cedric

In this case, best to fly ATL-LGA nonstop, spend some time in New York, and then take the JFK-SFO.

bdhaliwa

I have been doing this route for past six weeks, have found the connection through Phoenix to be the most convenient

chrisjpl

Thanks everyone - we've booked for ATL-LGA and JFK-SFO, with the 3-class First product on the trans-continental leg.

Incidentally, it'll be my first ever experience of LGA; I think I've probably heard more consistently BAD reviews of it than of any other airport in the world (and I've travelled through FIH!), so I'm actually quite curious to see for myself why people hate it so much...!

carlosdca

I am surprised nobody on this thread has brought up that September is peak Atlantic hurricane season.
We've been having those every year lately.
The most affected AA airports are usually MIA. Then possibly CLT or JFK.

A hurricane can disrupt the whole AA network, true.
BUT, IME, of all routes, the least disrupted one for the OP's scenario would be ATL-LAX.

For that reason, I'd go atl-lax-sfo,

I know OP has bought ticket, but if hurricane irrops are a concern, its still within 24 hours of booking and ticket can be changed for no charge.

dc10forlife

AA is usually good about offering flight changes in advance of serious weather events. If you react quickly after one is declared, I've found that finding an alternate (and sometimes better) route is relatively easy.

Ldnn1

What are you planning to do with your bags?

chrisjpl

Current plan is to use a service called Free Your Arms - that would meet us at LGA to take our bag, and then drop it back to us at JFK later in the day. I've seen generally good reviews of it so far.

It's $35 per bag (USD) for that same-day service, but I think we'll only have one big bag so it's not too much to spend.

JJeffrey

Flying ATL-NYC-SFO in September, I can think of about a million things I'd be worried about before I'd base my travel plans around the minute chance of a hurricane irrops situation in NY.

carlosdca

I don't think it is so much about JFK.
But it seems to me that during system collapses the short hops on smaller planes operations get most affected.
Storms do happen every year around that time.
I wouldn't call it a minute chance. Remember Sandy? Harvey? Katrina?

LINDEGR

Is that true? I thought it was just IRROPs?

chrisjpl

I did some googling after JDiver's post, and it seemed to me that it's just IRROPs.

Potentially the interline agreement does mean that you could check your bag through theoretically if you had a ticket that included DL ATL-JFK and AA JFK-SFO, but I couldn't find any way in practice that you could actually ever book a ticket that combined the two airlines for that route like that.

IADCAflyer

There are gobs of options on this. Are you looking simply to earn miles, enjoy the experience or get from A to B?

If you're worried about status, I'd find itineraries that maximize your earning which would eliminate DFW and ORD because neither get you any type of bonus for flights of under 500 miles being "rounded up". Nor does PHX which you didn't mention at all.

LAX is a good option as you'd get a pretty premium service since it is (AFAIK) treated as a transcon with better meal selections. On top of that, you get the 500 miles for the shortish hop from LAX to SFO.

CLT is a good option from the standpoint of getting the 500 additional EQMs and "backtracking" east to CT before flying west. Downside to CLT is you'll probably get an A320 or A321 and you will be power starved by hour 4.

Good option would be MIA which gives you the 500 miles to MIA and a nice 2580 miles to SFO. You'll get either a 737 or 32B which means power. Downside is flying through Miami in September.....the height of hurricane season.....

Flying through PHL gets you a lot of miles with an extended backtrack but you're going to be on a US A321 which means no power.

Flying through PHX probably means US equipment and a lack of power. Its also the second lowest mileage earning routes.

Finally, you could do JFK which allows you to fly the A321T which is a very nice ride. Only problem is that AA does not fly ATL-JFK nonstop which means either a double connect (ATL-CLT-JFK-SFO or ATL-DCA-JFK-SFO or ATL-PHL-JFK-SFO). Or you fly to LGA and do a manual ground connection. Not an easy feat.

I'm not sure if you could even price out ATL->SFO via New York. Might have to book separate tickets.

I'd vote for ATL-LAX-SFO and then ATL-MIA-SFO and then ATL-NYC-SFO

Mwenenzi

OP is chasing QF top level status, so AA status earning rules are not relevant.

iadisgreat

The interline agreement is 100% just IRROPs, no purchasing of a single ticket with a DL/AA combo.