BThumme

Under the old RDM scheme, I would route whatever I could to get the most RDMs on my itineraries, with no regard to plane types. If I could make a widebody work, great. If not, not a huge deal.

Now that it's not earned that way, I don't mind paying a little bit extra to ride on a 787/77/67, since AA flies them somewhat frequently between hubs and I can earn a little bit extra RDMs.

I fly 99% leisurely but often don't need to be where I'm going urgently, so don't mind taking an extra connection. I'm based in DEN and usually fly to ORD or Michigan via ORD.

AA flies a 788 on LAX-ORD and DFW-ORD, and I've gone out of my way to route on them, often times for very little price increase, here's an example:

What I originally booked:
November 22/23:

DEN-PHX 855pm-1052pm
PHX-DFW 153am-508am
DFW-ORD (788) 654am-923am
ORD-LAN 1205pm-216pm

That ticket was $270, and by contrast, DEN-ORD-LAN sells for $274 on November 23rd.

I had a schedule change that changed the DFW-ORD to a 737 (and the DFW-ORD 787 moved up to flight AA 335 leaving at 10am).

Now, under the old model, I wouldn't mind as much because I would still earn a bit of RDMs, but now I don't. And I'm certainly not going to go out of my way to fly one of the older 737s.

For the future, I'm not sure what I should do. Most people here would probably say it's stupid to go out of your way and you should only fly the bare minimum - DEN-ORD-LAN had a total travel time of I think 5 hours, the one example I provided is something like 16. I like flying, I like big planes, and I very rarely travel internationally so I like that AA flies these birds because it gives me (and others) a chance to fly them.

I have no issue going out of my way to fly them, and want to, but the issue is that when they get swapped out, AA's response to me has been pretty stalwart.

Here's a much simpler example to show what I mean (and not AS crazy):

ORD-LAX-DEN, 530pm-12:30am. ORD-LAX was a 787, switched over to a 32B (which is probably my favorite narrowbody). But at the same price, I could have routed ORD-DFW-DEN or even ORD-DEN (for a bit less) and gotten in at a much more reasonable time (2pm-7pm).

In this example, I called up AA asking if they could change my flights to ORD-DFW-DEN, with ORD-DFW being on a 787, and selling for the exact same price as the LAX itinerary. Three ex plat agents, all said no, sorry, we don't guarantee plane types (thankfully the AA twitter team helped out), and rerouting would require a fee. I understand if the availability isn't there, but this is for travel 3 months out and wide open inventory.

So what I'm trying to say is, I want to go out of my way to book widebodies. AA can and does change them up all the time, and when that happens, the response I've gotten has been pretty rough trying to be accommodated (which are the reasons why I'm buying these flights). I was hoping AA would loosen up a bit now that the earning structure has changed, but there are no signs of it, and that is making me seriously reconsider how I plan my travels.

What I'm asking FT is if anyone goes out of their way here to route on a widebody or not? I paid a pretty penny to get myself on a 789, but for the future, I don't think I'm going to do this as much as there is just too much risk.

hiima

Depends on where I'm trying to go. I'm not gonna fly a transcontinental from LAX to get to ORD, but I'll fly something like LAX-JFK-DC if it doesn't take way too much more time.

joeyE

I had to go from DC to Atlanta way back when. Tons of nonstops or connections on east coast, but I flew IAD-ORD-ATL because UA had a new 777 on the 1st leg. Would absolutely do it again for the chance to ride a 787.

WRCSolberg

To a certain degree, I guess. I wouldn't backtrack two hours across the country or make some horrendous 18 hour long, overnight slog to fly a domestic widebody though.

Box10

Not counting Soviet aircraft, I have been a passenger on many jetliners. I have not been on the VFW-Fokker 614, Dassault Mercure, BAC/Sud (BAe/Aerospatiale) Concorde, Vickers VC-10, Trident or Comet.

I would go out of my way to take a flight on a 787, A380, or A350 but not too much out of the way because I will eventually take a flight on those.

Similarly, I would go out of my way to fly on a A340-200 (rare), A318, and 737-600.

However, a widebody seat is often the same as a narrowbody so I wouldn't go out of my way.

DataPlumber

No but I get more opportunities (Int'l) than I want to fly them as part of the normal course of business.

BThumme

And that's part of my dilemma.

I've been overseas three times. Once was EWR-OSL and ARN-EWR on UA 757s.
The other two were United 788s. If I had much more intl travel, the novelty would wear off for me, but I'm not there yet.

matrixwalker2012

I'd still go out of my way to run up my EQM count and MM count. And doing it by flying on a 77W or 787 domestically would be awesome!

morrisunc

I go to JFK instead of LGA to get a lie flat on JFK-MIA

dls25

The domestic widebodies have been so unreliable lately with many delays and aircraft swaps that I actually actively try to avoid them

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

Yes on routes like MIA/DFW (where J as sold as Y on a three class 777), MIA/LAX (737 F seat is torture for 5+ hours) and MIA/ORD.

mvoight

If you like fly just to be flying, then Ok.. But, there is no way I would travel 16 hours just to get into a widebody for a trip that would otherwise take 5, in any class. (What class are you flying in?)

mvoight

I'd go out of my way to ride in a Fokker Dr.I, especially if it was red and the pilot's name was a baron named "Manfred"...........

no2chem

If I have a reasonable chance of getting an upgrade, then yes, generally I'll go for it unless it increases my travel time by more than 2-3 hours. Typically widebodies have a better upgrade chance anyway.

Y seats on widebodies tend to be pretty similar, but a lie flat in F is way better and I find generally worth the extra travel time unless I need to be somewhere. The new AA J hard product is actually pretty good.

But more than 3 hours travel time, and if I have to add a bunch of 737 segments just to get there... pass

BThumme

Well in this case, it saved me some money, and I get into my destination earlier, and I get to be on a 787, and I don't have to get up at 4am for a 7am flight. It's all in Y, but I'm about 90% on upgrades, so planned on the upgrades. The 16 hours is misleading because it's overnight.

However because of the schedule changes (my PHX-DFW flight got removed and I was moved onto the 1230 am PHX-DFW flight), I was able to just go DEN-DFW-ORD-LAN, leaving at 5am, so something much more "normal."

I'd rather try and sleep on a plane then have to do the early morning trip to DEN. This was just a crazy example though, it's not usually like that. Just that I've seen recently that the price is about the same to go DEN-LAX-ORD as it is DEN-ORD.