2flyingmonkeys

Life is so weird. Many of us spend a lot of time and resources reaching for this invisible perch. In the end, you still don't get a simple hello or thank you for being CK when you check into something like the Chelsea Lounge (quelle surprise). There are some nice "perks" that are inconsistent, but where they win is when things go wrong. I always feel like I have someone at a phone call away and they have always sorted problems for me quickly.

My favourite thing about CK are the very special rare WOW moments, whether it's being called personally while you're eating in a lounge, getting a tarmac transfer and being in awe of being on the runway with the beautiful lights, or meeting someone whose amazing at AA (instead of hearing all the terrible customer service stories) and realizing how much many of them LOVE flying and love AA.

Yes it's some weird class system that I will never understand, and the amount of effort put into maintaining something that provides minuscule financial return to me is a mystery, I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

snydert

I experienced the reopened lounge this morning. I believe it just reopened in the last week as it was not open when I was there 2 weeks ago. It's nice and quite improved from the previous lounge, but I still prefer Cathay First Class when in T3.

GoBirds

Thanks for the update, and good to hear they’ve finally opened it back up again. I’ve tried both Quantas and Cathay whilst it’s been closed. I liked Cathay First but found it to be quite crowded and warm the last 3 or 4 times I’ve been there, so I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how the new AA First compares to the other two options in T3.

ExPlatGSO

Any new CK invites? Or only renewed so far?

yellowcalliper

I have not heard on any new CK's invitations but also curious if others have. I am also waiting.

Rapid

Hi All-

Quick question: Do we know if when AA analyzes travel for CK Consideration if it views the LP’s gained on an international AA codeshare flight flown on BA metal the same as it would an equivalent flight flown on AA Metal? Wondering also as it pertains to Jetblue metal as well.

Thanks, all, in advance.

GoBirds

Great question, and one I have as well. My guess is that spend on AA metal is likely much more important in CK consideration, although I also suspect that given the close partnership with BA, including shared facilities at JFK, spend on BA metal may valued more than on other Oneworld partners.

Of course that’s all speculation on my part, and I’d love to hear from any CK’s who’ve achieved that status via majority BA spend.

wutlol

I was concerned about this (now that as an Airpass refugee I’ll have to earn CK the proper way) and was told that, at least for TATL, BA spend is basically considered the same as AA spend as the JV is a profit share.

davecraze

That makes sense - and would also include Iberia, Air Lingus and Finnair, I expect, since they are also in the North Atlantic JV. Likewise, US to/from Australia (Qantas) and US to/from Japan (JAL) should be the same.

Seat29E

Soooo…Last week I reported I was notified (in writing!) that the nomination process was completed and that my CK status wasn’t being renewed. Last evening when checking-in for a flight I noticed the date for CK status updated to 2024. Thinking it was a fluke I checked again this morning and the date was still there, and 2 SWUs had been deposited. Still have t received an email, but happy as a clam. I’m toggling between “somebody made something up when writing the email and they weren’t really done making decisions” and “they are going back through the list and reconsidering people.”

Call me happy but confused!

dave_261

That's awesome. Happy to hear this for one of our FTers.

I'll share my story here as I prepare to update my profile from CK to EXP in 2 days... Much of my travel is Asia, where obviously AA network is reduced. I learned I didn't requalify and after trading a couple emails with the exec office, someone called to talk. The TLDR of the discussion was...
- We spent 2 months reviewing and making decisions, so there are no appeals or challenges
- We're sorry we can't get you where you want... but we're not going to just keep you as CK for if/when we resume to destinations you want to fly
- Yes we know we have codeshare and OW partners who can get you there, but we really, really prefer and need to see you on AA metal
- If our route network doesn't meet your needs, we understand if you need to make other decisions
- But could you consider taking AA to Tokyo (where they have a grand total of 2 flights) and then connecting? (Note: of course i would look at this, but not if it's going to add 10 hours to my travels)
- We still hope our EXP/OWE benefits are good enough to make your travels more pleasant, and our increased LP levels something to strive for

They did suggest that there may be an opportunity for another discussion in a few months once this round of dust settles. So it's decision time for me... take some trips which cost me hours of my life, or just let it go for now and (maybe) try again for CK once route networks are closer to pre-Covid levels.

Seat29E

Man, there are some tough messages in there! That’s a hard choice to go out of one’s way on the hope that it will matter. What’s hard to decipher is whether that out of the way connection in Tokyo would make a difference. At a minimum it seems that there’s an answer to at least one of the questions we’ve seen here recently about AA metal v. codeshare on a One World carrier.

GoBirds

Sorry to hear that they were unable to find a way to extend your CK status for another year. It sounds like you were in a no win situation--AA no longer flies where you need to go, and codeshare flights are not as important to AA as we'd like to think.

I do think the part where they said they very much prefer you to fly AA metal was interesting, particularly as just earlier today another CK member here said they heard differently, that BA spend was considered essentially equivalent to AA spend, at least on TATL routes. It may be that both are true, but that the BA/AA JV is different than the relationship with other OW members, but I guess if nothing else it confirms the vagueness and lack of clarity that surrounds CK qualification.

dave_261

I think you probably got it right. JV where they split revenue is good. Codeshare where they get far less revenue isn't as good. And OW non-codeshare is nearly useless for CK.

sqw

I thought JAL was part of pacific joint venture - trans pacific alliance - which includes revenue sharing.