TravelLawyer

It didn't show a fare code that I could find, so I took my chances. I didn't need it either way as I took the buy-up offer from AA so the "risk" was minimal if it went against my favor. The fare was cheap enough that it was worth it.

nrr

I used all TYPs. I find intl air-hotel packages booked with AA Vacations a good deal. At one time I could get air + hotel cheaper than air only, the offers now save me $100-$200 per itn and I get EQD based on miles.

BillBurn

FWIW, I had 3 LAX-LHR legs this year, all on AAV tickets in business on an I* fares. Here is my EQM/EQD/AW for the different legs;

Leg #1 4/17 LAX-LHR I* EQM: 10,912 EQD: 1,910 AM: 16,096 EQD % of Miles Flown: 35.0%
Leg #2 10/17 LAX-LHR I* EQM: 10,912 EQD: 1,712 AM: 18,832 EQD % of Miles Flown: 31.4%
Leg #3 11/17 LAX-LHR I* EQM: 10,912 EQD: 1,637 AM: 14,732 EQD % of Miles Flown: 30.0%

Actual mileage on this leg is 5,456 and special fare chart says I was supposed to only get 20% or $1,091 EQD per leg. Go figure. I have no idea what is going on with AW. I guess in addition to YMMV it should also be said that YEQDMV as well.

fanger

If you look in the activity breakdown on AA.com, does the EQD have a ratio of 1:5 with the base award miles? This would be an indication that they are awarding based on a "fictitious" fare that is associated with the booking. I had this experience on a couple of legs on AAVacations trips, although mainly on segments that had been modified by SWU application or IRROPS rebooking.

BillBurn

The base award miles to EQD were:
Leg #1 4/17 LAX-LHR I* EQD: 1,910 AM: 16,096 BAM: 5,456 BAM/EQD: 2.85
Leg #2 10/17 LAX-LHR I* EQD: 1,712 AM: 18,832 BAM: 8,560 BAM/EQD: 5.00
Leg #3 11/17 LAX-LHR I* EQD: 1,637 AM: 14,732 BAM 5,456 BAM/EQD: 3.33

So look like I hit 5:1 on leg #2 , but not on the others. I believe I used SWUs to upgrade into 1st on all three legs.

fanger

So, it looks like you got 35% EQD/mileage on Leg #1 and 30% on Leg #3 (as you noted initially). 5456 is the correct mileage. I know there are some partner classes that get 35% for first, and special fares is normally 30% for first, so perhaps these are all the result of erroneous (possibly manual) classifications triggered by the SWU, as you should have gotten 20% on all three I guess.

Reikon

I booked a flight with points + cash through Citi and the fare info didn't show up on AA. I got credit based on special fares.

fedechat

I booked a flight+hotel trough AAV as special fares (*), fare info didn't shop up but I decided to use a SWU on the long segment, it ended up posting as fare.
I called a couple of times and most of the agents were clueless, saying that it always post as fare and one of them went to ask his supervisor and came back saying in order to get distance-based it must be a package with Flight+Hotel+Car, but he was unable to explain why my AAV SFO trip with flight+car ended up posting as fare, then he sent (or open) an investigation and it could take 7-10 business days.

caburrito

How refundable are AA I fares from Chase's travel portal? Chase claims refundable but I was under the impression I fares were not from AA.

nrr

I've booked many AA Vacation packages to ZURICH, the big plus was (1)mileage based, (2)hotel selection was "nice" (=near airport with free shuttle). I was trying to book a package for June, the nice hotels like: NH, Hilton, Hilton Apart, Holiday Inn, Mowenpick are no longer an option; the current choices require a 30 minute ride vs < 10 minutes. Have they done this on other packages.
[For Zurich the hotel portion was via EXPEDIA.]

mcgahat

It would depend on the fare rules. Also, a fare can be refundable and not fully refundable due to some refund penalty/fee. Chase would be the group that would determine that and issue the refund though so they 'should' know best.

mcgahat

I havent had the issues others have reported on AA Vacation bookings showing as fare instead of distance but had an interesting experience on my last upgrade request that makes me think I will on this trip. It took an exceptionally long time for the EXP desk to get back to me to confirm the upgrade request was put in. Once when they came back to give me an update while I was on hold it was because they were "trying to reconstruct the fare", maybe this is normal but also makes me wonder if they have changed something in how they handle the upgrades. For me on this trip, it will not matter as the distance and fare calculate about the same (or should) but will be an interesting test. We may be out of luck if SWU is involved in the future on these bookings.

buckybadger

Have two trips booked via aavacations and wanted to ask two questions:

1) Both trips have dummy hotel reservations. One trip we're on a tour with hotel included and one trip I'm staying with friends. What's the current consensus on not using the hotel part? Do I need to call and cancel or just is it okay to just not show up?

2) I've never had status on any airline before, but will going on two business class flights in 2018 get me anything? Miles I can use to upgrade something later? I know the fare is a cheaper business fare so I wasn't sure. One flight is direct RDU-LHR and one is RDU-DFW-PEK.

Thanks!!

fedechat

I noticed I got the upgrade while I was checking my reservation, but I didn't get email (re-ticketed) until a couple of days later. I was able to resolve my issue trough AA.com, using the contact form and I explain that my AAV was special fare marked with an (*) and I added the link to AA website, I got a response in less than 24hs saying they were able to confirm your ticket was booked as a Special Fare and they reposted as Special Fare.

fanger

I also experienced this very long (20-40 min) "reconstructing the fare" hold twice recently, both on the same trip, day of departure. The first was when I called in to change flights due to IRROPS and C1 was available. The second was at the airport when they cleared me at checkin. On the same trip, outbound, both of us cleared ahead of time, so I didn't have to be on the phone and didn't notice how long the trip took to be re-issued, but all but one of the segments have fictitious EQD associated with them (I.e. not consistent with 10% EQD/mile and much higher than any reasonable breakdown of the bulk fare could explain).

Based on everyone else's reports you should be able to call in and get it fixed if it's not in your favor.