PHX to ANC non-stop discontinued?
 

I have an AONE4 ticket which includes confirmed PHX-ANC-PHX in Dec 2016 - ticket already issued. One of the principle reasons for including this return leg was to receive First Class 210 BA tier pts each way.

I now find that, from Aug 2016, AA have cancelled these particular non-stop flights and everything must go through Seattle, hence two flights each way earning only 60 x 2 pts each way.

Does anyone know of non-stop flights on oneworld within the US over 2,000 miles to/from Anchorage, please?

As I understand it, Alaska Airlines can't be included on a RTW even with an AA code share. Correct?

oneworld timetable here https://www.oneworld.com/flights/timetable-search. Keep checking regularly. Flights to ANC can be(are?) seasonable

AS is not oneworld so not eligible for a *ONE* ticket

PHX-ANC has been year round, picked up from US. They may be making it seasonal like the DFW-ANC flight.

They used to have a ORD-ANC seasonal as well, I had been planning on booking it and was about to confirm the trip plan, when they canned it (was going to do ICN-HKG-ORD-ANC as the start of a DONE3).

AS can't be used on an xONEx (though can be used on an xGLOBnn), however, I've been able to use them in the past (LAX-PDX on a QF codeshare just after the current booking tool was put up). The flight appeared in the booking tool, I selected it and it was ticketed. When AA noticed (ticket issuer), they let it stand.

Just to add to what Mwenenzi and Himeno have said:

Because you already have confirmed flights, AA will have to 'protect' you from the change, which can mean:
It is not however under any obligation to make sure you get the same number of BAEC tier points that you would otherwise have earned.
(Perhaps AA codeshares on the AS non-stop, and would that mean you earn as you expected?)

AA appears to be revising its ANC service pretty drastically. Right now no nonstops from the lower 48 show up after mid-August; however AA has added a nonstop LAX-ANC during June, July and part of August, which will operate along with existing/seasonal PHX-ANC and DFW-ANC services, both of which show up on aa.com.

I'm not surprised to see PHX-ANC disappear; it was a former US route and I doubt it ever did much for the bottom line. With AS and DL throwing nukes at each other up and down the west coast, cutting prices to ANC to incredibly cheap levels, AA would be almost certain to lose their shirts trying to serve ANC from a secondary hub in the off-season.

And with the AS purchase of VX, my hunch is that smart money at AA is looking at the whole west coast and shaking its head.

If anything, I wouldn't be even slightly surprised to see AA (in a year or two at the earliest) really upping the pressure on AS to join OW. AS' partnership with DL is obviously toast, and with the VX acquisition, AS' inherited hub at SFO would fill a huge gap in Oneworld's network - were AS a member.

Doesn't much help the OP, but I also would expect the AA schedule to be tweaked - quite a lot - between now and mid-summer/autumn. Maybe some 2K mile sectors will still show up.

ETA - look here for other route announcements - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...an-2016-a.html

Thank you all for your helpful responses.

It appears that AA cease PHX-ANC direct on Aug 21, 2016.
AS start PHX-ANC direct on Nov 7, 2016, three times a week. Do you know if this is a new service, or a repeat of a seasonal one?

The latter doesn't help me as, even if I could persuade BA to reissue my AONE4 using AS between PHX and ANC, the flights would accrue zero BA tier pts as there is no AA code share.

Does anyone know roughly on what date AA began PHX-ANC in 2016? Is there a possibility that AA might resume the service from, say, Mar 2017? Or have they ceded this route to AS?

Gardyloo: are there any other north-south routes which are longer than 2,000 miles direct; as you know, east-west is only allowed once on a RTW.

As far as I know PHX-ANC has been around for a long time, certainly since before the AA/US merger. (I think it was an HP run before US took it over.) It's anybody's guess if they'll resume, but mine is that AA will exit these long, thin routes for good, especially with AS able to carry AA codes.

You can't use AS metal with an xONEx ticket, AA codeshare or no.

I'm not aware of any N/S 2K mile sectors aside from LAX/PHX/DFW-ANC. Remember that any flights to/from Canada, Central America or the Caribbean don't have first class, so no FC tier points.

However, it's not simply E/W, it has to do with specific city pairs named in the OWE rules. Sometimes AA will put on a direct flight (one flight number even with a stop) from/to some city not on the list that will net the higher tier points. These are unpredictable, often one-way and/or seasonal, but worth looking for. For example, Sacramento (SMF) isn't on the "transcon" list, but AA is currently running CLT-SMF-CLT as nonstops, 2244 miles each way. SLC (Salt Lake City) to MIA is also available, 2088 miles.

Is there any reliable easy way to 'look for' this sort of flight, for example, on aa.com?

Good question.

The problem is that, since a RTW can have travel dates up to 22+ months into the future, there is almost zero likelihood that such combinations will still exist when it's time to fly.

There will be a seasonal AA service to ANC from LAX and there is one from DFW. However, they only run in the summer.

The flight mere needs to be direct, not nonstop, to qualify for the 210 BA tier points. (and the length is calculated based on the origin and destination, not the route.)

You may be entitled to original routing credit from BAEC, but BAEC are very reluctant to do this unless the ticket was issued on BA paper.

The usual rules do not allow AS, but if you are are the sixteen sector limit that may be preferred as electronic support for more than sixteen sectors is very limited (I don't think BA can do it, for instance).

Thanks. Yes, I'm already at the 16 sector limit, and doing, say, PHX-SEA-ANC would entail trying to deal with BA who issued the AONE4, but don't have a dedicated RTW desk. It was bad enough getting the original ticket issued; I can't imagine a conversation about 18 sectors and using AS - not worth the effort.

Maybe I'll change it to DFW-ANC-DFW, although I'll have to wait a couple of months to see if it shows up in the early summer 2017 timetable.

It is an old legacy HP route. I am sad to see it go seasonal. AA has never had any serious interest in ANC, and with AA and AS getting closer this wasn't too surprising. AS has gotten back into the ANC-PHX market in the winter months, and hopefully might increase frequencies with the AA exit.

Use the (new, revised, inferior) Oneworld Flight Map - http://desktop.innoflightmaps.com/do...-en/index.html - or the PDF timetable - http://www.trvlink.com/download/oneworld/oneworld.pdf - and start looking. For 2000+ mile segments, use the "destinations" function on the map and look at cities that aren't on the transcon exclusion list such as SMF, RNO, FAT, PSP or others. You can use the PDF timetable the same way, but it's a bit more tedious.

I have a DONE5 ex-JNB booked 5 weeks ago with BA that includes PHX-ANC-PHX. In the past 3 days (or so) the ANC segments disappeared from the itinerary. Neither BA nor AA contacted me (yet) about the cancellation of segments. I also had the direct flight JFK-CCS-JFK which was recently was ended by AA. They did email me a confirmed protection alternative xMIA.
I called the AA RTW desk today and asked them about the missing ANC segments: they explained that the flight has been discontinued and that they will protect me both in finding an alternative routing with AS and that they will overrule the 16 segment limit due to multiple discontinued segments in my itinerary. However, they did ask me to call BA to process these changes. I was told AA can't make changes to the ticket as I have not started that DONE5 yet. Will report back if I am successful at fixing the issues at hand, hoping BA will be diligent about it... as I was looking forward to see the northern lights next spring..!

Thanks for your post. I look forward to hearing of your possible success with BA as I'm in almost exactly the same boat. Unfortunately, I'd like to earn BA tier pts rather than AA pts, so using AS won't solve my particular problem.