astebel

I agree that those of us who were cut may vote with our feet (or wings as the case may be) however, it came so late this year. I for one already had 7 trips booked in March as well as April and May travel so it would have been too late to have tried to use that UA status match at this point. They got us hooked. And as mentioned below, now that we are flying again, a lot of us are near EP status already.

snydert

Haha - I'm right on track with you. Hit EP 3rd week of March and am just north of 300k LPs. We are aligned!

ikwia

I respectfully, but strongly, disagree about the IROPS handling, especially for (potential) CKs who fly a lot of domestic segments. Making "impossible" connections and the ability to be booked onto a new flight of your choosing, even if already oversold, are huge benefits in my experience, and the ability to get someone on the phone in a few minutes instead of a few hours is critical to adjusting travel during systemic IROPS. Of course, YMMV.

HaleiwaFlyer

I do agree making tight connections are huge plus with tarmac transfers directly from the jet bridge as a CK. I do agree with fast phone answering. However, in my experience, booking into a new flight of my choosing (international/domestic) still required extensive research on OW partners/AA flights. Domestic IRROPS is a no brainer/straight forward. Even great CK agents that look at all available flights can't get you on a completely full flight or book on other airlines such as UA/DL for the best available schedule. AA/OW partners schedules are the greatest limiting factor for CK IRROPS, at least based on my experience. If one is based out of DFW/LAX/PHX, it is easy to get IRROPS handled due to more flights available. If you are at one of the peripheral airports such as HNL/PDX/SEA, it is different story with limited flights and flights already being booked full for J in advance.

However, for travelers thinking of obtaining CK and have the assumptions that IRROPs is magical and automated with CK, I want to dispel that myth. Only once have I received a proactive call to change my flight. I do get emails indicating flight change from the CK manager. Every other time I had to call in to make sure I get the last seat on the next available AA flight or find available flights before the remaining future flights are bought out by the remaining displaced passengers. Most of time, I had to purchase on AS/UA/DL to get me to my destination in a timely manner. For example, a HNL-DFW that goes mechanical is a disaster to get a timely flight.

ikwia

If a cancelation of or a change to your original flight will get you to your destination more than 3 (maybe it's 4) hours late, they can book you on any AA flight, even those that are full or even oversold. It may be an economy seat, but they can definitely get you on. In such situations, there are often (but not always) business seats that aren't being sold but that are available for upgrades. When my schedule allowed, I used to select such flights, and I had near-perfect (if not perfect) success using this strategy. Yes, it requires some work on your part using EF or a similar tool.
It's certainly not perfect, but I have, on numerous locations, landed to find that I had already been rebooked on another flight, often already confirmed into business even if my purchased ticket was in economy. I also used to frequently receive phone calls -- TBH, to the point of annoyance. I don't need a call to tell me that my flight has been delayed 15 minutes, nor do I need a call at 5:30 AM to tell me that my 4:45 PM departure is delayed by 30 minutes but so is my connecting flight, so there are no issues.
If it results in a sufficient delay, then it should be easy to get rebooked on the next flight, subject to the caveats above.

hnewman

I made CK because of work last year including training a replacement me for me. So given that I have CK for this year and will not make it next year how should I best take advantage this assume gift in the 1st year of retirement for my wife and I. Thanks for the input.

metallo

Congrats! A lot of the personalized assistance is great, particularly the tarmac transfers and IROPS handling. You’re also fairly guaranteed to get through to a U.S. based human being right away when you call the CK line, and you can even email them if you can’t or don’t want to make a phone call (they typically respond to emails in less than an hour).

For someone who is retired and plans not to be renewed, I think the best advice would be to book the absolute cheapest economy tickets you can find and enjoy the top upgrade priority. You’ll have access to the Flagship Lounge domestically. Waved copays on mileage upgrades (if you’re doing longhaul international, for example) is a nice feature also.

Most of us who are CK ideally want to keep requalifying, so we continue to buy expensive F/J tickets. If you don’t care about trying to keep earning the status, or you don't think you want to spend your retirement funds on it, I’d be frugal and just enjoy the top tier benefits while they last!

hnewman

metallo, thank you for your advice. 2 question.

1. I assume that Basic Eco does not qualify for upgrades with CK.
2. For international using points for say PE I assume that cash upgrades are not available either.

Thanks.

GoBirds

I find the highlighted part to be quite ironic. We'd almost always be at the top of the upgrade list, but as you say, most of us buy F/J tickets so we usually don't take advantage of arguably one of the more valuable CK perks available to us. And it's not just to maintain CK status, but also because of the paucity of available seats in F and J eligible for upgrade on many flights, particularly within a few days of departure, which is when I generally purchase my tickets.

metallo

I’ve never purchased a basic economy ticket, so someone more familiar with these tickets please correct me if I’m wrong, but my understanding is that, yes, they’re still eligible for complimentary upgrades.

There is actually no way to upgrade to PE with miles. However, say you’re going US to Europe, you can upgrade to business even from a deeply discounted coach ticket (if upgrade space is available) for 25,000 miles each way per passenger, and you won’t have to pay the typical $350 copay that would be required for any non-CK.

Sometimes paid offers are available to PE or J (particularly in the AA app), but CK doesn’t get you any added benefits with that method of upgrading.

robertablake

It is availability for complementary upgrades

robertablake

Here is my advice for someone who just did the same last year:

Make full use of international flights where you can upgrade ( or wait-list) to Business with just miles (the $350 per one-way per person is waived for CK's). This assumes you don't have SWUs to use. You can booked these flights while you are CK for dates after you lose CK.

Fly thru JFK so you can use the Chelsea lounge.

Make full use of Flagship lounges.

Booked paid flights to make use of the bonus miles (120% bonus).

​Enjoy you year.

stant

CK landing at heathrow.....

just curious - I often times travel to london and for as long as i can remember there is an AA agent at the door with a 'CK' sign. Do CK members get any inbound perks at heathrow like a priority line through immigration? I always position myself in the business class cabin to be 1st or 2nd out the door when it opens, and I'm a fast walker. if they are just giving cart rides to all the CK members once they get off the plane, I'd be through immigration myself before that happens most likely.

newbie CK wants to know

TIA

astebel

There are no expedited ways through immigration. The cars help take you across the tarmac if you are transferring to another terminal. Saves that bus ride. Also, you get into the new lounges at LHR. Previously needed a 1st class ticket on BA to get into Concorde but now CK can. One time my daughter and I had an 11 hr layover in LHR. We actually went off campus for lunch to visit the castle and ended up visiting around 10 lounges. Cathay is great.

stant

maybe a year or so ago there was that 'expedited' immigration line that anyone could buy into but you got offered free passes to in first or business. I think they did away with it when they started letting more than just uk nations in through the e-gates.

the condord room is a departures lounge, no? I always fly AA metal, so they are still only using terminal 3 no? a month or so ago the flagship lounge was still closed in terminal 3, and I'm not that keen on the alternatives. at least the arrivals lounge is open again!