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AA "Special Fare" (AA Vacations, TYP, MR, etc.) Questions, EQD, Issues (merged)

Old Sep 8, 2017, 4:48 pm
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American Airlines "Special Fares" and EQD Earning

Link to aa.com Special fares: Earning Award Miles and Elite Qualifying Credits


"Special Fares" include some fares sold by other than AA, such as those sold in conjunction with a travel lodging package by AA Vacations, and those purchased with credit card points, such as Thank You Points and Membership Rewards points.

Like oneworld partner (and Alaska Airlines through 31 Dec 2017) fares, these earn Elite Qualifying Dollars based on a percentage of base miles / miles flown / flight distance and the fare class purchased.

Flights booked using Thank You Points, Membership Rewards, etc. where the cardholder is essentially buying your ticket most often are special fares as well.

NOTE: EQD credit varies for "Special Fares" (e.g. AA Vacations), and the chart for those changed on 1 Jan 2019. See here.
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AA "Special Fare" (AA Vacations, TYP, MR, etc.) Questions, EQD, Issues (merged)

Old Sep 25, 2018, 5:49 pm
  #286  
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Honolulu, HI / San Francisco, CA
Programs: AA EXP, Alaska MVP 75k, IHG Spire, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 274
Originally Posted by Whodunit68
Please forgive me if I've committed the cardinal forum sin by posting this in a second location. I will gladly remove one if it's the right thing to do. I remembered this thread after posting in another.

I'm curious how this will work out. After reading about the ~$300 LAX-SIN on AA and all the posting, I decided to try fareboom since I missed the AAV Labor Day sale (don't ask).
I just purchased 2 return tickets in PE (or so it seems) on Fareboom for a trip MCO-PEK. $769 for PE!@#$ That is close to the Delta fares in PE.
It's ticketed, shows on AA.com, etc. Fareboom shows it as booking class H which, according to AA's site, will post as Economy. Any ideas how it will be recorded if it posts as bulk fare, which I'm really hoping, I'll be pretty happy. GCMAP puts this trip at 16,423 which, according to AA's mileage page, will get me 20% or $3285 EQDs and put me over the top for EP for too many years in a row.
Anyone have ideas about how this may post?
It shows economy (H) MCO->LAX, PE on both FB and AA.com for LAX->PEK, and PEK-DFW, and Economy DFW->MCO. All are showing H. I am reasonably sure AA's bulk fare posting rules don't have a PE but do get me 20% EQDs which is what I'm after.
FB shows the fare basis as PLE03EN1. I've never been good at figuring out the Fare Basis thing. I've tried to find it on Matrix but no luck. An ExpertFlyer class search on "H" said "no entries." An EF search on PLE03EN1 shows no entries. Oy vey!
AA mileage chart shows https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-p...cial-fares.jsp

What did I buy? Any ideas how it *may* post? I know this is subjective to some degree...
If you look at your ticket on AA.com does it list a fare price under "Cost Summary"? This is an outstanding price for premium economy and if it is does price as "Special fare" then that would be great deal. I checked this ticket on fareboom and could still find it for $750 however the fare rules do not list the word BULK. On the prior LAX-SIN deal, the fare rules clearly listed BULK fare which is key to getting EQD to calculate on distance. So I would be curious if there is price tag listed on aa.com... if Cost summary is blank then this is good sign that it will count as Special Fare.
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Old Sep 25, 2018, 7:53 pm
  #287  
 
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: GNV
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Posts: 392
Originally Posted by eltoddo22
If you look at your ticket on AA.com does it list a fare price under "Cost Summary"? This is an outstanding price for premium economy and if it is does price as "Special fare" then that would be great deal. I checked this ticket on fareboom and could still find it for $750 however the fare rules do not list the word BULK. On the prior LAX-SIN deal, the fare rules clearly listed BULK fare which is key to getting EQD to calculate on distance. So I would be curious if there is price tag listed on aa.com... if Cost summary is blank then this is good sign that it will count as Special Fare.
that's a great point I forgot to state that it did not show as bulk. However I'm in Beijing right now and the first two legs already posted as... Drum roll... Special fare. Booya!
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Old Sep 26, 2018, 6:56 pm
  #288  
 
Join Date: Feb 2018
Posts: 167
If I book an AA Vacation with flight + hotel, could the return flight itinerary be affected if I no-show the hotel? The flight I'm looking at is cheaper through AA vacations along with cheapest hotel (some hostel/dormitory) than booking the flight alone. Plus it is N* and S* fare classes which would seem to post as special fares, earning double the EQD that the $ fare would, and be just enough to get me to AA Gold for the year.
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Old Sep 26, 2018, 7:54 pm
  #289  
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Originally Posted by WantOnlinePoker
If I book an AA Vacation with flight + hotel, could the return flight itinerary be affected if I no-show the hotel? The flight I'm looking at is cheaper through AA vacations along with cheapest hotel (some hostel/dormitory) than booking the flight alone. Plus it is N* and S* fare classes which would seem to post as special fares, earning double the EQD that the $ fare would, and be just enough to get me to AA Gold for the year.
No issues, it's well documented that you can no-show for the hotel without any effects to your flights. I certainly did it the last time I booked through AA Vacations for a trip in May, and will do it again for a trip in December.
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Old Sep 26, 2018, 8:26 pm
  #290  
 
Join Date: Feb 2018
Posts: 167
Originally Posted by JJeffrey
No issues, it's well documented that you can no-show for the hotel without any effects to your flights. I certainly did it the last time I booked through AA Vacations for a trip in May, and will do it again for a trip in December.
​​​​​​​Thanks JJeffrey!

Is it common for a vacation package to be cheaper than the same flight on its own? I'm assuming that booking a hotel like Hyatt or Hilton through AA Vacation would not be a qualifying rate for elite benefits. Are any chains known to recognize these bookings differently than a standard OTA?

Last edited by WantOnlinePoker; Sep 26, 2018 at 8:28 pm Reason: attach quote
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Old Sep 26, 2018, 9:01 pm
  #291  
 
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: GNV
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Posts: 392
Originally Posted by WantOnlinePoker
Thanks JJeffrey!

Is it common for a vacation package to be cheaper than the same flight on its own? I'm assuming that booking a hotel like Hyatt or Hilton through AA Vacation would not be a qualifying rate for elite benefits. Are any chains known to recognize these bookings differently than a standard OTA?
​​​​​​​its fairly common.
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Old Oct 9, 2018, 10:05 am
  #292  
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: USA
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Posts: 309
Just returned from my Amex Travel booked ticket. I can confirm that it did not count as Special Fare, earning the EQD and award miles according to ticket cost for both outbound and inbound segments.
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Old Oct 9, 2018, 10:10 am
  #293  
 
Join Date: Dec 2015
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Originally Posted by Whodunit68
that's a great point I forgot to state that it did not show as bulk. However I'm in Beijing right now and the first two legs already posted as... Drum roll... Special fare. Booya!
just a quick update...while the outbound MCO->LAX->PEK counted as special fare, for the second time that I upgraded a special fare (last one was AAV with a *), the return counted as fare-based. I've written AAdvantage CS 7 days ago about it and no reply as of yet. I'm confident that it likely won't change.
While I have zero issues that I'll reach EP this year, I would have enjoyed the additional EQMs towards my 150k for 2 more SWUs!
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Old Oct 9, 2018, 10:16 am
  #294  
 
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Originally Posted by Whodunit68
just a quick update...while the outbound MCO->LAX->PEK counted as special fare, for the second time that I upgraded a special fare (last one was AAV with a *), the return counted as fare-based. I've written AAdvantage CS 7 days ago about it and no reply as of yet. I'm confident that it likely won't change.
While I have zero issues that I'll reach EP this year, I would have enjoyed the additional EQMs towards my 150k for 2 more SWUs!
- This is the known issue. Once the ticket is re-issued it will loose the "special fare" and will post as fare based.
Instead of writing, I will call EXP desk. the desk will re-direct you to AA CS and they should be able to correct the issue. Be sure that the original ticket was issued with * after the fare class and be prepared to provide the proof. I never had a problem with * fares to credit properly but after the call.
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Old Oct 9, 2018, 10:17 am
  #295  
 
Join Date: Jan 2017
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Originally Posted by eltoddo22
If you look at your ticket on AA.com does it list a fare price under "Cost Summary"? This is an outstanding price for premium economy and if it is does price as "Special fare" then that would be great deal. I checked this ticket on fareboom and could still find it for $750 however the fare rules do not list the word BULK. On the prior LAX-SIN deal, the fare rules clearly listed BULK fare which is key to getting EQD to calculate on distance. So I would be curious if there is price tag listed on aa.com... if Cost summary is blank then this is good sign that it will count as Special Fare.
Errr...isn't the word WHOLESALE (not BULK) what you're looking for in the fare rules to establish whether it's a bulk fare? That's always been my understanding.
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Old Oct 9, 2018, 10:18 am
  #296  
 
Join Date: Dec 2015
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Originally Posted by Alex_I
- This is the known issue. Once the ticket is re-issued it will loose the "special fare" and will post as fare based.
Instead of writing, I will call EXP desk. the desk will re-direct you to AA CS and they should be able to correct the issue. Be sure that the original ticket was issued with * after the fare class and be prepared to provide the proof. I never had a problem with * fares to credit properly but after the call.
it's a known issue when purchasing via AAV. I did not purchase this one via AAV.
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Old Oct 9, 2018, 8:49 pm
  #297  
 
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Originally Posted by Whodunit68
it's a known issue when purchasing via AAV. I did not purchase this one via AAV.
- sorry, my mistake, I did not study your post well enough. Then you may be out of luck. Perhaps, you can argue if you have a printout of the original fare rules
with a statement that it was a bulk fare. I had this in 2018. Ticket was a special fare, did not show the price when propagating to aa.com, but then gained ticket price
when SWUs were requested. Moreover, our original domestic segment to LAX was cancelled, we were rebooked to BOS on DL and then from BOS tp LAX on AA. DL segment did not post at all and BOS-LAX was posted as something like $35 EQD even though it was reissued by AA in F (but EQM posted with the correct F multiplier). Our SWUs cleared only at the LAX gate. At the end all requests to credit based on the distance flown were denied on the basis that "it wasn't a special fare".
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Old Oct 9, 2018, 10:05 pm
  #298  
 
Join Date: Dec 2015
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Originally Posted by Alex_I
- sorry, my mistake, I did not study your post well enough. Then you may be out of luck. Perhaps, you can argue if you have a printout of the original fare rules
with a statement that it was a bulk fare. I had this in 2018. Ticket was a special fare, did not show the price when propagating to aa.com, but then gained ticket price
when SWUs were requested. Moreover, our original domestic segment to LAX was cancelled, we were rebooked to BOS on DL and then from BOS tp LAX on AA. DL segment did not post at all and BOS-LAX was posted as something like $35 EQD even though it was reissued by AA in F (but EQM posted with the correct F multiplier). Our SWUs cleared only at the LAX gate. At the end all requests to credit based on the distance flown were denied on the basis that "it wasn't a special fare".
No worries .... I appreciate that you are trying to assist. It should be fairly straightforward because the outbound posted as a special fare but the return didn't after the upgrade and I did point that out when I contacted AAdvantage cs. I'm quite surprised that I haven't even received a response and it's been over a week. Time to make a phone call.
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Old Oct 12, 2018, 10:04 am
  #299  
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
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Running into some of the issues mentioned here. Seems like something has recently changed with how they are posting "special fares".

I booked a RT in January through Chase UR in PE. Outbound first posted as "distance -fare unavailable" as coach (as expected). A quick call to AA CS got it switched to PE, still as distance.
Our return flilght was first changed (due to a schedule change), then cancelled, reissued on BA, then changed again to AA. We were booked in J. EQMs posted as J (3x). But the other miles and EQD are posting as fare. I have no idea where the fare could have come from. I called AA CS again, and they said there is nothing they can do, and that the outbound should have posted as fare as well. They could look into it, but said the outbound could be changed if they do, so I told her to let it be.
All in all, I feel I'm shorted about $1,000 EQD. Is there anything else I should do?
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Old Oct 12, 2018, 10:13 am
  #300  
 
Join Date: Dec 2015
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Posts: 392
Originally Posted by chicagoflyer1976
Running into some of the issues mentioned here. Seems like something has recently changed with how they are posting "special fares".

I booked a RT in January through Chase UR in PE. Outbound first posted as "distance -fare unavailable" as coach (as expected). A quick call to AA CS got it switched to PE, still as distance.
Our return flilght was first changed (due to a schedule change), then cancelled, reissued on BA, then changed again to AA. We were booked in J. EQMs posted as J (3x). But the other miles and EQD are posting as fare. I have no idea where the fare could have come from. I called AA CS again, and they said there is nothing they can do, and that the outbound should have posted as fare as well. They could look into it, but said the outbound could be changed if they do, so I told her to let it be.
All in all, I feel I'm shorted about $1,000 EQD. Is there anything else I should do?
I was a little worried when contacting AAdvantage CS that they might change my outbound. I did get it resolved in my favour but I will be very honest, it was in my head the entire time.
Will the $1k EQD change anything for you? That should help determine if you make a move on it or not. It's risky....Frankly, I'm not confident that they will "take away" improper posting if it is in fact improper. Have a copy of the rare rules for the itinerary?
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