AirPass Prepaid Travel (née AAirpass, not Lifetime Airpass) Master Thread
 

MODERATOR'S NOTE

After careful research and consultation with the AA Moderator Team, nine years of useful, but isolated AAirpass threads have now been merged into this Master Thread! Please take the time to read through it before posting, as your questions are quite likely answered herein. A new wiki page is under construction and will be linked here when ready. Enjoy!

dstan
AA Forum Co-Moderator
April 14, 2009

P.S.: The new AAirpass wiki page is now available here!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I just found out that AA has an air travel program called AAirpass where Air Travel is purchased for either a 2 or 5 year term with 25,000 miles per year to reduce travel costs and pre paid for travel.....Has anyone used this plan on an individual basis vs. business? Was it worth doing to lock in prices against future increases? I tried to call a sales rep, but they are closed for the evening.

i have not actually purchased the AAirpass however I did receive all of the marketing / technical informaiton and proposal from AA. Basically, you can use the mile blocks for any AA flight worldwide (i'm not sure if AA codeshares would be allowed though) in any classs. you pay based on class with Y = 1 mile and so on. You can also buy addiitonal mileage blocks, etc.

Free drink coupons, headset coupons, Admirals Club membership, etc are the additional benefits.

After reviewing the info in detail we found it to be useful only if you utilize mainly paid business or first as the cost savings vs. discounted economy was not significant and in many cases the AAirpass came to be more expensive.

It seems to be an intertesting product which is not heavily promoted but it really depends on your travel patterns.

Sounds Intersting.

Can you give me an idea on how much the miles cost? What are the restrictions? How long before the flight do you need to reserve? Do you always have to go standby?
Are the miles based on the distance travelled or the milage accrued (ie does the 500 miles minimum per flight rule apply?).

When I checked recently the miles cost 46¢ each. For a BOS-SFO round trip, that's above full coach fare. There may be savings on other routes, and there are certainly benefits in terms of locking in costs and convenience, but compared to discount economy fares it's a very expensive way to go.

No wonder they give AAirpass travelers extra benefits like early boarding and the other items indogulf mentioned. They've paid for them!

I guess this means that AAirpass is good for short hop flights only. JFK-BOS would be around $200RT. Are there any advance purchase requirements for the AAirpass tickets or can you just walk up and any seat available is yours? I guess if you are commuting regularly on the AA short hops it would make sense to ue the AAirpass. Can the miles be shared within a business account or are they restricted to individuals?

1-800-388-1461 is the AAirpass # to get more information. When I got through this morning I realized it was not for the individual! You must buy 25,000 miles per year, and it must be 2 or 5 year packages. When I was quoted $23,000 for two years, I knew I was in the wrong place!

When they first initiated the airpass program they offered Lifetime Airpass for 1 meellion dollars. (ala Dr Evil) and Lifetime Airpass with companion for 2 meellion dollars.

I'd hate to have bought a lifetime airpass to find AA cut my favorite route or close my hub...

AA had better treat you well -- they have your money in advance. Any accountant would love that. At my employer, the executives are given Airpass to use, but no one else.

I think each company can negotiate the mile cost. For example, one company I know has their mileage cost to be about around $0.35. Furthermore, based on negotiation, one can include upgrades (500 miles) as part of the AAirpass package amenities (Admiral's Club, FC check-in, etc.). AAirpass, however, is different from other negotiated contract, for example, where all the employees are automatically gold members. Lastly, employees (everyone who travels may apply) are encouraged to find the lowest rate anyway before using AAirpass. Hope this helps.

So do you get frequent flier miles when you use AirPass? If so, do the miles count towards elite status?

My employer has an AAirpass account, so I use it for most of the airline flying I do.

Out of about 400 employees who are shuttled around the country at a moment's notice, about 60 of them are flying on any given day.

A high volume of last minute travel makes the AAirpass system a good deal for us. If a cheaper Y fare is available, then that fare is booked, but that's fairly rare.

I have been told our rate is slightly less than 40 cents per statute mile.

To answer some of the previous questions:

> What are the restrictions?

None that I know of.

> How long before the flight do you need to reserve?

As long as a seat is available, all you need to do is walk up to the gate and whip out your AAirpass card.

> Do you always have to go standby?

No. You're never stand-by.

> Are the miles based on the distance travelled or the milage accrued?

Mileage is based on point-to-point statute miles. If a connecting flight is used, the extra miles are not charged.

> So do you get frequent flier miles when you use AirPass?

Yes, 1:1. Although they don't charge the AAirpass account for the extra miles incurred on connecting flights. Those miles are still awarded to the passenger as they normally would. 500 mile minumum AAdvantage mileage bonuses are awarded, as well.

> If so, do the miles count towards elite status?

Yes. :-)

As an employee, AAirpass is fantastic. We do get some perks, including First Class check-in, early boarding [but not with First Class], free Admiral's Club access, free in-flight drinks and free headsets. Our company lets us keep the miles, which is very nice, indeed. It's also a very flexible and user-friendly program for the company and the employees.

[This message has been edited by TrAAvis (edited 10-06-2000).]

AAirpass - is there really any benefit ?
 

My company has a couple of very frequent travellers who mostly do relatively short hops on short notice.

They are considering getting one or two AAirpasses, which run at 51c per mile for a minimum of 25,000 miles per year.

The problem is that even on relatively short hops these seem to represent only a tiny discount on full Y fares, so what gives, is there really any benefit to these ?

Tom --

There are a lot of routes where they offer a substantial discount. The last time I was looking at them, they were running at $0.40 /mile, but the math hasn't changed that much at $0.51/mile.

Also, AAirpass gets you free drinks in coach, free headsets, and access to the AAdmiral's club.

The biggest reason to consider AAirpass though is the convenience. No ticketing and then refunding or changing tickets as plans change.

Also, in light of the pending "revised" boarding procedures, AAirpass holders will board at the same time GLD, PLT, and EXP (Elite) members board, due to the volume of business they also bring to AA.

Studley