Dec 31, 2016, 10:20 pm

FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides

Last edit by: JDiver

Welcome to the 2017 "NEWBIE LOUNGE"
Ask Your Consolidated / Combined AA Questions Here (flame free)
MODERATOR GUIDEPOST:

(This post can only be edited by moderators.)

Welcome to the Newbie Lounge!

Quote:

Welcome to Flyertalk!

The Newbie Lounge is a place for newer and less experienced members to ask their questions about American Airlines and the AAdvantage program and have answered by our more experienced and knowledgeable members. Feel free to ask any question related to American Airlines and AAdvantage here.

NOTE: This is a "flame free" thread; flaming, personal criticism for "failing to search" etc. is not allowed (if posted, the post will be summarily deleted, the poster subject to sanctions).

Advanced questions posed by veteran FT users may be moved and / or merged into existing master or GUIDE threads, most of which have Wikiposts at the top of the page that contain summaries of important information.

We volunteer Moderators monitor this "lounge" thread to assist you as well. When browsing the fora, look at the page tops of the various forums. There will be a menu, and often "sticky" threads, and threads with header "wiki posts" (created and maintained by the FlyerTalk community) with important information relating to that forum / topic.

Don't hesitate to contact a moderator or another member if you have any additional questions. You can PM the Moderators by clicking on

, which pops up a message box; the message goes to all this forum's Moderators. Note that unlike some sites with paid staff moderators, FlyerTalk Moderators are volunteers, and most work, travel, go on holiday, etc. You can Private Message us using the PM system (My Flyertalk) and our handles.

We're glad you've chosen to join the Flyertalk frequent flyer community!

Your American Airlines | AAdvantage Forum Moderation Team,

AZ Travels the World, aztimm, dstan, JDiver, JY1024, Microwave

(Our thanks to thread founder / "plank owner" HNL.)

Q. How can I find information more easily than reading through all the threads? Now that I'm here, what do I do next?

Check out the following resources:

GUIDE: FT - AA Forum, LOUNGE DASHBOARD and OSO / IRROPS (Links to most important threads, "Help Desk" assistance threads, the thread with resources for off-schedule operations / irregular operations (including links to AA weather policy and tools), hub airport threads, AA lounge Dashboard for all lounges and lounge related issues.)
FAQ: American Airlines and AAdvantage - Please check here first! (Our FAQ were originally written for the pre-merger AA forum, but there's still a lot of useful information there.)
New and uncertain where to start here, and it's about American Airlines? Start in our "NEWBIE LOUNGE" thread, here: link.
Do you have questions about other travel related issues that do not pertain to AA and are unsure where to start? Visit our Information Desk Forum here: U]link. [/U]
Especially useful to new members: FAQs (How to post like a pro and more)
The NEW FlyerTalk: Helpful Hints, Tips and Suggestions to Enhance Your Experience (Information Desk Forum)
FlyerTalk Glossary (What is all this jargon?)
Airport Code Guide (How do I decode an airport code / find one for a city?)

Searching can be key to finding important information and answers without waiting for someone to drop by and answer, and it helps prevent that information fragmentation. FlyerTalk Advanced Search can seem quirky to the infrequent user, but it's fairly powerful if one knows how to use it. There are several ways to search:

Canarsie's Using the Search Feature on FlyerTalk: The Definitive Thread has relocated to the Information Desk Forum; it can be found there.
One can search FlyerTalk with Google with this web form.
Or, if you are used to Google search, use Google Advanced Search and insert www.flyertalk.com in the "site or domain" box.

Forum basics: Now that the new AA has become by some measures "the world's largest airline", this new, combined has become a "mega-forum", very large, very active - and theoretically very difficult to find information and easy to lose one's place. Having to search for and sort through dozens - or more - of threads on baggage, airports, minimum connect times or the like could soon become unproductive and discouraging.

To prevent this from occurring, please note we try to:

Keep a few "sticky" threads: such as GUIDE posts, OSO / IROPS, etc. for urgent and quick reference, such as basic "where do I find" reasons

Keep threads to specific topics: Prevent information fragmentation and loss by consolidating questions, answers and discussion of one topic contained in one thread. (This also honors those members who have already shared valuable information and experiences.)

"Popular" threads are likely to have a Wikipost at the head that will summarize important information and have resource links. These are "community property", and as any wiki are established, maintained and updated by the members (with 90 days of tenure and 90 posts on FlyerTalk).

You may find your question or post merged into one of those threads. Be sure that we will leave a link behind from your original thread, and to look up to see if there's a wiki with information. We apologize for any possible inconvenience or difference between this forum and others, but we think you'll like some of the resources and tools here to enable more convenient, comfortable travel on AA and greater knowledge sharing.

Keep it welcoming: We're proud the members of both FFPs have kept the brickbats to a minimum; we want this forum to be welcoming, civil and information rich, so name calling (including calling a member one disagrees with "AApologist") and snark are not tolerated. Posts with such are likely to be summarily deleted in their entirety; repeated such behavior may result in suspension of one's membership privileges or being banned from this forum. Let's keep it friendly and in accordance with the FT Rules.

FlyerTalk Rules (We all agree to abide by these, and are held accountable.)

NOTE: The older AA NEWBIE LOUNGE post thread is here

Thanks for reading!

[2017 NEWBIE LOUNGE] Ask Your "Newbie" AA Questions Here (flame free)

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Dec 23, 2017, 10:06 pm

#2281

dsquared37

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Mar 2008

Location: body: A stone's throw from SFO, mind: SE Asia

Programs: Some of this 'n some of that

Posts: 17,263

Quote:

Originally Posted by pandaperth

None of the above
It is ranked by 12-month rolling EQD - see here

Thank you.

Dec 24, 2017, 9:15 am

#2282

The WalL

Join Date: Sep 2007

Location: Chicago, IL

Programs: United 1P, Hilton Gold

Posts: 62

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDiver

Anything said about increases or decreases in the numbers of status holders is pure speculation. In terms of upgrades, if you’re on status heavy routes, CK are first, EP second, PP third, etc. and I doubt there’d be significant differences between Plat and PPro in being upgraded; it might make more of a difference on low demand flights with few status holders.

I recommend reading What are AA Platinum Pro Benefits? Are they worth it? (master thread) for further definition of benefits you can read and use to determine if it’s worth paying $1,345 for that. There’s a similar thread on Platinum, for comparison. Search titles, keyword worth, results as threads.

Thank you for the link to the other thread. The other big benefit with PP is 80% bonus (though wiki there says 9x which is cumulative of EQMs). That should be enough for a free international ticket for DW in the summer. For $1,345 I think that's a decent exchange.

Dec 25, 2017, 7:14 am

#2283

flyingeph12

Join Date: Jan 2012

Programs: AY+ Plat, Marriott Plat, Hyatt Discoverist

Posts: 2,846

Quote:

Originally Posted by The WalL

The 9x multiplier (on ticket price) applies to RDMs and has nothing to do with EQMs. General members earn RDMs at a rate of 5x ticket price, hence the 80% bonus for PPro members.

Dec 25, 2017, 1:36 pm

#2284

gene2632

Join Date: Mar 2007

Programs: United Mileage Plus Premier

Posts: 781

Mileage upgrade question--Wife and I both have just over 20,000 miles on AA that will expire in March. No plans or interest in flying with them again anytime soon but I don't want the miles to go to waste so I am thinking of either doing our July East Coast to LAS trip on AA out of PHL with miles in coach or buying regular economy tickets now and they trying to upgrade with miles. First question is how do I do it on AA's web site, the buy and upgrade part and if the upgrade does not clear do our miles go back into the accounts with another 18 months to expire? Second question, if I just buy two coach seats with miles we each have about 8000 miles left, toss them or do what with them? Thanks in advance for your help.

Dec 25, 2017, 2:06 pm

#2285

aztimm

Moderator: American AAdvantage, Travel Safety/Security & Texas, FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Sep 2006

Location: AUS / GRK

Programs: AA, HHonors, Hertz

Posts: 13,484

Quote:

Originally Posted by gene2632

If you simply don't want the miles to expire, there are many ways to keep the account active. We have a thread devoted to that topic over here:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...solidated.html

In short, you can take surveys, buy items through the shopping mall, get/use an AA credit card, among many other options.

For using miles for travel on AA, you would go to the AA homepage as if you're buying a regular ticket. Just above and between the destination and number of passengers there's an option to tick a box that says, "redeem with miles."
There's information about upgrading using miles over on the AA website here.

JDiver likes this.

Dec 25, 2017, 3:38 pm

#2286

gene2632

Join Date: Mar 2007

Programs: United Mileage Plus Premier

Posts: 781

Thanks for the information. I am more interested in just using the miles up. AA/US Scare are not on my favorites list, pretty much on my last gasp list but last year they had a deal I could not say no to and we racked up a lot of miles, then added more as "compensation" for an AA rep lying to us when we were changing planes in CLT.

Dec 25, 2017, 3:52 pm

#2287

JDiver

Moderator: American AAdvantage

Join Date: May 2000

Location: NorCal - SMF area

Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis

Posts: 62,948

Quote:

Originally Posted by gene2632

From the Wikipost at the top of the thread about how to keep your miles from expiring:

Quote:

Using or getting rid of miles

Hotel rooms and auto rentals: https://www.useaamiles.com/carhotel/
Magazines: https://subscription.points.com/maga...s1&lp=American
Newspapers: https://commerce.points.com/nss/land...stomization=AA
Gift cards: https://www.points.com/pdccontent/pa...ept/AA_redeem/
LifeLock: https://www.aavacations.com/lifelock/login.jsp
Donate: http://hub.aa.com/en/ju/donate

Dec 25, 2017, 4:03 pm

#2288

MikeFromTokyo

Join Date: Jan 2009

Location: BKK

Posts: 6,741

Quote:

Originally Posted by gene2632

US Air no longer exists

I would not take an unnecessary trip or spend any money just to use 40k miles. You should either just do something to keep the miles active for future use, or if you really do not plan to fly AA, just redeem them for something of value or donate them as outlined above.

Dec 26, 2017, 4:26 am

#2289

AAExecPlatFlier

Join Date: Jul 2001

Programs: AA EP

Posts: 2,203

If you have this approach and beliefs, beat to just let them expire and move on to other carriers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gene2632

Dec 26, 2017, 8:45 am

#2290

swag

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: May 2001

Location: MSY; 2-time FT Fantasy Football Champ, now in recovery.

Programs: AA lifetime GLD; UA Silver; Marriott LTTE; IHG Plat,

Posts: 14,517

Quote:

Originally Posted by gene2632

AA does offer 7500 mile awards for one way domestic nonstop saver awards under 500 miles. Flying out of an east coast hub like PHL, that's should offer many possibilities. It'll get you to north to New England or southeast Canada, west to Detroit or Cleveland, south to Charlotte. And since you can use miles for someone else, you could use your 8K and your wife's 8K to build a round trip for one of you.

One other thought, take a look at AA's different domestic award levels. One way coach is 12.5K for a saver, or 20K or 30K for an Anytime (last seat availability) award. In July, a majority of the days are 30K, but 7 are at the 20K level.

Using a 20K award gives you better options for flight times. For example, on Fri 7/06, the 12.5K award limits you to a single flight, while the 20K award gives you choice of 4 different nonstop departures. And if you really think you'd let the remaining 8K expire unused, it may make sense to book the 20K award even if the 12.5K award is available for your first choice of flights, since that would give extra flexibility if you decide you want to change dates or times.

Dec 26, 2017, 9:10 am

#2291

geezersrule

Join Date: Jul 2009

Location: Sonoma

Programs: ex-ExPlat, AA Lifetime Platinum

Posts: 161

gene2632 rather than letting the miles expire you could donate them to worthy causes like "Hope", "All who Serve" or "Kids in Need". just look on AA.com.

Last edited by geezersrule; Dec 26, 2017 at 10:25 am

Dec 26, 2017, 7:40 pm

#2292

aviator91

Join Date: Dec 2017

Posts: 3

I have a voucher from a VDB that will cover most but not all of a domestic RT. Will I get the miles and segments from this trip even if I use the voucher?

Also, I'm Gold. Will I get complimentary upgrades on the legs that are less than 500 miles like I usually do, or will using the voucher stop me from getting that perk?