east coast to PPG
 

Hello,

I am trying to help a friend with booking a trip for 4 people to Samoa. He has around 420K AA miles at the moment, but unfortunately I haven't ever really used AAdvantage so I am at a loss trying to help him. He would be leaving from US East Coast, and from what I can tell the only flight from US to PPG is on Hawaiian Airlines from HNL. If anyone would be willing to share their experience or just point me in the right direction, I would be greatly appreciative. Thanks!

The Wikipost at the top of the page here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...ssistance.html contains a lot of information.

As well, read here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...er-thread.html. AA miles can’t be used on Hawaiian between the mainland and Hawaii.

Award Upgrades
 

Dumb question here that I can't seem to figure out.

If I apply a 500 mile upgrade, when do I know if it's cleared or not? I mean obviously if I get on the plane and I'm sitting in the back, then it hasn't cleared, but is there a way to know before that?

@sethMCOflyer You might get lucky and get an email form AA saying your upgrade is confirmed, or I usually refresh the trip in the AA app and see if my seat has changed to one in first.

Revenue Ticket Airline Schedule Change...What are my options?
 

I booked a flight for my family of 2 adults + 2 children to Europe for spring break in J. We're flying DFW-LHR-CDG outbound and the reverse coming back.
On my inbound flight the original itinerary was 3/22 CDG-LHR on BA 303, arriving LHR at 7:35am. Then connecting to AA 51 DFW-LHR with original departure at 9:30am.
Received a schedule change notification today for AA 51, now departing at 8:55am.
The only option I'm given is to move back my departure to 10:15am on AA 21.
I thought maybe I could use the schedule change to change my return flight to simply DFW-LHR on AA 51 (getting rid of the CDG-LHR leg).
I was told via Twitter, "If you choose to drop that segment, it's no longer going to be a Paris fare and would change to a London fare. We'd be looking at a fare difference of $1432.50 plus a $500 change charge per person."
I asked about changing to the direct CDG-DFW flight (figuring it wasn't possible) since it arrives at the same time in DFW as my original LHR-DFW flight. I was told, "Since the change is less than an hour, we need to keep you on the connecting flight."

Before accepting the later connection at LHR I wanted to make sure that this was my best option. Maneuvering myself to LHR-DFW direct would make our return easier.
All flights are on same PNR and marketed by AA.

TIA

Sounds like the connection is shorter, but still legal, and you are arriving DFW earlier, not later than originally scheduled. If the change pushed you to the later flight to DFW involuntarily, you would have an argument to be placed on the CDG-DFW nonstop flight (59 min+ delay to final destination). Dropping the CDG-LHR is a nonstarter without significant delays. Offering you the later LHR-DFW flight sounds like a courtesy offer by AA, which I would probably accept in this situation as well.

Great info. Thank you!
For clarification, per AA Twitter team the connection is NOT legal and they must change my flight. So the change is pushing me to the later flight involuntarily it seems.
My original LHR-DFW flight was scheduled to land at 3pm (new flight time landing DFW at 2:25pm). The new flight they're offering puts me in DFW at 3:45pm...45 min later than original scheduled arrival (80 min from new arrival time). So it sounds like I don't have an argument for the CDG-DFW nonstop since it's not a 59+ min delay from my original scheduled arrival time in DFW.

Really appreciate the help. I've been subscribed to daily emails from this thread for about a year now and find the knowledge extremely helpful. Cheers.

Agents have a lot of flexibility when it comes to schedule changes like this. I would certainly try calling and asking for the CDG-DFW nonstop. The Twitter team was just giving you the official policy, but a good agent will have no problem moving you to the nonstop.

After understanding you will actually be delayed involuntarily, I reviewed AA's agency reference. For schedule change up to 59 minutes on interline itineraries, changes to AA and OA (Other Airline) flights have to be booked in the same booking class. Theoretically, they could have put you on an earlier BA flight CDG-LHR, if available or desirable. Had you been booked on AA's code for both segments, rebooking on the nonstop CDG-DFW flight would have been possible if the same booking class were available, but as booked, you do need an hour delay to start moving you off BA and/or using higher booking class inventory.

Decided to call the AA Plat line. Got a helpful agent who moved me to the CDG-DFW nonstop flight.
Huge score. Nice to be lucky sometimes.
Thanks to all!

I was on the earliest CDG-LHR flight. Maybe this is what helped me get the desired CDG-DFW flight when calling in.
Awesome info. Thanks again.

Hello there:

In in the DC area and looking for routing to Europe via redeeming with points (J class). My preference is to fly AA metal but the search engine typically routes me through PHL, JFK or even CLT. PHL usually has the older 763 and JFK usually flies through LHR which I'm trying to avoid. How do I force the search engine to route through MIA or ORD so that I can position to take a better plane?

With married segments becoming prevalent, there's no great way to force a connection through ORD/MIA if the search engine does not automatically show you available routings through ORD/MIA . You could try using a multi-city search, but that might not show you all availability (and even if ORD-XXX and WAS-ORD were separately availability, married segments logic might not allow you to combine them in the same award anyways).

Note that although there are routes with the 763, I'd say there are a good number of routes from PHL and CLT that use an A333. Also, there aren't that many options to Europe from ORD and MIA (especially if you're trying to avoid LHR)—certainly far fewer than PHL and even CLT. (CDG, MAD, BCN, and MXP are the only non-LHR destinations from ORD and MIA that readily come to mind.)