Is this a "fake" Flagship First ticket?

Old Feb 20, 2020, 9:00 pm
  #31  
 
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Originally Posted by cmd320
Which is actually accurate.
And priced correctly. this books to I which is not Flagship First.
However, if you are an attorney, you could try to argue that you are entitled to all the flagship benefits, esp since it is sold and advertised as such, esp after you paid the fare with the benefits advertised.
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Last edited by OpenSky; Feb 20, 2020 at 9:10 pm
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Old Feb 20, 2020, 9:21 pm
  #32  
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Originally Posted by Antarius
You've got to be kidding me. Now published benefits knowledge about first class now requires fare code knowledge. Do they need to know how to fly the plane too?

​​​​​​ FT is divorced from reality.
Hasn't stopped AA in the past. It used to be that on 3 class transcons (767-200 days) that only full fare F and Z (award) got access to the Flagship Lounge. Discounted A class was excluded.

From my standpoint (and it's something you can see when booking by clicking on "Details") it books into I class. Pretty easy to deny entry to FFD there. However, AA have done a poor job in terms of marketing this.
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Old Feb 20, 2020, 10:02 pm
  #33  
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Denying that this is confusing and/or misleading is patently ridiculous. AA's IT department messed up here. This should never ever have been coded to Flagship First. Should have been coded to Flagship Business. Anyone with a receipt for this service which states Flagship First should 100% be given all Flagship First amenities and privileges, and AA should learn from their mistake.
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Old Feb 20, 2020, 11:11 pm
  #34  
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Originally Posted by BlooJoo
Denying that this is confusing and/or misleading is patently ridiculous. AA's IT department messed up here. This should never ever have been coded to Flagship First. Should have been coded to Flagship Business. Anyone with a receipt for this service which states Flagship First should 100% be given all Flagship First amenities and privileges, and AA should learn from their mistake.
That would be a complete exception to how AA markets the 2 cabins on a 2 cabin service, so much so that in the benefits Dining and Check in , it explicitly states that these benefits are only where it is 1st class on a 3 cabin aeroplane

That the pricing is also for business class should provide some form of warning ( as it did to the OP ) that maybe it isn't a 3 class aeroplane

It seems very odd to put a 2 class aeroplane on that route - A while back AA did go and recode 1st class on 2 cabin aeroplane as business class ( JCDRI ) - why it continues to promote it as 1st is bizarre and leads to this situation

Unless the agent makes a mistake , I would not expect that dining will be given since it is clearly mentioned that 2 class does not get access

Stop calling business class , 1st class and the problem will go away and seems the logical solution to avoid in the future - Given $708 is the cheap business fare, $708 for 1st class should not require some form of special airline genius to figure that it might not be all it seems

Personally , I think that the $128 for premium economy seating is the steal being offered
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Old Feb 20, 2020, 11:27 pm
  #35  
 
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Originally Posted by MKLDH
I still think that is quite misleading. The screenshot I attached clearly states this product as Flagship First. And on the flight selection page you will see something like this:


If AA is treating this like a domestic first then it should remove the Flagship logo on the fare; if it is treating this like Flagship Business then it should be under the Business category, not the first. In other words, if someone does not notice the fare class issue, he/she will easily consider this as a deeply discounted Flagship First ticket. I think that is a problem of AA.
Originally Posted by Dave Noble
That would be a complete exception to how AA markets the 2 cabins on a 2 cabin service, so much so that in the benefits Dining and Check in , it explicitly states that these benefits are only where it is 1st class on a 3 cabin aeroplane

That the pricing is also for business class should provide some form of warning ( as it did to the OP ) that maybe it isn't a 3 class aeroplane

It seems very odd to put a 2 class aeroplane on that route - A while back AA did go and recode 1st class on 2 cabin aeroplane as business class ( JCDRI ) - why it continues to promote it as 1st is bizarre and leads to this situation

Unless the agent makes a mistake , I would not expect that dining will be given since it is clearly mentioned that 2 class does not get access

Stop calling business class , 1st class and the problem will go away and seems the logical solution to avoid in the future - Given $708 is the cheap business fare, $708 for 1st class should not require some form of special airline genius to figure that it might not be all it seems

Personally , I think that the $128 for premium economy seating is the steal being offered
Well, it definitely is AA trying to steal from the customer.

So, how do you define the column under "first"? Where it says Flagship? Which has a different price than business?
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Old Feb 21, 2020, 12:40 am
  #36  
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Originally Posted by s0ssos
Well, it definitely is AA trying to steal from the customer.

So, how do you define the column under "first"? Where it says Flagship? Which has a different price than business?
Except it had the same fare as business class on the next flight when I checked earlier - clicking on days either side of 17th can see $708 as being a business class fare - that seems quite a good indicator; there is also no other flight that has anything less than $1408 for 1st class ; also there is no business offered on that flight on any day that I have seen

It is also very noticeably cheaper than any other 1st class on 3 cabin service

What is it trying to steal? I think it is stupid that it doesnt call 1st class on a 2 cabin aeroplane as business class as just about any airline in rest of world seems to do
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Old Feb 21, 2020, 12:44 am
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Originally Posted by Dave Noble
Except it had the same fare as business class on the next flight when I checked earlier - clicking on days either side of 17th can see $708 as being a business class fare - that seems quite a good indicator

It is also very noticeably cheaper than any other 1st class on 3 cabin service

What is it trying to steal? I think it is stupid that it doesnt call 1st class on a 2 cabin aeroplane as business class as just about any airline in rest of world seems to do
I guess you cannot read columns.
It doesn't matter that you clicked somewhere else, or another date. So, you go to the ticket agent and say, I saw this fare for $708 on the 16th and 18th. Thus I can presume it is $708 today?
There are 3 columns. The prices are different in each column. Underneath the third column, where it says "first", it lists $708. Not the second column, which states business.
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Old Feb 21, 2020, 12:48 am
  #38  
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Originally Posted by s0ssos
I guess you cannot read columns.
It doesn't matter that you clicked somewhere else, or another date. So, you go to the ticket agent and say, I saw this fare for $708 on the 16th and 18th. Thus I can presume it is $708 today?
There are 3 columns. The prices are different in each column. Underneath the third column, where it says "first", it lists $708. Not the second column, which states business.
Yes it does - and it is 1st class that is being sold - it just happens to be 1st class on a 2 cabin aeroplane - which is consistent with every other 2 cabin aeroplane for domestic US travel on AA

Just checking another route, LAX-MIA, and there the airline does do a good job in only highlighting flagship where there are 3 cabins - this is a real anomoly

Last edited by Dave Noble; Feb 21, 2020 at 1:26 am
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Old Feb 21, 2020, 4:12 am
  #39  
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Regardless of whether or not you get to eat in the flagship dining area, your price for lie flat all aisle access on the 777 is awesome!
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Old Feb 21, 2020, 5:55 am
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the lengths to which some will defend AA on FT never ceases to amaze me.

plain and simple, if they market it as Flagship First (which they are), then AA should give all the published benefits.

Either that, or AA should update their own website to reflect what they intend to provide.

A ticket is is a contract, after all.
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Old Feb 21, 2020, 6:47 am
  #41  
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Originally Posted by Dave Noble
Yes it does - and it is 1st class that is being sold - it just happens to be 1st class on a 2 cabin aeroplane - which is consistent with every other 2 cabin aeroplane for domestic US travel on AA
No it isn't. Every other 2 cabin aircraft is labeled FIRST, not Flagship First.

and someone booking first should not have to know whether there is a business cabin. My uncle , mother, father etc. wouldn't know or care and should not be expected to.
​​​
This wouldn't fly anywhere else. Can you imagine a case where you try to buy a Audi A4, but one dealership gives you an A4 instead and expects you to know the average price of all cars in their fleet.
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Last edited by Antarius; Feb 21, 2020 at 6:58 am
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Old Feb 21, 2020, 6:53 am
  #42  
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I really can't understand defense of AA here. They messed up. They marked it Flagship First. They should own it and provide Flagship First benefits. Of course *we* know it's not Flagship First, but the general public shouldn't be expected to know that b/c it booked into J/R/D/I that it's not Flagship First.

ETA: It's still not fixed!!
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Old Feb 21, 2020, 7:21 am
  #43  
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Originally Posted by nachosdelux
the lengths to which some will defend AA on FT never ceases to amaze me.
It's really just one poster.
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Old Feb 21, 2020, 10:03 am
  #44  
 
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I agree with the other posters -- it's advertised as flagship first and so the flagship services including FFD should be provided.

If one were to try to deduce some logic on AA's part here, there is actually a good reason to sell this as flagship F and not J. Namely, the 772 J seat, which is what's being sold here, is very similar to the A321T F seat. In fact, on some 772 configs, I believe it's exactly the same seat though I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong. The A321T J seat on the other hand is 2x2 without all-aisle access and with significantly less privacy. So for someone looking to purchase a flat bed "suite" on JFK-LAX, the hard product they're looking for is marketed as "flagship F" on this route. So it's actually not that confusing-- the hard product being offered as flagship F is completely consistent across flights.

Now, if they don't provide the soft product there will be a problem, but so far that is just speculation. AFAIK nobody has confirmed that the soft product won't be provided, indeed there's evidence that AA intends to offer the flagship soft product on JonNYC's twitter feed:
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Old Feb 21, 2020, 10:25 am
  #45  
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Unfortunately this is one of those "deeper" issues where I wouldn't put any stock into what one random Twitter rep or phone agent says if asked, it's obviously very new and they will most likely have no clue either. "It says Flagship First on the website? Then sure, you get everything that comes with Flaghsip First!" without actually understanding the issue.
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