I'm new here, so sorry if this is tre wrong place.


Going to live in New York and fly back to LAX or BUR about every 3/4 weeks for a weekend- sometimes a week , but more often a weekend.

Maybe it's vague, but looking for tips.

Things like -
Best time to book to get best fare.
Airlines with best change policies.
Airline with most generous reward schemes.
Best way to get lounge access.

I am Gold on BA, but don;t think thats going to help me with this much.

Any random tips on which planes are often full, which have wi-fi, you know the kind of things which are good to know.

BA gold is an important fact here. If you fly AA, it wil get you flagship lounge (first class lounge, a special lounge within the admirals club) access in JFK and lax, even if you are flying in economy.

If you fly in j, you will get 120 tier points for each segment on BA. This can add up quickly.

AA offers 3-class 767-200s on this route. All planes on this route offer wifi. I've never been in y on the route, but j and f are fairly decent by US standards (though not ncw level by any stretch).

An interesting tier point arbitrage is to fly EWR-lax, where AA offers only 2-class service. In the forward cabin, which is coded as f, you'd get 180 tier points each way. If you were to eurocheat, 5 segments and you'd be requalified for gold! Even if you don't, this is helpful to get to the 2,500 tier point level for the extra upgrade coupons on BA. The on the ground and in the air experience at EWR isn't as nice as JFK, but it's still ok.

BA gold won't get you anything in terms of upgrades on AA.

United also offers special 3-class planes on this route with economy plus in back - so you get some extra leg room. If you're in y, this could be nice.

Virgin america and DL also service this route. Co serves EWR-lax.

If you are a BA guy, however, probably best to stick with AA. Your on the ground experience will be great even if you are in y.

One thing to be mindful of, however, is I think not all fare classes in economy on AA accrue tier points on BA. I don't really fly in y so I don't know which, but you should look into this before committing if you are going y.

Fares are pretty high on this route right now. 2 years ago, you could get j for 1500 return, now it's 2500-3500 typically. Y is up a bunch too.

At these fares, premium cabin redemptions present a pretty good CPM value. I did one in AA f on the 3-class plane which was a 9 cent per mile valuation earlier this year.

One other thing I forgot is the Qantas shuttle. QF runs an A330 back and forth from lax to JFK once a day. It is equipped as an international flight with the angled lie-flat seats in j.

This is my favorite way to fly lax-JFK.

Due to our laws here (foreign carriers can't operate domestic service), you can only fly on this flight as part of an international itinerary. So, you cannot just turn up and buy a one way JFK-lax. BUT - if you add it to another itinerary that includes international travel - even if that other travel is a few weeks later, you can book this flight. I once flew JFK-lax on QF, stopped for two days in lax, then flew lax-lhr on AA - but because it was all in the same record, I was able to do the domestic leg on QF metal. Qf's fares are pretty reasonable because they don't usually fully fill the shuttle flight. They only have one a day, so you give up some flexibility, but if you're leaving on a Friday night from JFK to lax, it probably fits your schedule. The QF flight leaves JFK from the BA terminal (t7), and you can use the BA f lounge (but not the ccr ) at JFK.

You will also get BA tier points for this flight.

Welcome to FlyerTalk !!

You might wish to read The Points Guy blog (thepointsguy.com if I remember). He had a post just this week (I think it was June 30, 2011) on American Airlines awards.

LAX is an AA gateway city, so stopovers are allowed in LAX on an award ticket. If I understand the AA rules correctly, once you have enough AA miles for an award ticket, you could have a stopoff at LAX and then later continue on to take a vacation in Hawaii.

will you requal for ba status this year?

least cost is your #1 criteria for the lax trips?

what business flying will you be doing this year?

good luck...

edit to add....ba mi's can be used on aa for the lax trips....

Welcome to FT!

If your earning preference is with BA it might also be worth looking into K-UP and Y-Up fares that originate in LAX. This would require you to initially book a one-way ticket so to avoid nesting but generally from what I've been able to see fares are cheaper starting west. Have a look at this thread for more info: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...-point-76.html starting at post 1126

There are a couple of questions I think that will help everyone.

Are you traveling on the cheapest seats or is this for business and you just have to fly?

Are you booking only on one or two companies?

What airport is the best for you?

As previous comments, I agree AA all the way, plus you have options to fly in to SNA or BUR via DFW or ORD if LAX is too pricey and I do this myself sometimes.

Welcome to FT themoosieman!

As mentioned your BA Gold is very valuable and should be taken into serious consideration. Your BA Gold is also oneworld Emerald, OW's top category, which affords you many benefits when flying on AA:
http://www.oneworld.com/ow/ffp/oneworld-status

Here are some random tips - these may already be known to you, but just in case:

You can continue to earn BA miles and work to continue requalifying for BA Gold when flying on AA operated flights. You'll use your existing BA frequent flyer number (not an AA frequent flyer number). You can use your BA miles for award flights on AA but under BAEC's program and rules. (BAEC has much better stopover rules than AA and much cheaper mileage reinstatement fees when you have to cancel an award ticket).

Or - you could switch allegiances to AA and earn AA miles and follow the terms of AA's program. You can use your AA miles for BA flights but under AA's program. There are pros and cons to each program and I'd suggest you look at the BAEC and AA forums.

If you choose AA, you can take their Platinum challenge which will give you a fasttrack to AA status. Platinum status will earn you double the miles from flying. Making it to EXP will gain you the huge benefit of having change fees waived.

Regarding maximizing your mileage earnings be sure to register for any/all mileage bonuses through your carrier of choice.