Things I Miss That AAdvantage Used to Do
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. |
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.) I am probably forgetting some others. Great post. Gets at, I think, the core of the two competing loyalty ideologies in the industry today:
Aadvantage has moved away from 2 and toward 1, although I suppose the Loyalty Points revamp can arguably be cast as a small step back toward 2. Skymiles is 1 epitomized. MileagePlus leans 1, but preserves a few aspects of 2. Industry trend generally seems to be (sadly) toward 1 at the expense of 2, but notably Aeroplan has bucked that trend and is pretty clearly banking on theory 2. Interesting times. |
I miss having better food/snack options as an EXP flying in coach. That cheese and fruit plate was really helpful at times. Multiple transcon flights now have had only a pretzel or cookie.
And multiple system wide upgrades that came with EXP. |
Originally Posted by sbrower
(Post 34775732)
5. Channel 11 for air to ground communication throughout the flight.
I certainly remember channel 9 (and on certain older equipment channel 4) on UA but I never remember ATC on AA. |
What years are the original list from?
I only started working a decade ago, so AA hasn't changed that much in my time. |
The past few years are the only time I've been elite on the same airline more than two years in a row. But regarding item #4, while I have no idea how AA did it, in the late 1990's UA created an old mile/new mile dichotomy, where "old" miles could be redeemed on the old award chart for a period of a few years.
|
Originally Posted by redtop43
(Post 34775836)
But regarding item #4, while I have no idea how AA did it, in the late 1990's UA created an old mile/new mile dichotomy, where "old" miles could be redeemed on the old award chart for a period of a few years.
|
Originally Posted by Herb687
(Post 34775830)
How long ago was this a thing?
I certainly remember channel 9 (and on certain older equipment channel 4) on UA but I never remember ATC on AA. Specifically regarding AA, I think I was told that they stopped it around the time of one of their major crashes. |
I mostly miss the award rules.
|
Originally Posted by Herb687
(Post 34775830)
How long ago was this a thing?
I certainly remember channel 9 (and on certain older equipment channel 4) on UA but I never remember ATC on AA. |
I have you all beat.
I miss being able to go into the cockpit as a kid. Not before or after the flight but DURING the flight. I miss showing an interest in aviation as a young kid and being able to sit in the cockpit jumpseat for the whole flight. I have one more that could be added to this list, but FARs... edit: I know this is an aadvantage thing, but I always flew USair back in the day, so close enough... |
Originally Posted by stant
(Post 34776104)
I have you all beat.
I miss being able to go into the cockpit as a kid. Not before or after the flight but DURING the flight. I miss showing an interest in aviation as a young kid and being able to sit in the cockpit jumpseat for the whole flight. I have one more that could be added to this list, but FARs... edit: I know this is an aadvantage thing, but I always flew USair back in the day, so close enough... |
Originally Posted by stant
(Post 34776104)
I have you all beat.
I miss being able to go into the cockpit as a kid. Not before or after the flight but DURING the flight. I miss showing an interest in aviation as a young kid and being able to sit in the cockpit jumpseat for the whole flight. I have one more that could be added to this list, but FARs... edit: I know this is an aadvantage thing, but I always flew USair back in the day, so close enough... |
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. Just curious for a younger person what good thing do we have now that we will regret later (anything)? |
8 SWUs issued when you reach EXP with decent availability to use them. I spent a few years late 00s/early 10s flying to Asia a lot. AA didn't have the coverage in Asia that UA/CO and DL/NW had (AA served NRT only for a while), but the easiest upgrade instruments made up for that.
Then there was the brief MRTC experiment, which is probably what roped me into AA in the first place. And Bistro flights. |
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