PWMTrav

All great info, thanks!

Until the well is dry, I'm going to keep booking BOS-DUB on EI using Avios - they tend to have tons of award space available, even in J, and from BOS it's only 25k Avios each way. With the last Amex transfer bonus, I booked two seats in J for 38k MR (haven't booked the return yet, was hoping for some AZ FCO-BOS space). It's just so much easier to get places directly from LHR than DUB. But now I'm off-topic.

Does the US to LHR slot have to be agreed upon by anyone, or is it any slot of US/AA's choosing? Any incentive to not give up a middle of the day slot or something undesirable?

FWAAA

The slots that AA/BA made available to competitors for BOS and MIA when the immunized joint venture was approved were provided by BA. One of those slot pairs is currently held by US - the MIA pair - as DL gave up on MIA and returned the slots. US applied for permission to fly MIA-CLT-LHR (with change of plane at CLT) and was awarded the slot.

My guess is that BA will provide a well-timed slot pair from its inventory of slots; MAH4546 suggested one of its BRU slots.

I agree completely. Slots are available in the open market and I don't see anyone trying to go head to head at PHL with new AA.

Quite obviously, new AA agreed to provide an appropriately-timed slots that would make PHL-LHR viable (at least from a scheduling perspective).

New AA and BA will NOT be reducing flights from PHL to LHR. If anything, new AA and BA will collectively increase flights from PHL to LHR. All they offered the EU was that they would make a slot pair available to a competitor to use for PHL-LHR.

A Philly newspaper reporter interpreted that to mean that AA/BA would "give up" one daily flight PHL-LHR, and that's simply fabricated.

coastalguy

9/1 - oh boy...hold on to our hats!

I was flying PHX-DCA today and from my seat was able to listen to all but one of the FAs chatting about upcoming raises, new uniforms (something about teal), worries about seniority (blending crews) and base locations (reassignments for some). It was quite interesting, really.

rltycheck

I heard a similar story from the Chairman's Desk, that status will be reciprocal sometime in September, so my October BA flight I'll have access to the good London club room!

One good thing about the merger - fewer connections in dreaded Frankfurt!

PHL_roadwarrior

...and LHR is a cakewalk?

miffSC

So I have a question, which I am hoping will be answered even speculatively....

What about scheduled flights I have on Star partners through the end of the year... will those still be credited to my US Airways account? I am in desperate need of those miles for my status this year.

eponymous_coward

Well, DL already flies longhaul out of PHL (CDG). I could see them experimenting like they did in MIA (and it might not work out, like it did in MIA). DL is pretty willing to try things and bail if it doesn't work (more so than AA or UA).

No effin' clue. Welcome to merger uncertainty (it's not like this hasn't been a secret for the past few months). My guess is if you're desperate, be prepared to take it in the shorts and switch from *A to OW if earning after 11/1 goes up in smoke.

dcpatti

When VS ended their earning partnership with US, tickets booked before the announcement was made but after the travel date were indeed honored for mileage accrual, however in most cases (or at least from my own experience) it was not automatic. You had to put in a missing miles request. I'd screenshot the earnings chart as it stands today, so that the ticket purchase date can be compared to the T&C in place, just in case you get any pushback on collecting those miles.

perseus11

Don't forget, the EU agreement is not only to provide a slot pair, but to also provide a competitive FEED to the flight. This surely reduces the risk of failure for a new entry - as long as AA interprets this as a "requirement" to provide sufficient Feed at both PHL and LHR to support a successful flight - based on Loads. The FEED requirement would seem to favor a One World entrant, however I could see someone like Virgin Atlantic, using their loose relationship with VX, starting this route, or as I mentioned in an earlier post, QA might combine it with their announced non-stop, or add another flight.

miffSC

I just hate the uncertainty of just what to do!

Thanks. I'll do that. I have a couple of flights booked on UA and I definitely need the miles towards status.

relangford

AGREED! LHR is one of the most complicated airports to make connections. The signage is sometimes confusing, even HAL employees don't know directions, security lines are terrible between terminals, the fun bus rides (mixing all travel classes) negating the Fast Track, etc. I hope the USdbaAA will create new schedules in their slot loss (maybe a trade deal?).

HNL

AA holds coveted prime slot times at LHR. I doubt the current or new AA try to deal for different sAA times. They may seek to work with other oneworld partners to get better timed sUS slots at LHR.

Fanjet

I find that very hard to believe. For status to be reciprocal, each flier must have an AA and US FF account. Then they have to be linked, with weekly "sweeps" to be done to update them. I would be surprised if that happened anytime before 2014. They will first focus on putting each others code on their flights. So that every AA flight will have a US code on it, and vice versa. Which will make a AA flight the same as a US flight, and therefore earning full EQM and elite level bonus credit. And I would guess that reciprocating benefits on both carriers will happen when both FF programs mirror each other, anyway. How do you upgrade a US elite on a AA flight when they won't have any e500s?

taxicabnumber

My apologies if this has been covered somewhere -- I searched the thread but didn't find anything much -- but any idea if we'll be able to credit Alaska flights to US DM at any point before the US name/FF program cease to exist (or even the status of Alaska's partnership with AA longterm given the merger)?

Fanjet

I doubt that AS will partner with US before the merger. As for AS continuing to be an AA partner post-merger, I have yet to hear anything to the contrary. It works for AA. It works for AS. And I doubt that the DOJ/DOT would have any objections since DL partners with AS as well.