing would be electronic in the near future, and this just happens to be when they imnplemented that for AAirpass.

eye on american

For all of you who are AAirpass members, you might find this interesting...

I got emailed an itinerary for a trip I am taking this weekend and I noticed an $83 charge for taxes, even though I am using AAirpass. I was suprised, because as we all know, AAirpass travel just debits the point-to-point miles flown (and then any adjustments for geography or class of service).

I called the AAirpass Desk to check into it and apparently there is a new policy as of March 20th to add a tax to AAirpass tickets. You pay the tax by having additional AAirpass miles taken out of your account. They convert $ to miles based on the rate in your contract. For example, my total tax charge was $83. My contract is based on $0.40 / mile. So in addition to the geographic miles I am going to fly, I will have $83 / $0.40 = 207.5 miles taken out of my AAirpass account.

The agent told me it was something the should have always been doing, but just never did.

I am pretty annoyed about it. It seems like another poor strategy by AA to nickel and dime its best and most loyal customers. If they wanted to tinker with AAirpass, they should start by making sure the AAirpass holder get status and AAdvantage miles for the companions flying on the AAirpass as well -- something which in my experience they almost always conveniently forget.

onedog

Does AA charge you taxes when they sell you your AirPass? I thought they did (I have never used an AirPass so I was just assuming this). If they did, then they are double charging you for the taxes. If they didn't then basically you have been getting lucky and AA is just trying to recoup their costs? IMHO, at $.40/mile, AA seems to have already (at least internally) included taxes into their pricing calculations and this is just an after-the-fact price increase?