FlyerTalk Forums - Things I Miss That AAdvantage Used to Do

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Colin (Post 34789272)

unlimited LHR-LAX J to F upgrades (booked into always available A) using paper upgrade certs which were never collected by the outsourced checkin agents at Paddington

That wasn't a programme feature, that was just a case of agents not being competent - there still seems to be issues in agent capabilities

I miss something simple - the availability of AA business awards to Europe that are not web specials. Can't add on a BA/IB/AY segment to web special awards. I don't mind paying a few points more for a ticket, but at least let me go somewhere that's not an AA EU destination.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sbrower (Post 34775732)

1. Being able to "pay the difference" to upgrade an award ticket. Flying to LAX to JFK in the 747, overnight flight. Award was always counted as a "Y" fare. The "Fn" fare was only $25 more. So I paid the $25 and flew in First Class.
2. "Last seat" availability for award travel. Order my certificate for a domestic round trip to anywhere (I think it was 20,000 miles?). Walk into LAX 2 hours before the flight to JFK and say "I want to fly to JFK in 2 hours and return on Thursday" and hand them the certificate and they handed me back the ticket.
3. Block the seat next to me, in coach (the block went away at the gate, but it almost always held up).
4. Lifetime miles that were guaranteed to work off the same award chart for life. (It was in a letter from Mike Gunn that I kept in my file.) They broke that promise about 15 years later, and it is one of the few times that I felt that AA cheated me.
5. Channel 11 for air to ground communication throughout the flight.
6. Anna Jefferson (LAX) greeting me a few times a week and giving me a first class seat without any upgrade instruments, before I was a Platinum, because she (and others) had the authority to make decisions.
7. Going to the Aadmiral's Club whenever I was at the airport, not limited to flying AA (after having paid for 38 years of membership I probably should have bought lifetime).
8. I thought I would miss "hard" tickets. I was wrong.
9. Talking to my seat mate (it was common to talk for an hour or two going trans-con - now I make trans-con flights without saying "hi" to the person next to me).
10 Taking 2 carryons (garment bag and LARGE briefcase) plus a personal item (computer case) and hanging my garment bag in the front closet. (Well, as I get older and less interested in carrying 70 pounds I may not miss it too much.)
11. Full meals served in coach. I agree it was almost never amazing food. But why has it become accepted that people want to sit in a seat, for 3-6 hours, without a meal.
12. Hot meals served in First Class. I won't eat a "wrap" even if I am hungry.

I am probably forgetting some others.

Many of these things sound great, but many of them (5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12) don't seem to be related to AAdvantage or a product of AAdvantage cutbacks over the years?

Although not necessary now with technology I miss the announcements of connections. To hear destinations I'd rather be going to or some strange connections. Like years ago flying LGA/DFW in which BOS was announced as a connection.

How about "More Room Throughout Coach" or whatever it was called?

That was pretty amazing, in hindsight.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Noble (Post 34789439)

That wasn't a programme feature, that was just a case of agents not being competent - there still seems to be issues in agent capabilities

the relevant program features i mentioned & now miss are:

1. first class upgrades confirming into A (combined w/ AA offering only sky high first class fares such that A was always available, unlike now where AA inventory management is so stupid that many flights are F0 over a week out)

2. paper VIP certs (which were never collected at outsourced check-in stations like Paddington)

Systemwides that pulled from J inventory.

Agents that would answer on the first ring. No hold times.

I miss the STL hub. It was a nice connecting alternative to DFW and ORD and I found the upgrades easier.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CMK10 (Post 34858672)

I miss the STL hub. It was a nice connecting alternative to DFW and ORD and I found the upgrades easier.

Ah, forgot about that. The former TWA Ambassadors Club was a nice place to wait between flights. Is that still the AC?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ExpatExp (Post 34859429)

Ah, forgot about that. The former TWA Ambassadors Club was a nice place to wait between flights. Is that still the AC?

It is but it's about a third of the size it used to be.

What I miss...

8 SWUs upon reaching EXP and having no trouble using them.
Expanded award availability for EXPs. This was a listed benefit long after it stopped being actually a thing. The last time it worked for me was in 2013.
EXP line. Yes, it's still there but more than a minute or so on hold was a very rare event. And the agents were top notch and empowered to do whatever was needed.
Upgrade priority based on time of request, with connecting pax given priority in hubs. (I'm sure some hub-based folks hated this but in general it worked great for me.)
Complimentary upgrade inventory viewable on ExperFlyer. It was the X bucket.
No minimum spend requirements. Status earned based on miles or segments.
Flagship Lounge exclusively for international first class and OW Emeralds.
Decent, reliable hot meals in F. Those basically went away in September 2014 with the US Air takeover.
Meals in coach, and the ability to order special meals like "Heart Healthy" which was usually grilled salmon.
Comfortable seats in narrowbody F.
MD-80s.

And to be fair there a few things better today...

No redeposit fees for award tickets. This was not an EXP benefit until 2010 or 2011.
Food and free alcohol in the Admirals Clubs. Complimentary food was limited to a salty snack mix, and you had to pay for alcohol drinks.
Hard product in long haul business class.
Snack basket in short-haul F. Prior to 2014 you were typically offered a Biscoff in the morning and a small bag of nasty snack mix later in the day,
No change fees.

I miss the SWU award for hitting 1,000,000 flown miles. And I say that because I am at 980K now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by River in Sight (Post 34778105)

Those were a crazy deal - my last was an OW80C BOS-LHR, LHR-BCN, BCN-PRG (ticketed as such but Malev went out of business in the meantime; ended up routed via MAD), CDG-BOS. All in business class for 80,000.. crazy!!

And here I thought that LAX-SYD roundtrip in Qantas first class for 105,000 AA miles was a good deal.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeWoodstock (Post 34863354)

And here I thought that LAX-SYD roundtrip in Qantas first class for 105,000 AA miles was a good deal.

I would say that the 105k r/t for US-AU is lot better value compared to current rates than the 80k for BOS-PRG

It now costs 220k for a r/t between US and Australia whereas BOS--LHR-BCN-PRG would now cost 102.5k

I wish AAdvantage still had soft landings!