sudge27

Hi all, I am on BA297 LHR-ORD in a few weeks which is scheduled to land at 18.45 (albeit there are frequent delays to this service). I am looking at booking the 22.00 ORD-LAS AA flight on a separate booking which should be enough of a connection time if everything runs on time, however could get tight with delays/immigration/buses between terminals etc. I am slightly confused by some of the anecdotal evidence above, so just want to be clear that if BA flight is delayed and i miss the second flight (note not a connection as separate booking/ticket), would AA accommodate me on a flight the next day given both are OW flights - or would i need to book a brand new flight at presumably a significantly higher cost? Finally, the basic economy fare is significantly cheaper than the main cabin ticket, would that factor in at all to the ability / willingness of the AA staff to help with a rebooking, or are the rights the same for both booking classes?

Thanks in advance for your help

Often1

Historically, yes. AA has rebooked no shows on separate tickets where the originating carrier is OW (including AA itself).

However, there are recent examples where AA has refused to rebook in this situation. There is nothing in the fare rules or COC which requires this, so it is down to the guidance which AA issues to TA's.

Thus, a risk tolerance issue for you. Also worth noting that unlike a connection, you will be required to cart your bag, if you have one, to AA check-in rather than dropping it at bag drop post CBP. Thus, allow time for that exercise.

JJeffrey

Over 4 3 hrs is plenty of time for that connection even with delays, luggage, and taking the bus over to T3 to catch the AA flight. The most likely scenario is you'll find yourself with 3 hrs. to kill in the AA Flagship Lounge.

If you were to hit a worst case scenario and get really, really delayed, then yea, AA will take care of you. There have been a few recent instances where AA hasn't exactly 100% protected across separate oneworld tickets, however these were extreme/complex examples where the ticket needing to be rebooked was not booked through AA and/or not an AA flight. If the only "protection" you need is to get rebooked on a later AA flight, then that's generally easy.

However, I probably would not book a basic economy ticket for the ORD-LAS segment, as that would be an easy way for any AA agent to say "sorry" and provide no assistance should you miss it.

As to baggage, there are AA desks just after customs/immigration at T5, you will not have to lug your bags on the bus over to the main AA check-in at T3 or anything like that.

sudge27

Thank you - just to be clear its 3 hours rather than 4, but your point stands. Was coming to a similar conclusion re the booking class

mikhailm

Any recent data points on misconnects with two separate AA PNRs? Looking at itineraries that include CLT-JFK-LHR-BCN (all AA stock). Separating out the CLT-JFK leg reduces the price significantly. No need to check bags but do want to make sure I'm protected on a later JFK-LHR flight if the CLT-JFK leg gets delayed. Also another complication: this would be a party of 4 (I'm EXP, the others are Plat or less).

JJeffrey

Since both flights in question are on AA you will have no problems if your CLT-JFK is delayed. The Admirals Club will most likely rebook you straight to LHR. The real issues come into play when the other itinerary is on another carrier.

mikhailm

Will AA take care of my companions the same if I separate my PNR from theirs in order to clear a SWU?

iadisgreat

They should, it isn't dependent on class of service.

tbd1579

Sorry if this has been covered.
How does AA treat non OW partners like EY or TN? Also, does it matter if the AA flight is operated by AA as long as it has an AA number? I am looking at what should be a fine connection barring flights are on time with a non-ow partner to an AA marketed BA metal flight. The AA metal is 2 hours earlier, so obviously riskier, but maybe not if it offers greater protection.
Thanks!

JJeffrey

The "policy" is protection between AA and AA/oneworld carriers, partners are not included. So in your example there would be no protection either way since your incoming flight is on a non-oneworld carrier.

worldtraveler303

After a 20 hour maintenance delay in Tokyo, had a chance to test this out.

Original Schedule:

NRT -> DFW -> BWI (econ).... 36 hours then BOS -> MAD -> LHR (biz award)

In NRT, they were willing to change the ticket to BOS to try to make the connection. This helped considerably because it made it look like a connecting itinerary on two separate tickets.

When we got to DFW, it was clear that we were not going to make the Iberia flight in Boston. At first, Flagship lounge said it was impossible because it was an iberia ticket. When I pressed them on the policy, they called Iberia which was completely useless. Luckily, a supervisor showed up and knew the policy well and instructed the agent to rebook to LHR in biz "whatever way we wanted." So, they rebooked on IAD to LHR on BA in Club.

All was great until... at IAD, the plane was overbooked and they decided the ticket was improperly done and downgraded to econ. Huge fight at the check-in desk with BA claiming AA had downgraded the ticket. Incredibly condescending and rude. While I understand AA may have misdone the ticket, for BA to take it out on the customer (and not contact us when they admitted they discovered it much earlier in the day) was low. The station manager was intrigued when I showed him the policy, but was of little use. A call to the exec plat line, and was switched over to DCA->MIA->LHR in biz.

So in the end... AA really did come through on their promise. But stressful and scary. The current wording with separate tickets on the "same PNR" is a huge problem. Luckily, I got away showing everyone the old wording without much question.

SFO_FT

worldtraveler303: I assume both tickets (ie, NRTBWI and BOSMAD) were AA ticket stock (ie, your BOSMAD was using AAdv miles)?

iadisgreat

Apparently the reps agreed this fell under the policy, but was it really meant to be stretched so thin? I don't see from your post any OW flight between BWI and BOS; I'm not sure how these two tickets were in any way related.

Often1

Once JL took it upon itself as a customer service gesture to rebook NRT-BOS rather than BWI, the two tickets came under AA's policy. Had JL simply left it alone, OP would likely have been SOL at BWI and had to figure out the onwards journey to LHR on his own.

The only further cautionary part of all of this is to carefully review a printout with the agent doing the reroute at DFW. Unclear what went wrong with the BA segment and glad that AA came through with the reroute (albeit very much out of the way), but it is essential to assure, before walking away from the agent at the FL, that the onwards ticket (not merely reservations) segments are in order. BA could care less about AA's unique policy and looks only for a valid ticket for its segment.

In that regard, if you can document that you were properly ticketed on BA, you may have claims for at least denied boarding and delay (presuming that you arrival into LHR was later than had you been on the IAD service) under EC 261/2004. EUR 600 per passenger for denying boarding and EUR 600 for a delay of over 4 hours (EUR 300 at 3 hours). Had you been stuck in WT on the BA service, there would have been a claim for a refund of 75% of the IAD-LHR segment under the Regulation as well.

iadisgreat

Ah my bad, I assumed that it was modified originally as part of the policy not due to good customer service provided by JL (though it's not clear to me that JL made the change instead of AA as they both fly NRT-DFW).