I notice AA has added a couple of transcons e.g. BDL-LAX, and remember the rule defining transcon city pairs I can only fly once on an xONEx being a list. Which presumably won't have BDL-LAX on it quite yet. Am I being too optimistic?

The rules are the rules. Read them. They list cities in the east and in the west. OTOH now that you've pointed it out to the AA lurkers, I'm sure that they'll close the "loophole" shortly. Thanks.

Sometimes folks share their knowledge too openly and ensure that such "loopholes" are closed very quickly. Please think of the ramifications before sharing.

The current rule is as follows:
I'm sure AA would have thought of this before they added the new flights. They are likely to be added in the next rule changes. Either next month, or the changes have already been made but aren't yet uploaded.

Not necessarily! Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. This is, after all, how 'mistake' fares slip through. Thus the customary guidelines: (1) Never call the airline to ask, and (2) Don't shout your discoveries from the rooftop.

cheers,

Henry

Perhaps. OTOH, I benefitted from this just a couple of months ago.

FWIW I have long felt that this very forum is one of the reasons an AONE3 costs USD12000 - USD15000 (or probably more - I seldom look for high fares), around three times what it cost ten or fifteen years ago. I believe that first-class fares have not appreciated anywhere near that much in the same time frame.

This forum created and nurtured a demand that would not have existed otherwise - orchestrating an xONEx is so complicated that most travel agents would not have suggested it to their clients, but the kind souls here created tools and offered a lot of hand-holding to others to make their trips possible. I'm not saying I wasn't among them, both on the receiving and giving side.

So before telling me not to mention the awful secret that I might be able to sneak in an extra transcon - or not, since it wouldn't surprise me that rules or not, the experienced agent on the AA desk would fight me if I asked for it - consider that this is a public forum created for the purpose of sharing such information.

There's a ridiculous (imo) thread in one of the MR forums which uses secret insider codes to discuss how to configure a ticket so that YQ disappears from the pricing. Should we go to a secret-code system here? PM our personal friends? Keep the news to ourselves and not post at all?

You've raised some interesting questions which have been discussed here before and no doubt will continue to be discussed. It's hard to find the right balance.

I'm confused. Isn't BDL the code for Hartford, CT? And isn't that already on the list?