mcgahat

So, decided to check my booking details for an upcoming trip and noticed that when I look online I dont see an * next to my fare code but in the original email I got it is there. I did request and upgrade with SWU so that may have caused that and I think it was reported before that was the case by someone. Just a data point for everyone. I will reply back with how things post to my account. I have already hit EXP and EQD requirement so no real worry but good inf for future.

nrr

turleytraveler

Does anyone know if AA is crediting vacation packages purchased through an OTA? I have done one of these this year and although on AAdvantage Customer Service supervisor said it qualified, I later received an email declining the flights as special fare. I'm looking at another trip where the OTA website (Cheap Tickets) clearly says "Special Fare", but I don't know if AA is going to credit it or not.

brp

What was their reason for denying it? According to the wording in the link shown in the Wiki above, the only limitation should be on some AAVacations packages. All others should be included. This was not AAVacations, so it should be included. This should be challenged.

Cheers.

turleytraveler

They said that if it shows up on the AA website with a price, then they have to use the fare method for EQD/EQM calculations. I bought the last one as a package with hotel and there was not any breakdown on fare, it was one price for the package and a separate line for tax, no breakdown of airfare vs. hotel. There is a disconnect because the first supervisor said it would credit on distance but the 2nd one said if it shows up as a fare, they have to do it on fare. I have long trips planned before the end of the year to qualify, and I have one I'm about to book that clearly says "Special Fare", but I don't know if it's going to get disqualified and credited on fare instead of distance.

AAExecPlatFlier

Not sure special fare on an OTA website has the same meaning as the * next to the booking code that we see on AA vacations. Allot of times OTA’s use special fare to mean discounted fare. You could check he OTA far rukes and see if it says “wholesale”. Someone mentioned that.

But, by any chance did use a swim or miles and copay? As we know this seems to screw up posting to always be fare.

mcgahat

I have always used and SWU (pretty sure you mean SWU not swim) and have always had my vacations bookings post as distance. I did post earlier that when looking at my booking on the vacations site I did not see an * next to the fare but the email had it and this was after using and SWU so maybe that has changed. I ended up not taking that trip so cant tell how it would have posted ultimately though.

So, I dont know that I would agree that is is always fare after applying a SWU or miles upgrade.

adambadam

I had a recent trip to PEK booked as a O* fare via AAVacation. Used a couple SWUs to move to J. All legs that had been upgraded via the SWU ended up posting as fare (the others posted as distance). I wrote EXP and they said they would look into it and expect a follow-up in 2-4 weeks FWIW. This seems to have recently become more of an issue based on the EQD/RDM thread.

AAExecPlatFlier

Historically u will find that if u use a SWU that the aa vacations code is replaced by the aadv ticketing designator. Hence it posts as fare. If u are due distance posting (ie u truest qualify for distance and aren’t just trying to get it posted as distance) u need to call and have it re posted.

CloudCoder

For similar issues, I phone AAdvantage customer service. They take care of it, right then and there, in just one phone call.

brp

We've generally had them post correctly, despite the SWU. On recent flights we each had 4 legs (round-trip with 1 stop each way) upgraded with SWUs. All of the outbound posted correctly as Distance (these were AAVacations with *). On the return, mrs. brp posted correctly as Distance, mine posted as far. So 6 of 8 posted correctly right off the bat.

This. I called for the one direction that posted incorrectly (by Fare). It was fixed within maybe 15 minutes.

The kicker was that the original Class was V, so would have been 15%. They processed it as C, so got 20% on EQD, and correspondingly more RDM

Always call.

Cheers.

mcgahat

I guess I wasnt clear. Historically I have found just the opposite. I guess I have been lucky.

ryan182

it does seem that there's no definite answer to this, my last trip mixed AA/BA J booking but all AA flight numbers both had * fares and I upgraded the AA flight (LHR-DFW) to F and both segments posted as distance rather than fare...except in my case I would have done much better EQD-wise on fare than distance so guess I'm un-lucky

adambadam

Hmm. Good to know for the future!

fanger

Have you used Membership Rewards or Thank You Points much instead of AAVacations? Was wondering if I am out of luck with Asia on AAVacations- no more * for Jan-Mar departures that I can find.

In this thread, and on sites like The Points Guy, the consensus seems to be that with Citi ThankYou Portal, the flights consistently post as special fares, even if you don't actually use any points to pay.

Some people say that if you successfully apply a SWU, the miles and EQD posting will revert to "Fare-based". However, brp and others have noted that they have consistently been able to get this corrected (changed back to distance-based) by calling in. However, this may apply more to AAVacations than Citi TYP. Also, others have experienced the opposite, an inability to get the crediting method changed back to distance.

I don't get as clear a read here on people who have used the Membership Rewards booking portal. Do people consistently get distance-based or fare-based crediting? Do you have to pay the full or partial amount with points, or can you just use the portal and pay with your Amex in cash? Does SWU usage trigger the swap in crediting that others have experienced?

JT Genter on the Points Guy reports in April having 11/13 points booked by AMEX Centurion Concierge posting as special, but not clear if that carries over to the AMEX travel website and MR points.