I have what is probably some basic questions but my ignorance requires them. It’s unfortunately also a long question….

Since I no longer travel for work, neither my spouse nor I have current elite status, but we do travel several times per year, almost exclusively AA, and hold Advantage accounts with modest mile balances.

In a few months, we will be making a Europe round trip, very likely: LAX-DFW-MUC. By milecalc this is 13,000. I assume this will be on a travel agent (consolidator?) ticket however, and in the past those seem to credit our Advantage accounts differently. If i look at a similar international trip from last year, they were O and S fares and are listed at AA as “Method: Distance - special fare”. A couple legs were on BA but with AA numbers. The EQMs did seem to be close to actual, if not actual at the end of the day.

Within a 90 day period, we will have at least two more domestic RTs that would normally ensure get to $2000 EQD and the 12,500 EQMs.

So the questions:

1. Should we initiate a Platinum challenge? If we did, we would all also pay for PLAT status in order to take advantage on the trips especially the long European trip.
2. If yes, can I presume that only one of us need do this as the benefits for Complimentary MCE / Preferred Seats would transfer to the companion as well.
3. Will the O or S fares render the milage earned insufficient to meet the 12,500 EQM challenge?
4. Will the O or S fair render the upgrade to MCE invalid?
5. Should we just grin and bear another Economy transatlantic flight instead of shelling out $400 bucks for a challenge?

I don’t mind over paying a bit more than we will get back given our travel patterns for the next year, but I would mind paying for the immediate PLAT status and reaping no immediate benefit from it.

I hope the above makes sense.

You briefly reference your travel plans for the next year. I would base your decision solely on whether you will benefit from Platinum (and re-qualify) over that extended time frame.

Your money might be better spend just purchasing MCE for the upcoming flights (MCE is not really an upgrade, it's just a paid seat that Plats and above can select for free at the time of booking).

The O and S fares will earn 1.00x EQM and will allow access to MCE, either as Platinum (free) or paid. If you decide the challenge is worthwhile, make sure you carefully track your EQDs, as taxes are not credited. If you fly on a consolidator/bulk fare S and O will earn EQDs of 10% and 5% of flown miles, respectively.

Hmm.

Since travel the next year will be modest, the value of paying for immediate status and the challenge really comes down to whether the cost of the challenge is less than the cost of upgradings seats to MCE on the international RT. I guess MCE for this international RT is ~150. There will actually be four of us flying as a group, but ticketed as 2 couples. Could PLAT upgrade all four? If so, it makes it marginally "worth it".

Thanks for the help.

Platinum can select MCE seats for all members of the party if booked in same PNR. So there would be no problem selecting MCE seats for everyone if the tickets were all booked together under one reservation.

Also, while MCE is just an economy seat with a few inches of extra legroom, it does include free alcohol on the plane, which is an extra perk if you would normally consider buying a drink on board.

Yes. You may be able to negotiate a swap with the people next to you if you can offer one of them a comparable or better seat but otherwise you just sit apart.

Yes, if you get the last 2 upgrades, then you'll be put in whatever seats are left.

Great, thanks guys. The longer flight is an E175 so maybe if we are successful we can offer up the single-seater

I'd like to start planning a trip to Europe (no hard itinerary, probably going to Albania) from the US on my AA miles. It is complicated of course, but I am probably looking to use SAAver miles in coach, but could be convinced to upgrade to business or first. Going to be in the summer from DFW (or SEA, complicated again), but I don't mind paying cash for legs to position myself for a better opportunity, but my better half starts balking as the number of hours of travel creep up. What are the 'good' routes to look at from DFW? Is there a place I can do this kind of search (US to Europe, Summer, Miles SAAver)? I see availability Dallas to Vienna which is good, but not coming back. Thanks.

PHL to DRV might be useful.

Paid upgrade and mileage accrual
 

I have a question regarding paid upgrade and mileage accrual.

I recently helped my mother purchase an upgrade at the airport from an economy (Q) to business (C) for a short haul flight she was on. This was cheaper to do so ($45) to get two checked bags free, rather than paying ($30+$40=$70) for checking her two bags with the original ticket.

In this type of situation, does she accrue miles based on her original Q fare class or on her new C fare class?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Odd Question Regarding Business Class Rewards Availability
 

I realize this is a mite odd but I'm grasping at straws.

I was trying to find the elusive Business Class to Europe on AA steel and started looking at random airports we might reach via a short domestic flight in economy. At some point I accidentally put in an airport code wrong. The first offering was a business class flight on AA steel with a connect through an airport near me. When I put the airport near me in as my starting point no business class offerings come up. Is this one of those cases where I might book the awards business class flight from the airport near me via phone?

Confusingly this is the sort of thing that airlines do. They want to encourage flying from A to C via B but not B to C, and possibly not A to B either, and it's not likely to change if you call. Of course you won't know if you don't try but don't get your hopes up.

Dedicated thread on this anomaly--->https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...ch-2019-a.html

Search for award availability from airports you can reposition easily / cheaply to. E.g. o DFW-LHR? Try ACT, AUS, IAH, SAT. There could be award flights in AA metal available from one or more, yet not from DFW. Or there might be DFW-CLT-LHR, etc.

Of course, avoid awards using BA metal, as those incur significant “carrier imposed” surcharges.

Also look at https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...ssistance.html.

I earned platinum pro status based on last year flying activity. Now I have 40k EQM's from this year travel. I am yet to receive any 500 mile upgrades into my account. What i am missing?

Nor do you earn them at PPro and above. If you need them for a companion you must buy them.

Another probably obvious question:

Oe would assume that flights purchased directly via an AA Vacations package would qualify for EQMs, EQDs, and award miles just the same as a direct purchase. How are they coded, and more importantly do they count the same towards EQMs and EQDs for purposes of completing a membership challenge?

Yes and no. Pay, you earn. Use miles and money, you might earn nothing. Most often, AA Vacations accrue as special fares (generally better for EQD). Use AA award miles, you don’t even earn EQD on BA carrier imposed fees.

See https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...iscussion.html

Generally, in my experience, you can only use miles for the ground portion of the package (i.e., hotels, etc.). So EQD, EQM and RDM earnings for the flights are not affected if you use miles + cash. I agree that the amount of EQD and RDM will depend on whether it's a Special Fare or not.

Thanks. It'd be paid, not rewards.

can you cancel AA "economy web special" awards within 24 hours of booking for full miles refund with no fee?

Hello.. first time flying American Airlines and have a question regarding paid upgrades.
I have an upcoming company paid flight in Economy (V and L fare buckets). The ticket itself is covered, but upgrades won't be.
If I go to the AA website and choose a Main Cabin Extra seat for my flights, will the charge be automatically be put on the card used to book the tickets or will there be a chance to enter a second credit card so I can apply the charge to my personal card and not have to worry about owing my company for the upgrade fee?

I have just purchased a ticket from AA.com that involves segments on CX (HKG - KIX) and JL (KIX - LAX). Seat selection is unavailable online for the CX flight but I can at least get my booking pulled up on their website. Is it common for seat selection to not be available for CX flights purchased via AA? For JL, I am unable to even find my booking as I only have the e-ticket number but not the six character JL record locator. I obviously have the AA one but where do I find the six character record locator so that I can have seats assigned?

FWIW, all segments are in Y, if that matters.

You can definitely put this charge on any card you want - it will not automatically charge the card used for the ticket.

You can DM @AmericanAir on Twitter or call AA and request your ONRs for other airlines.

Some airlines may restrict seat selection in various ways, e.g. based on fare basis, etc.

Thank you for the replies. I'm all set here.

Does AA ever open up seats closer to departure?
 

I should know the answer to this but I'd like to make sure. I'm looking to book a flight in July with Miles, and the only two flights available on my date are not workable. Does AA ever open up saver fares closer to departure? Or would any seats that open up be likely to be any time awards? I realize you can't predict 100% but I'd like to know if there's any general practice to this. Thanks.

AA definitely opens up seats but there's really no discernible pattern. So there's certainly a chance you might find more sAAver space open up, but it's impossible to say when, and all the games AA has been playing with regards to award availability really muddy's the water even more.

Revenue Management may release at any time their algorithms indicate seat sales are languishing. That being said you’re asking about the peak summer season that AA will strive to maximize with 24 737 MAX grounded and 125 unexpected daily flight cancellations. I’d expect very few SAAver award seats at this point, and AAnytime seats to possibly increase in miles cost (as the cost varies depending on demand).

You haven’t chosen to share critical information with us (routing or dates), so we can only reply with generalities. ;) Good luck. And if you subscribe to ExpertFlyer, set up alerts for SAAver award seats.

Thanks It's DEN-SFO or DEN-OAK July 7
 

There are two times I have booked AAnytime awards, only to see MileSAAver availability a day or two before the flight. It happens but waiting is risky.

Can I book Iberia and Etihad segments on one, one way award ticket?

Maybe. It depends on the routing, and whether the "most significant carrier" on the routing offers a published through-fare from origin to destination that permits the use of IB and EY on such a fare.

Of course you can, subject to the more advanced rules that guv mentioned above. I have done MAD-LHR-AUH on a single award using IB & EY, for example.

But don't get caught up in trying to decipher fare rules, if you think you've found space just give AA a call and try to book it. If for whatever the reason they can't book it as a single award, then come back here and post the details and we can try to troubleshoot.

Reply
 

I’m not sure which would be the most significant carrier in this instance, though it appears Iberia would be. Iberia would have to sell an unconstructed fare AUH-MAD-JFK for the award to be priced as a single award, AFAIK.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...aster-thd.html

But again, I would forget about trying to decipher the fare rules first, if you've found dates that look to have availability by all means call AA and try to book it.