Feb 19, 2016, 2:01 pm
Last edit by: thorofare
AA Vacations / aavacations.com Flight and Ground Packages
Trust American Airlines to offer you the perfect package at the best price, guaranteed! When you choose to bundle your travel components into one package price we can offer you an unbeatable value by combining our unpublished low rates on flights with specially negotiated rates on hotels, activities and transportation. So, whether you're looking for a quick flight plus hotel weekend getaway or an all-inclusive package complete with flight, hotel, ground transportation and tickets to local attractions, you can rest easy knowing the entire trip is covered by our Lowest Price Guarantee.
FAQ
Q. Do these earn AAEQM Loyalty Points, Award Miles (RDM) and EQD (EQ Dollars in 2017)?
These generally book into discount paid fare buckets, so "Yes" at this time. There are a few promotional offers that do not earnEQM Loyalty Points; these will clearly say so, so read thoroughly. See:
Special fares: Earning Award Miles and Loyalty Points on aa.com (link)
Earning AA Elite Qualifying Miles / EQM on AA, oneworld, partners 2016
and this for the changes affecting Award Miles coming in the latter part of 2016.
Earning AA Award / Redeemable Miles / RDM on AA, partners later 2016
Q. Can I upgrade these with AA upgrade instruments (e500 "stickers", miles and copay, SWU)? NOTE: As of July 2022, AA no longer issues 500-mile upgrade certificates ("stickers"). Auto-requested complimentary upgrades are now available to all elite status members and one traveling companion. See details at aa.com
Yes. These follow the standard AA upgrade rules.
Q. Can I use AAadvantage Award Miles to "pay" for a vacation?
(Change late 2019) Yes. You can "pay" with money (cards, etc.), AAdvantage miles or a combination of both. Miles may be used to pay for any portion of the vacation package up, and including, all of it. At this time there is no way to distinguish the breakpoint between the land portion and the air portion of the package, except by calling. And even this is a mixed bag.
Q. If I use AAdvantage Aware Miles to pay for part of my vacation, does this impact upgrades or EQM/RDM for the flights?(RDM)?
(Change 2020) AA Vacations agents are confident that using miles will have no impact on EQM/EQD/RDM as the miles are converted to "cash" to pay for the trip, so the AA system sees these as cash paid. This is supposed to apply no matter how much of the trip is paid with miles. Experiences reported here using part miles indicate that all posts as expected in these cases..
Q. So, what kinds of fares are ineligible for earning AA miles?
"Exceptions (aa.com)
Q. What aboutEQM Loyalty Points and Award ("Redeemable") Miles earning later in 2016 after 1 January 2022?
AA has specified a set of "Special Fares", which includes select AA Vacations (where there is a * next to the booking code when looking at the flight details).
Note that the Special Fares page also says, "AAdvantage elite member bonuses will be applied in addition to the percentages shown for award miles."
Q. What fare classes do First and Business packages book into?
Typically A for international First, A, R or P domestic F, and I or D international Business.
Q. What if I'm flying on a flight on a partner airline?
AA Vacations most often books into AA "code shares" / AA marketed flights. In that case, you'll earn miles as if flying on American. If it doesn't, you'll earn per the agreement AA has with the partner airline. Start here to look them up.
Q. What advance purchase restrictions are imposed?
Most advance purchase, minimum stay, etc. normally imposed by the airline don't apply; the restrictions are those imposed by AA Vacations. (Detailed Fare Rules for your fare generally do apply, however.)
Q. Are the trips or fares refundable?
Generally not fully refundable. Hotels and ground activities are generally not at all, and air will depend on the fare bucket and detailed rules. AA vacations does offer protection, but hotels etc. may not be included.
"There are two types of protection available: We offer the Cancellation and Change Waiver (Pre-Departure Protection) which allows you to cancel and/or change either the land or air portion of their package without penalty. Trip Protector (Post-Departure protection) from Allianz Global Assistance can provide protection for your trip expenses, your health and your belongings."
A waiver is usually $129 for international travel and $69 for domestic travel. This can also be paid with miles.
Q. What is the shortest time I can book an air-hotel package for?
It appears three nights is the shortest period allowed by aavacations, unless the total duration of the trip is less than three days, then it is length of trip. However, those three nights do not need to be at a single property.
Q. Can I book a ten day package with only three days of prepaid hotel?
Sure. You'll have to call to do so, however.
You can change the dates of the hotel to be different from those of the flights in the "More Search Options" section of the search. You can also book multiple rooms here too, specifying the number of guests per room.I don't think you can book hotel to be in a different city though. A hotel in a different city (or continent, even) can be booked, but must be done over the phone.
Q. Is only one hotel offered?
No. A variety of properties is generally offered, but this will of course affect pricing.
Q. Does the hotel have to be in the destination city?
No. You can book a property in another city if it's offered by AA Vacations.
Q. What happens if I don't use the ground part (hotel, car, etc.)? Will they cancel my return flights?
Nothing. You can use it or forget it. No flight cancellations ensue. See AA Vacations - not checking in at Hotel Some purposely book the cheapest pricing for their trip knowing they're choosing a "throwaway hotel" they won't use.
Though one AA Vacations agent actually said "always book with us and just book the cheapest hotel for 3 days and throw it away", don't you say it's your intent.
Q. Will AA Vacations cause problems for me?
If you disclose your intent to AA Vacations to "throw away" (not stay at) the hotel, they can not sell you the package. So, don't.
Q. Will the hotel cause problems for me?
Not likely; they're paid for a prepaid stay whether you stay or not, as they get to keep the money and have "your" room to sell.
Q. Will I earn points at the hotel? Will they recognize my status?
Many chains don't recognize third party bookings for points or stay credit, but will usually recognize your status. Properties will treat as prepaid booking.
Q. Are there ever deals or promos?
Indeed. There are often sales and promotions; look for them on the site.
Q. What if I want to book open jaw or customize?
Calling can do that. There's a $39 call fee, unless it's not able to be booked online. Others have said you can generally calculate the price of an open jaw itinerary by adding half the price of pricing for vacations to the arrival and departure cities and adding those.
Q. Can I put these on "hold" while I think about it since these include air fare?
No. But: Refund of Air Ticket Portion Within 24 Hours of Purchase
Within 24 hours of booking, you are allowed to cancel your refundable or non-refundable air ticket for a full refund (and no change fees and/or difference in fare) subject to the following rules:
Q. My AAdvantage credit card earns double Award ("Redeemable") Miles on AA purchases. Will AA Vacations purchases earn 2x miles?
No. What transactions are eligible to earn double AAdvantage® miles?
Eligible American Airlines purchases are items billed by American Airlines as the merchant of record booked through American Airlines channels (aa.com, American Airlines Reservations, American Airlines airport, in-flight and city ticket counters). American Airlines tickets purchased through other channels or that are a component of any other cruise or tour package do not earn the additional mile purchase bonuses. Products or services that do not qualify for the additional bonus miles include car rentals, hotel reservations, American Airlines Vacations packages, purchases of American Airlines AAdvantage miles, duty free purchases and or AA Cargo℠
Q. Do these earn AA
These generally book into discount paid fare buckets, so "Yes" at this time. There are a few promotional offers that do not earn
Special fares: Earning Award Miles and Loyalty Points on aa.com (link)
and this for the changes affecting Award Miles coming in the latter part of 2016.
Earning AA Award / Redeemable Miles / RDM on AA, partners later 2016
Q. Can I upgrade these with AA upgrade instruments (
Yes. These follow the standard AA upgrade rules.
Q. Can I use AAadvantage Award Miles to "pay" for a vacation?
(Change late 2019) Yes. You can "pay" with money (cards, etc.), AAdvantage miles or a combination of both. Miles may be used to pay for any portion of the vacation package up, and including, all of it. At this time there is no way to distinguish the breakpoint between the land portion and the air portion of the package, except by calling. And even this is a mixed bag.
Q. If I use AAdvantage Aware Miles to pay for part of my vacation, does this impact upgrades or EQM/RDM for the flights?(RDM)?
(Change 2020) AA Vacations agents are confident that using miles will have no impact on EQM/EQD/RDM as the miles are converted to "cash" to pay for the trip, so the AA system sees these as cash paid. This is supposed to apply no matter how much of the trip is paid with miles. Experiences reported here using part miles indicate that all posts as expected in these cases..
Q. So, what kinds of fares are ineligible for earning AA miles?
"Exceptions (aa.com)
There are certain airline ticket types that are not eligible for mileage accrual regardless of the booking class. These include, without limitation, the following:
Q Are there any types of tickets that won’t earn award miles?
Yes, tickets that currently do not earn award miles, elite-qualifying miles or elite-qualifying segments will not earn award miles in the future. This includes:
Q Are there any types of tickets that won’t earn award miles?
Yes, tickets that currently do not earn award miles, elite-qualifying miles or elite-qualifying segments will not earn award miles in the future. This includes:
- All tickets issued as AAdvantage awards
- Other free ticket promotions including free or reduced rate tickets
- Companion tickets
- Charter flight tickets
- Travel agency/industry reduced rate tickets
- Infant tickets
- Extra seats or items occupying a purchased seat
- Unpublished fare tickets, including consolidator fares
- Tickets issued subject to special provisions
Q. What about
AA has specified a set of "Special Fares", which includes select AA Vacations (where there is a * next to the booking code when looking at the flight details).
Some fares (such as bulk or consolidator fares) earn award miles and Elite Qualifying Dollars (EQDs) Loyalty Points (LPs) at a modified rate based on a percentage of the distance flown as determined by the booking code.
Special fares are often purchased through a specialized agent, third party or as part of a package including air transportation and lodging.
Examples:
Special fares are often purchased through a specialized agent, third party or as part of a package including air transportation and lodging.
Examples:
- Bulk fares
- Cruise fares
- Consolidator fares
- Discounted or inclusive tour packages
- Vacation packages, including select American Airlines Vacations® packages. For Vacations, special fares are marked with an asterisk (*) after the booking code in the AAVacations.com booking path,
- Other tickets where the fare isn't disclosed, excluding bookings made through priceline.com or hotwire.com where the carrier isn't disclosed before buying
Q. What fare classes do First and Business packages book into?
Typically A for international First, A, R or P domestic F, and I or D international Business.
Q. What if I'm flying on a flight on a partner airline?
AA Vacations most often books into AA "code shares" / AA marketed flights. In that case, you'll earn miles as if flying on American. If it doesn't, you'll earn per the agreement AA has with the partner airline. Start here to look them up.
Q. What advance purchase restrictions are imposed?
Most advance purchase, minimum stay, etc. normally imposed by the airline don't apply; the restrictions are those imposed by AA Vacations. (Detailed Fare Rules for your fare generally do apply, however.)
Q. Are the trips or fares refundable?
Generally not fully refundable. Hotels and ground activities are generally not at all, and air will depend on the fare bucket and detailed rules. AA vacations does offer protection, but hotels etc. may not be included.
"There are two types of protection available: We offer the Cancellation and Change Waiver (Pre-Departure Protection) which allows you to cancel and/or change either the land or air portion of their package without penalty. Trip Protector (Post-Departure protection) from Allianz Global Assistance can provide protection for your trip expenses, your health and your belongings."
A waiver is usually $129 for international travel and $69 for domestic travel. This can also be paid with miles.
Q. What is the shortest time I can book an air-hotel package for?
It appears three nights is the shortest period allowed by aavacations, unless the total duration of the trip is less than three days, then it is length of trip. However, those three nights do not need to be at a single property.
Q. Can I book a ten day package with only three days of prepaid hotel?
You can change the dates of the hotel to be different from those of the flights in the "More Search Options" section of the search. You can also book multiple rooms here too, specifying the number of guests per room.
Q. Is only one hotel offered?
No. A variety of properties is generally offered, but this will of course affect pricing.
Q. Does the hotel have to be in the destination city?
No. You can book a property in another city if it's offered by AA Vacations.
Q. What happens if I don't use the ground part (hotel, car, etc.)? Will they cancel my return flights?
Nothing. You can use it or forget it. No flight cancellations ensue. See AA Vacations - not checking in at Hotel Some purposely book the cheapest pricing for their trip knowing they're choosing a "throwaway hotel" they won't use.
Though one AA Vacations agent actually said "always book with us and just book the cheapest hotel for 3 days and throw it away", don't you say it's your intent.
Q. Will AA Vacations cause problems for me?
If you disclose your intent to AA Vacations to "throw away" (not stay at) the hotel, they can not sell you the package. So, don't.
Q. Will the hotel cause problems for me?
Not likely; they're paid for a prepaid stay whether you stay or not, as they get to keep the money and have "your" room to sell.
Q. Will I earn points at the hotel? Will they recognize my status?
Many chains don't recognize third party bookings for points or stay credit, but will usually recognize your status. Properties will treat as prepaid booking.
Q. Are there ever deals or promos?
Indeed. There are often sales and promotions; look for them on the site.
Q. What if I want to book open jaw or customize?
Calling can do that. There's a $39 call fee, unless it's not able to be booked online. Others have said you can generally calculate the price of an open jaw itinerary by adding half the price of pricing for vacations to the arrival and departure cities and adding those.
Q. Can I put these on "hold" while I think about it since these include air fare?
No. But: Refund of Air Ticket Portion Within 24 Hours of Purchase
Within 24 hours of booking, you are allowed to cancel your refundable or non-refundable air ticket for a full refund (and no change fees and/or difference in fare) subject to the following rules:
- You must call 800-321-2121 within 24 hours of purchase to cancel the air ticket reservation and request a refund of the air ticket.
- The reservation must have been booked at least 7 days before scheduled departure.
- This policy does not apply to hotel or other non-air portions of the package. Standard cancellation policies will apply to all non-air components of the package.
- Refunds are only issued for tickets booked on aavacations.com or with American Airlines Vacations Reservations.
Q. My AAdvantage credit card earns double Award ("Redeemable") Miles on AA purchases. Will AA Vacations purchases earn 2x miles?
No. What transactions are eligible to earn double AAdvantage® miles?
Eligible American Airlines purchases are items billed by American Airlines as the merchant of record booked through American Airlines channels (aa.com, American Airlines Reservations, American Airlines airport, in-flight and city ticket counters). American Airlines tickets purchased through other channels or that are a component of any other cruise or tour package do not earn the additional mile purchase bonuses. Products or services that do not qualify for the additional bonus miles include car rentals, hotel reservations, American Airlines Vacations packages, purchases of American Airlines AAdvantage miles, duty free purchases and or AA Cargo℠
(lower right wiki corner)Updated by JDiver 19 Feb 2016
FAQ: aavacations.com / AA Vacations flight & vacation package questions, discussion
Jan 10, 2020, 7:58 am
#407
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: SJC
Programs: AA EXP, BA Silver, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton diamond, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 33,533
You can see the miles cost of the PDP by looking at the change in miles with this checked/unchecked, so you can at least pay that with miles. I did that on a recent booking.
If you do HUCA and get something different, please report back.
Cheers.
Jan 10, 2020, 1:09 pm
#408
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: NYC
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 254
Thanks - my worry is that even if the miles cover the cost of, say, the PDP, there is nothing stopping AA from saying that the miles were actually used to cover a part of the flight cost and therefore the flights don't earn the same, or at all. Since there's no certainty at this point I may just swallow the total cost of the trip.
Jan 10, 2020, 1:24 pm
#409
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: SJC
Programs: AA EXP, BA Silver, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton diamond, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 33,533
Definitely a risk. On my last one, I covered just the PDP, and I can argue that. I didn't want to chance using any miles beyond that, even a safe amount that would be well within the land portion.
One interesting thing I've been told is that, to the regular AA system it looks like dollars were paid, so the system can't really distinguish. Not confident enough to believe that. And I've had an inquiry into AAdvantage Customer Relations to ask about this since mid-November with no response. This prompted me to remind them again
The flights I've booked after the change to allow all to be paid with my miles, and during the time when they would still tell me the breakdown are still in the future. For a couple of those, I've asked the agent to add a note saying that the entire air portion was paid with cash so that I have some paper trail.
Followup: Shortly after posting this (and emailing them again) I got a call from AA CS. Apparently they've sent me 3 emails, but I never got them. The net net is that the person I spoke with did not have the answer, but will escalate. I indicated that what we really want is a statement of policy that they will commit to standing behind with regard to this dollar/mile split. Then, even if the automated system does it wrong, they have ability to fix it, and a policy commitment will lay out the rules for when they will step in. Will report when/if I hear back.
Cheers.
One interesting thing I've been told is that, to the regular AA system it looks like dollars were paid, so the system can't really distinguish. Not confident enough to believe that. And I've had an inquiry into AAdvantage Customer Relations to ask about this since mid-November with no response. This prompted me to remind them again
The flights I've booked after the change to allow all to be paid with my miles, and during the time when they would still tell me the breakdown are still in the future. For a couple of those, I've asked the agent to add a note saying that the entire air portion was paid with cash so that I have some paper trail.
Followup: Shortly after posting this (and emailing them again) I got a call from AA CS. Apparently they've sent me 3 emails, but I never got them. The net net is that the person I spoke with did not have the answer, but will escalate. I indicated that what we really want is a statement of policy that they will commit to standing behind with regard to this dollar/mile split. Then, even if the automated system does it wrong, they have ability to fix it, and a policy commitment will lay out the rules for when they will step in. Will report when/if I hear back.
Cheers.
Last edited by brp; Jan 10, 2020 at 1:56 pm
Jan 12, 2020, 9:44 am
#410
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: STL
Programs: AA
Posts: 167
Hi everyone I booked a package (flight + car) through AAvacations. Is there a good way to see if the miles/EQDs will post as special/bulk fare vs cost? I was hoping that this would qualify as a special fare but my hopes are low because it actually displays the cost of the trip with a breakdown of fare + taxes/fees. I thought most packages booked through AAvacations qualified as special/bulk fare? Any thoughts? Thanks!
Jan 12, 2020, 12:01 pm
#411
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: FLL / MIA
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 58
Hi everyone I booked a package (flight + car) through AAvacations. Is there a good way to see if the miles/EQDs will post as special/bulk fare vs cost? I was hoping that this would qualify as a special fare but my hopes are low because it actually displays the cost of the trip with a breakdown of fare + taxes/fees. I thought most packages booked through AAvacations qualified as special/bulk fare? Any thoughts? Thanks!
Jan 12, 2020, 4:59 pm
#412
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Oakland
Programs: AA Explat, UA former 1K + PremExec, DL
Posts: 1,151
It was pointed out to me last year that if you call to book, there will not be a (*), and this was confirmed in my experience last September. I have found that if the AA receipt you get from the flight portion shows $0 for the fare, i.e. only taxes and carrier imposed fees, it will process as a bulk/special fare. I also called and spoke to an agent for the trip in question, and they could see it was a bulk fare despite having no (*) in my confirmation.
Jan 12, 2020, 7:11 pm
#413
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: SJC
Programs: AA EXP, BA Silver, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton diamond, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 33,533
It was pointed out to me last year that if you call to book, there will not be a (*), and this was confirmed in my experience last September. I have found that if the AA receipt you get from the flight portion shows $0 for the fare, i.e. only taxes and carrier imposed fees, it will process as a bulk/special fare. I also called and spoke to an agent for the trip in question, and they could see it was a bulk fare despite having no (*) in my confirmation.
Cheers.
Jan 14, 2020, 7:39 am
#414
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: STL
Programs: AA
Posts: 167
Thank you both for the information! I actually went to get the receipt and it did not have the * next to the class of service. It even had the price breakdown from fare to taxes/fees. I spoke to the agent and they told me that miles/EQM/EQDs will post the traditional way, not as a special fare. Thanks again!
Jan 23, 2020, 12:55 pm
#415
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: SJC
Programs: AA EXP, BA Silver, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton diamond, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 33,533
Cross-topic post, but this really is the better thread for this question since the nuances pertain to these vacation packages.
Those with Amex cards that reimburse for airline "incldentals" have no doubt seen that more and more of the ways to, effectively, use this for tickets are drying up, i.e. Amex following their rules.
Has anyone here had any experience in applying this to any components of a vacation package? It's harder now to separate out the land portion, so that seems sticky. But perhaps the PDP would qualify if paid separately? Any experiences?
Edit: So, I'm going to partially answer my own question (still looking for any experiences, but did get some info on what's likely):
Amex said that it would count if it can be billed separately as something related to a Change Fee or Change Fee Protection or something similar.
AA Vacations, though, said that they can do this as two separate payments, but it's still going to come across as AAVACATIONS, and no way to differently classify it.
So, on surface, it looks unlikely.
Cheers.
Those with Amex cards that reimburse for airline "incldentals" have no doubt seen that more and more of the ways to, effectively, use this for tickets are drying up, i.e. Amex following their rules.
Has anyone here had any experience in applying this to any components of a vacation package? It's harder now to separate out the land portion, so that seems sticky. But perhaps the PDP would qualify if paid separately? Any experiences?
Edit: So, I'm going to partially answer my own question (still looking for any experiences, but did get some info on what's likely):
Amex said that it would count if it can be billed separately as something related to a Change Fee or Change Fee Protection or something similar.
AA Vacations, though, said that they can do this as two separate payments, but it's still going to come across as AAVACATIONS, and no way to differently classify it.
So, on surface, it looks unlikely.
Cheers.
Last edited by brp; Jan 23, 2020 at 1:14 pm
May 14, 2020, 7:55 am
#416
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: SAT
Programs: AA EXP BA Gold, TK Gold, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, AS 100K, QR PLT, SAS Gold, IHG Spire, AMR
Posts: 5,898
Corona virus waiver should apply to these bookings as well, I would think. When I called , however, the agent claimed I have to pay change fees, penalties etc. Has anybody had any experience with changing AA vacation flights at no cost recently?
May 14, 2020, 9:31 am
#417
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: SJC
Programs: AA EXP, BA Silver, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton diamond, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 33,533
Of course, they're running more than 6 weeks (so far) on the actual refund
Cheers,
May 15, 2020, 4:01 am
#418
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: SAT
Programs: AA EXP BA Gold, TK Gold, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, AS 100K, QR PLT, SAS Gold, IHG Spire, AMR
Posts: 5,898
I just want to change the dates of my trip. I can't do it online because it was booked through AAV. I am not worried about cancelling it or getting a refund vs voucher.
May 15, 2020, 8:31 am
#419
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: SJC
Programs: AA EXP, BA Silver, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton diamond, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 33,533
Cheers.
May 27, 2020, 11:49 am
#420
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Vail, CO
Programs: AA EXP/1mm, Marriott Titanium/LT Gold, UA Silver
Posts: 626
Does anyone have an idea of their policy in the event they cancel the flight - is the hotel refundable? I have a trip booked to London early June and its likely the flight will get cancelled - am I then SOL with the hotel?