Short check bags TPA-DFW-COS
 

We have a family trip planned to Colorado next weekend but we are canceling that plan due to the heavy flooding situation which is worsening. AA currently does not have any travel advisory, which would allow free changes/cancellations for trips to Colorado.

We had booked my wife's sister and her husband using miles from each of our boys AA account to travel from Tampa-Colorado Springs. Now we would like to have them use the first segment Tampa to DFW and visit us instead of continuing to COS. Changing destination, or dropping DFW to COS segement or redepositing miles is $150 each which is not worth the 12,500 miles I paid.

They are on a 3 week tour and have luggage they will have to check in. So the question is can they request/convince the checkin counter agent to short check the bags till DFW and just not use the 2nd segment. The connection time in DFW is 90 minutes so hoping that agent will be willing to accept reason for short check, is to hand over checked in bags to family in DFW.

Thoughts?

Is this a round-trip or oneway ticket?

It is a one-way from TPA-DFW-COS, bought at Saver Award level of 12,500 miles. They were to go to Denver spend couple of days, then go to Las Vegas and then visit Dallas. The Las Vegas trip was not booked, so will now be a fresh booking once I figure out if they can get to DFW from Tampa using short checking of bags.

Short checking is not allowed and the agents in TPA will not do it. If they skip the last segment and have checked bags, the bags will be making laps on the luggage belt.

Best option is to ship (UPS, USPS, FedEx) what they will not be able to carry aboard.

IME, short-checking bags is always available, -- just ask. I probably short-check bags once/year, but no agent has ever declined my request. If you are asked why, make something up. "My sister is meeting me at DFW and I have some stuff for her."

The real issue is whether you can change the ticket and have the fee waived. While the change fee does exist and is published, it never hurts to call and ask. Perhaps you will get a sympathetic agent. And remember, when you call, phrase your question in the context of "Given the floods in Colorado, I'm considering...." You don't want an agent getting tough with you and taking the position that if you know that the flights aren't going to be flown, then s/he is going to cancel them. You'll win that fight, but it's better to avoid it and any negative comments which might find their way into your PNR as a result.

Remember also that if you don't fly segment 2, segments 3 and 4 will be cancelled automatically. So even if it's a one-way ticket, if the return is in the same record, you may have a problem. Just pay close attention to this.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

"Changing destination, or dropping DFW to COS segement or redepositing miles is $150 each which is not worth the 12,500 miles I paid."

You are laboring under a misconception. AA no longer charges to drop the first or last segment of an award, as long as doing so does not change the country of origin or arrival. This is an exception to the fee normally charged for changing an award's origin or destination.

Does that apply to a wholly domestic itinerary? Ive seen that discussed here, but it was always in the context of an international award.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

I do not recall seeing anything on FT that says the policy is limited to international awards. But the OP is in an ideal position to let us know if such a restriction exists.

This would be a crazy new development, and would mean that all Domestic awards basically no longer have change fees. Sounds too good to be true... but I would be happy to be proved incorrect.

OP - Worst case, you should be able to get a free date change for a LIFO connection - Last flight into DFW that night, first flight out the next morning. Then you will have no problems with a short check.

Normally, I would agree with the poster who suggested just asking about short-checking (and perhaps giving a reason about needing to transport something for your sister). But 90 minutes is a pretty tight connection in DFW to claim and re-check luggage. It will take about 30 minutes (IME) for all the bags to get to the claim area, and then the luggage cutoff for re-checking bags DFW is 40 minutes. So it's a very impractical lie with that short of a connection.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

According to the post in the TB forum, the policy about dropping a first or last segment free of charge has been in effect since February, 2011, and does apply to purely domestic awards. So the OP should be able to drop his second segment without charge, as long as he can find an AA agent who knows about the policy. I would kick it up to a supervisor, if necessary.

Situation resolved: Got an AA agent couple of days back who proceeded to drop the connecting segment from DFW-COS.

Thx for your replies, I did not realize there were so many of you who had posted back. Had trouble with my laptop and got occupied with that.

So here is what I think happened. I was very clearly informed on two different calls last week that there would be a $150 charge to make changes to the destination. So no I was not under any misconception.

And I think the 3rd call I made couple of days ago, I suspect the agent was more informed about the policies allowing for dropping last segment is without charge, possibly like @guv1976 mentions.

There is still a change fee for awards.
The fee does not apply to date only changes, if origin and destination are the same. It also doesn't apply to dropping the first or last legs.

The OP's issue of short checking would not be an issue solely because of a 90 minute connection time, as the passengers were not planning on boarding the second flight.

I have a similar question that I don't think warrants a new thread.

There are mixed reports in this thread about AA and short-checking bags.

I'm looking at a mileage run next year that will have five segments, an overnight at the final port, then back to as far as the second city (ORD).

If I ask the check-in agent at the initial port of departure to check my bag only to ORD, rather than my final destination, would this be an issue? My plan is to arrange for BagsVIP to collect the bag for me in ORD.

I will have an approximate three hour layover there so it is more than plausible. My concern is that AA doesn't do short-checking or isn't interested in doing so.

Requesting a short check on bags will always raise red flags from ticket agents. You might be successful, you might not. All depends on the agent.

Purely curious: what might the agent think? That you're going to get off early and forget the rest of your trip, or something sinister?