HUACA.

Apologies in advanced that this question has been asked...

I am going to HKG and HND in August and have some questions about lounge access.

Party of 3: Me: AA PPro and hold a Citi Exe Platinum (with Admiral's Club); Wife: No Status; Child (8 yo): No status

We will be arriving HKG from EWR on CX. We will just head to the hotel right after arrival. So, no need for lounge access.

We will then do HKG to NRT on CX a few days later in Y.

We will then do HND to JFK on JL a few days after that in Y.

So, what (if any) lounge access do we have in HKG (when we fly HKG-NRT) and HND (when we fly HND-JFK).

I understand that my Citi Ex Plt card's membership for AC is not recognized for partner's lounge. But what about my PPro status (Sapphire in OW)? I think I am allowed access. But since i have 1 additional adult and child (total of 3), how does that work? Would they only allow either me + my significant other or me + my child access, since the policy is to only allow 1 guest? Do you guys have experience traveling as a family and gained access to OW partners lounges in HKG and HND when only one of the family member as Sapphire or Emerald status?

Thanks in advance.

Ok, that makes more sense.

I flew BA Biz 747 MIA-LHR-MIA in UD 62A, a window seat which had its feet adjacent to the emergency exit. That meant no stepping over anyone or having meal service passed over anyone.
My Biz international experience is still pretty limited so I can't compare too many alternatives; that said, I really liked the 2 spacious storage bins at my side better than the storage on the 777 to BOM.

I called again, got the same answer. Went to the ticket counter at the airport and asked the same question, got the same answer. Ticket agent at the airport looked at me like I was an idiot for even asking about changing to different routing but same origin and destination.

Not relevant to the original question, but my flight through DFW was delayed by 90 min, not due to weather at DFW but due to incoming flight. Not sure why. And as it turned out, the flight via PHX that I wanted has been delayed over 12 hours and will arrive at noon instead of 11:30 pm yesterday, so it all worked out!

Is Hidden City ticketing as much of a risk for international award flights as it is for paid flights? (Risk in terms of AAdvantage membership, not baggage considerations.) For example, looking in August, LHR to JFK on AA metal (to avoid BA fuel surcharges:td:), “LHR-JFK”, offers zero saver business choices. However, when searching “LHR-LAX”, several of the saver choices include a LHR-JFK business segment (connecting to a JFK-LAX business segment).

Is the risk assessment different if the connection at JFK is a few hours during the day compared to an overnight connection? (Seems it might be more common to need to cancel a connecting flight following an overnight connection.)

Thank you.

As a PLT Pro (oneworld Sapphire) you can access any of the CX or JL business lounges at HKG and HND before your flights. Unfortunately by the rules you only get one guest, and an 8 year old is old enough to count as an adult. In the states you will often find friendly agents who will let you in in these scenarios, however in Asia they are mostly "by the rules," so I wouldn't count on any exceptions. You can still try though, never know might get lucky, and there a number of CX business lounges at HKG so if you fail at one, try another.

There is virtually no risk even on paid tickets (for a once or twice occurance) and award tickets are no different, you won't have any issues at all. If you can find a LHR-JFK on one day with the JFK-LAX connection the next day then I would for sure book that. Once you get to JFK, just pull up your reservation at aa.com and cancel the remaining segment, no one will ever look at it again.

Thank you, I like your assessment. :)

If booked that way (LHR-JFK-LAX, business saver, all AA metal) months ahead of time, presuming that LHR-JFK only is still not available, would AA allow dropping the JFK-LAX segment a month or two prior? Or would they see that LHR-JFK only is not available and therefore not allow such a change?

Question regarding the Elite Qualifying Miles:
Does transfer points from Marriott/spg program consider earning Elite Qualifying Miles?
For example, If I transfer 450,000 Marriott points to AA, will I get get AAdvantage® Executive Platinum status?

You are only transferring redeemable miles (RDM) which you can use for flights, upgrades, etc. You will get no elite credit.

AA does allow you to drop the first/last segment of an award in certain scenarios like this, however this married segment availability makes it much harder than it used to be. Now there supposedly needs to be availability on the "new" itinerary, i.e. just LHR-JFK, before an agent can make the change. YMMV.

Personally I wouldn't worry, just book the LHR-JFK-LAX and cancel the 2nd segment when you arrive in JFK.

Thanks for letting me know

Thank you very much once again. Your suggestions are reasonable and understood. Now I’m thinking about the outbound NYC-LHR flight(s). Considering I live near NYC and it would involve dropping the FIRST segment, wondering how much more challenging it would be to book LAX-JFK-LHR and try to drop the LAX-JFK segment.

(Fondly recalling the “stopover allowed at North America gateway city” AA rules of a few years ago, then this would all be a no-brainer and I’d end up with a “free” JFK-LAX business class ticket. ;) )

Thanks again JJeffrey.

It could be pretty challenging.