Safe separate tickets gap through LAX?
 

Annoyingly, it would seem that AA has put a crazy price rise on one of my oft-flown TP-harvesting routes (I'm taking that personally), and I'm looking for an alternative. The best I can come up with though, so far, involves two separate AA tickets, ...-LON-...-LAX and LAX-...-BOG with all the exposure to irrops that that entails.

I read here that "If the substitute transportation is scheduled to get you to your destination more than two hours later (four hours internationally), or if the airline does not make any substitute travel arrangements for you, the minimum compensation doubles (400% of your one-way fare, or $1,550, whichever amount is lower).", which suggests that AA would very much want to keep delays under 2/4 hours. Yet BTS shows delays into LAX in 2023 of up to 33 hours.

If you guys were booking separate tickets through LAX, how many hours would you want between flights to make sure everything doesn't go pear-shared? Given AA's recent announcement that only AAdvantage members will get favorable irrops rerouting would you want a full 2 days between flights?

A full 2 days seems extreme. Make it a long day and spend it at the beach.

The ...s seem to indicate you'll be connecting somewhere (apt with TP runs). It depends on your tolerance for risk, and your overall budget. I'd say at least 5 hours between flights, which allows for the 4 hour comp to kick in to soften the cost of rebooking on one's own. With the exception of the past month, LAX has fair weather, so that's not an issue, just not sure what your additional hidden airports are (the more likely of bad weather, the more I'd pad).

Are you able to book a multi-city ticket, or use something like matrix to force the routes you want? I've been able to easily get 4 different fare components on one AA ticket before.

Two days is just complete overkill unless you just want to spend a weekend in LA before continuing on to BOG. Reminds me of this guy.

A 4-5 hour connection will give you tons of cushion for all but the most extreme irrops.

AA pads its schedules so much that even if you take a 1-2 hr delay leaving LHR you'll still probably arrive close to on-time or only slightly delayed.

And I wouldn't let AA's rebooking policy "announcement" sway you one bit, there's zero evidence so far of how this will play out in reality or if there will be any negative side effects for members of other partner programs (highly highly doubtful).

The DOT language you cite to only applies to involuntary bumps.

AA still protects on separate tickets, as long as the separate tickets are contained in a single PNR. ;)

There's no way to do that unless you book through a knowledgable travel agent though, right?
Not even through calling AA?

It might work by using the multi-city booking engine to hold the flights, and then calling AA to book, asking the agent to ensure that everything goes on one PNR. But if that does not work, then you're right: the OP would need to go through a travel agent.

About 8-10 years ago I had a combined revenue ticket and an award ticket in one PNR, the revenue ticket was on AA into LHR and the award ticket was on Etihad from LHR-AUH-MLE. I was shocked when this happened, the agent automatically did it. I got separate schedule change announcements for each ticket and got some confused agents every time I called to adjust the AA revenue ticket (I've never seen this before, I can't believe this was allowed, etc.). It should come as no surprise that on the few occasions I have asked for this since, all agents have been clueless.

5-6 hours is sufficient buffer IME. 8-10 hours would afford enough time for an excursion outside the compound of LAX for lunch or dinner if that tickles your fancy.

I did a 7hr layover there one time to save a significant # of miles on an award routing.... even with the decent lounge scene (this was pre-covid mind you), I was bored by hour #4.

Any more than that, you might as well just make enough buffer to get a hotel room and have a decent night of sleep in a real bed.

Big thanks to all who replied! I shall carefully consider your advice.