FAQ: aavacations.com / AA Vacations flight & vacation package questions, discussion
 

i find the rates for an aa vacation IAD-ATH with hotel in biz class to be at a decent price. i wish to book this 4-5 months out. due to my age and health,( me 78 yo, wife 70yo). i worry if there is a need to cancel. travel; insurance is not a real option, as the cost for me and if would be probably over $5000 for real insurance.

i cannot find any real information regarding cancellations on the website. where is the real legal document regarding cancellations?

$5,000 for travel insurance??!?!? Where are you getting a quote from? Try SquareMouth.com and you should get much more affordable rates. This is a site that will show you many insurance providers, along with a good matrix showing what the various coverages are.

In general, unless you buy a refundable fare, you won't be able to get a refund on the flight portion of your trip. The amount travel insurance would cost though would be much cheaper than buying a refundable fare.

I googled "AAvacations cancellation" and these were the 1st two results returned:

https://www.aavacations.com/waiver.asp

https://www.aavacations.com/faq.asp?...-FAQ-ALL-13-42
that one yielded this:

Are there cancellation terms for AA Vacations? I'd read rhem closely.

Does AA Vacations offer insurance at the end of booking, like aa.com does?

See InsureMyTrip.com for options, including the fine print. See SquareMouth.com as previously suggested.

Purchase an @:-) annual travel insurance policy; these are generally much more reasonable than TCII by the trip. My last purchase of such was 29 Dec 2014, it cost $295 iirc.
You may have or acquire a credit card that provides insurance. My Citi® AAdvantage® Executive MasterCard® offers $5,000 trip cancellation and interruption protection for travel purchased with the card.

AA Vacation package VS flt only booking (?)
 

I've noticed you can book a flt + hotel for much lower price than just the flt--add in the $175 discount promo (valid until Jan 24), makes the vacation package even better.:) [You must explicitly invoke the discount--it is not automatic.]
Separate issue: you can pay all cash, or on a sliding scale, miles + cash; it is interesting to note, that in one of my "dummy" bookings, they SEEM to value 94,000 @ $500--will AA sell me 94,000 miles for $500.:confused:

This is pretty well-documented in this thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/premi...vacations.html

I did 2 AA Europe vacations recently and saved a lot of money! Vienna ORD LHR VIE in I on BA, including 5 nights at the Ritz Carlton Vienna for $4,300. Booked separately that would have been over $9,000. Also, a TPA LHR in J with AA including 5 nights at the Goring for $4,100. For the two trips with the promotions they offered I received over 110,000 AA miles. Terrific deals to Europe! But not really good for other continents.

Also, very reduced F fares using AA vacations.

AA Vacations site not synced with aa.com for passport, emergency contact, etc.
 

I purchased an AA (intl) VACATION (I also logged into my AA.COM acct in case I wanted to use miles + $ to pay for it). After everything was finalized and ticketed, I had to MANUALLY populate (nearly) every field to update: pp number, expiration date, name, contact info, etc.--the only number that was synced was my KTN number.
When I directly purchase an intl ticket on aa.com, all of the above fields are already populated--the contact info is the only one which must be reentered.

Is there a question in there? Or is this just a report?

Indirectly the question is WHY? But directly it is intended as an alert to those booking an AA VACATION, that the missing info would prevent on-line check-in, until properly entered.

AA Vacation Packages - EQM and upg questions
 

I suck at searching and did try but too many results returned and I am on a very tight window to book a flight to Frankfurt. The standalone fare in coach is about $2200 on AA but I see a package with the same flights (includes a dump of a hotel that I wouldn't use) for $1200. Will I earn both qualifying miles and redeemable miles for the flights, and, can I request an upgrade either with a SWU or miles/co-pay?
And, BTW, for those who are good at searching - what should I have searched for?

Yes you will earn EQM's and are able to request upgrades. I have used AAVacations for 2 packages thus far and earned full EQM's, bonuses, and was able to request upgrades.

OK, sufficient interest and questions in this thread and the one linked to I've put up a wikipost with a FAQ.

Can anyone advise on whether it is possible to change a flight segment for one passenger on PNR that was booked as part of an AA Vacations package for two (specifically: one person staying for an extra day)?

I know that costs would be involved and that appropriate inventory would need to be available. I'm just not sure if it can be done at all.

The trip has not commenced. Thanks in advance for any guidance.

Thanks for that reply - so I booked the package, paid and printed out the voucher/receipt. Here's where it got interesting. I called to request to apply a SWU - it was available immediately on the return, outbound on waitlist. I was put on hold for quite some time, the agent came back on the line to advise they were having problems figuring out the luxury tax (LHR to JFK), but since I originate in FRA I suggested that there shouldn't be a tax at LHR. Back on hold, and when she came on the line again she said the other agent had a very hard time with this because I wasn't charged the correct tax on the package (just under $200 too little) and that I should know although they were able with great difficulty to push this through if I try to do anything else with the ticket I would be charged the additional tax. Hmmmm. Really? The total taxes shown are just around $800, and my receipt says paid in full.

Unless you're spending 24 hours or more in the UK you're right that you shouldn't pay Air Passenger Duty.

If on the other hand you are spending time in the UK then an AAgent wouldn't be able to override AA's duty to collect the tax, so it doesn't sound as though you were getting the best information.

It's the U. K. Air Passenger a Duty and if you are originating in FRA, have a U.K. connection under 24 hours and it's one ticket, you should not have to pay the APD under any circumstances. Neither the full rate due for J and F, nor the reduced rate charged for Y.

Well, you'll only get the real answer if you actually call AA Vacations.

But I see no reason why they can't just split the PNR and make a change for one passenger. After the package is booked you basically have a flight reservation and a separate hotel reservation.

That's true, of course. But wait times can be long and we know from experience that FT is often the best source when it comes to things phone agents don't necessarily encounter on a daily basis. (There are also occasions when it's helpful to get an answer without risking a note being added to a PNR, for example if the alternative to an approved change could be no-showing for the final flight in an itinerary.)

The answer when I called was indeed that it would be possible. I wasn't able to get a sensible price for my desired change, however.

So, does anyone know if:

Count the tickets AA is booking me into for my vacation? I was assigned F for one leg of domestic AA metal and I for the BA transcon segments.

All reports, including very recent reports (e.g. here), confirm that flights purchased as AA Vacations continue to earn miles in line with their booking classes.

That section definitely does not apply to AA Vacations tickets.

Paying for part of the bill with miles: EQM and upgrades?
 

Looking at a package, there are options at the end to pay all cash, or pay most with cash, and a portion with miles (never mind that most will consider it not a good value for the miles :)).

Do the miles address the hotel portion, meaning the the flights are still upgradeable and earn EQM/RDM? Or does this impact the flight portion in any way?

Edit: Going to answer my own question since I *finally* got through. AA Vacations do not use miles to pay for the airfare, only the hotel portion. So, the flights are not impacted by the use of miles for partial payment.

Cheers.

Booking at AAvacations.com
 

Is it possible to book a flight at AAvacations.com for a 14-day stay at the destination, but with only 1 night at a hotel at the destination? No hotel needed for the remainder of the stay?

How would EQM/RDM/EQD calculated for tickets purchased in 8/2016?

The hotel minimum is 3 nights.

As to the second, if it is flown in 2016 (purchased 8/2016 is not clear as to the date of the flight), then EQD are not relevant. If flown in 2017, EQD are calculated per the Special Fares section of AA.com. Percentage of miles flown with the percentage based on fare class.

EQM are calculated based on the carrier as normal.

Cheers.

Thank you for this information. If my calculations are correct, I would be better off booking a European vacation as a whole instead of separate flights and hotels. For example, I got economy DFW-FRA tickets with a base fare of $150. But if I had bought a package instead, I would have gotten 10%*5143 miles*2 legs, which is over $1k EQDs.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong because this could have a big impact on how I plan 2017 travel.

Any updates on how AAVacation bookings earning miles now that its after July 15, 2016? I couldn't find it on the website.

https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...n-airlines.jsp

Click on "Special Fares"

Yes, this would be correct for both the EQD math and the idea that it can be cheaper to package than separate, in general.

Cheers.

Q. About AAVacations Flights + Hotels Packages
 

Just looked at the AAVacations site for the first time in years. The interface seems very simple - perhaps too simple. For Flights + Hotel, it seems to assume that the number of hotel nights should be the same as the number of nights at the destination. Is there any way to change that?- I am interested in having fewer nights than I am at the destination.

I believe AAVacations requires you purchase a minimum of three hotel nights (at a "throwaway" hotel if none of their offerings are to your liking), but beyond that you can extend your overall stay as long as you'd like. You can't do that online though, you have to call them up. But it's no problem. Some exceptional Business class deals can be had via that route.

Expedia lets you specify the dates you want for the hotel, and usually they'll have the same (or similar) pricing as AAvacations (using AA flights). Else you can call AAvacations as mentioned.

Agreed. Just booked LAX-PRG (via LHR) on AAVacations over Christmas and New Years. Total package cost for business class + 6 nights at a 5 star hotel (and upgrade to a suite) in Prague was cheaper than just airfare on AA/BA, and included the long haul LAX-LHR-LAX segments. Multi-city doesn't appear to be an option on the website, so we will do a side trip to Berlin for a few nights (vacation within a vacation).

RDM from AA Vacations
 

The Wiki on top of this section states:

AAVacations: AAVacations packages will earn Award Miles (and in 2017, EQD) based on the distance flown as determined by the fare class purchased. This is in accordance with the "Special Fares" section of the new 2017 EQD earnings pages, and confirmed here

Admittedly I am not the brightest out there, but what exactly does "distance flown as determined by the fare class purchased" mean?

If the distance flown is 1,000 miles, how many RDM would I earn if I flew on a Y/J/F ticket purchased from AAVacations?

The AAVacations and RDM threads have you covered. Short answer: AA's Special Fares page shows you specifically what you'll earn -- anywhere from 50% to 150% of miles flown -- depending on fare class.

So do I understand it right that for bulk tickets, there is no difference in RDM earned between an EXP and a non-status passenger?

No, fortunately that is not correct. See post #172.

ETA: I had just updated the wiki in the other AA Vacations thread but not this one. Will fix. ... done