A couple of questions from an AAdvantage newbie

[Kangol]

Re: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

A stopover in YVR is allowed on any of those CX flights as it is the gateway city.

I know, my point is that by the above rules you can have a stopover in JFK (inbound to the US), following a transit at YVR, when it is not the gateway city by way of this "single flight number" rule.
Advantageous if (1) there is no availability on the (possibly busier) non-stop HKG-JFK route and (2) you don't want to stop in YVR. But that is only one example of a non-AA allowance.

There may be some potential South American options **hint if anyone wants to do some searching**

 

[Princess Fiona]

Re: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

I know, my point is that by the above rules you can have a stopover in JFK (inbound to the US), following a transit at YVR, when it is not the gateway city by way of this "single flight number" rule.
Advantageous if (1) there is no availability on the (possibly busier) non-stop HKG-JFK route and (2) you don't want to stop in YVR. But that is only one example of a non-AA allowance.

There may be some potential South American options **hint if anyone wants to do some searching**

Doesn't that have to be AA flights though?
Unless I'm reading it wrong

 

[dfcatch]

Re: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

I know, my point is that by the above rules you can have a stopover in JFK (inbound to the US), following a transit at YVR, when it is not the gateway city by way of this "single flight number" rule.
Advantageous if (1) there is no availability on the (possibly busier) non-stop HKG-JFK route and (2) you don't want to stop in YVR. But that is only one example of a non-AA allowance.

There may be some potential South American options **hint if anyone wants to do some searching**

I totally don't get you.

HKG-YVR-JFK is a one-way AAward irregardless of flight numbers etc. Even on a single number you can have a stop in YVR if you choose.

And of course you can have a stop in JFK - that's the termination of the service.

Or are you saying there is a CX 123 that has the same flight number in both directions?

 

[Princess Fiona]

Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

I totally don't get you.

HKG-YVR-JFK is a one-way AAward irregardless of flight numbers etc. Even on a single number you can have a stop in YVR if you choose.

And of course you can have a stop in JFK - that's the termination of the service.

Or are you saying there is a CX 123 that has the same flight number in both directions?

I think what the OP is suggesting is that an Award booked
HKG-YVR-JFK-MIA would be allowed a stopover in JFK if HKG-YVR-JFK was on the same flight number.
The Boarding Area link posted previously indicates some sort of quirk allowing this where award is booked AAA-BBB-CCC-DDD and AAA-BBB-CCC is on the one AA flight number or codeshare flight number then a transit is allowed at the gateway ( here BBB) with a stopover at CCC

EDITED: if that's not what the OP meant then I'm even more confused than you

 

[Must...Fly!]

Re: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

I found this comment below (#20 on the page) with an interesting exception to the rules:

Getting the Most Out of an American Airlines Award: Ultimate Guide to AAdvantage Rules - View from the Wing - View from the Wing



Has anyone done this successfully before?

yes I have. Originally booked PER-xSYD-xSIN-xLHR-ATH. Dropped off the last segment to Athens, and rebooked PER-xSYD-xHKG-LHR. No charge, just the changes in taxes (though it took a couple of phone calls to sort it out).

 

[Kangol]

Re: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

Doesn't that have to be AA flights though?
Unless I'm reading it wrong

AFAIK, no - it doesn't have to be on AA metal. See these links for more info:
Reader Questions about Free Stopovers on American Airlines Awards | milevalue.com
The dark side of American's award ticket rules... - One Mile at a Time - One Mile at a Time
Free One-Way Awards on American Using Stopovers, Just How Many Miles are You Allowed to Fly? - View from the Wing - View from the Wing

I was bringing up the possibility of these routings with non-AA carriers, which is advantageous when you want to travel on a product other than AA due to location or service reasons or otherwise.
The point is - those opportunities may be rare because of the nature of what is and isn't offered as far as a "single flight number".

I totally don't get you.

HKG-YVR-JFK is a one-way AAward irregardless of flight numbers etc. Even on a single number you can have a stop in YVR if you choose.

And of course you can have a stop in JFK - that's the termination of the service.

Or are you saying there is a CX 123 that has the same flight number in both directions?

Maybe I'm mistaken with what is defined as the international gateway in the specific CX HKG-YVR-JFK example. My impression based on reading a TR of that specific segment was that all customs and immigration is done at YVR (ie the international gateway), with the follow on leg to JFK treated as a domestic leg. I haven't done this myself so I can't confirm.

I think what the OP is suggesting is that an Award booked
HKG-YVR-JFK-MIA would be allowed a stopover in JFK if HKG-YVR-JFK was on the same flight number.
The Boarding Area link posted previously indicates some sort of quirk allowing this where award is booked AAA-BBB-CCC-DDD and AAA-BBB-CCC is on the one AA flight number or codeshare flight number then a transit is allowed at the gateway ( here BBB) with a stopover at CCC

EDITED: if that's not what the OP meant then I'm even more confused than you

I did mention "stopover in JFK", not "stop in JFK", implying there would be further travel on from JFK. Should have been more clear.
So to be explicitly clear, e.g. based on those rules in the first link, a HKG-YVR-JFK-BOS can be done with a stopover in JFK, even though YVR is the international gateway city and JFK is not the international gateway city. This would be because HKG-YVR-JFK is on the same flight number.
From all reports, this is an exception to the "stopover must be at the international gateway city" rule.
I hope this is clear?

On another note, I don't know if HKG-YVR-JFK-MIA is allowed due to MPM rules, or if CX publishes a fare between HKG and MIA, but you'd have to look that one up

 

[Kangol]

Re: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

yes I have. Originally booked PER-xSYD-xSIN-xLHR-ATH. Dropped off the last segment to Athens, and rebooked PER-xSYD-xHKG-LHR. No charge, just the changes in taxes (though it took a couple of phone calls to sort it out).

Awesome, that is another anecdote of removing a segment (just like in the link). However I am potentially looking at adding some segments on to a booking (same region and no change in miles) - if the need arises I will report back to see if it can be done.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Re: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

On another note, I don't know if HKG-YVR-JFK-MIA is allowed due to MPM rules, or if CX publishes a fare between HKG and MIA, but you'd have to look that one up

They do indeed have several published fares on that route

 

[smit0847]

Re: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

I'm about to pull the trigger on my first ever AA redemption. I know USDM and Lifemiles like the back of my hand but want to try different carriers to get back from HKG (as reliable as TG is I have 13 flights this year with them in J and F and am getting a little bored of them!).

While we would have loved a direct CX J HKG-MEL there was no availability except to cut our trip very short so we're going HKG-KUL-MEL on CX and MH J with a 20 hour stop in KUL (never been before and never flown MH or CX). I rang AA about availability and the operator was lovely - very helpful with allowing me to choose flight times (mixing carriers and 20 hour stopover was not a problem). If a direct CX HKG-MEL flight opens up at T14 we will consider paying the change fee.

Is there anything else I should know before booking? I know the CX regional product could be just about anything (hoping for 1-2-1 333 obviously) and MH is angled flat (Im expecting MH to be very similar to TG).

I still can't believe how easy and cheap it is to fly proper J for not much more than Y - I don't know why people fly Y just to collect a few lousy status credits!

 

[knasty]

Re: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

CX J tends to open up at T-7 and T-3 days. Have a look for CX options in the next week or so and you will see how they do it. FWIW in my cases they did it mid morning HK time so I check from early afternoon EST.

 

[smit0847]

Re: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

CX J tends to open up at T-7 and T-3 days. Have a look for CX options in the next week or so and you will see how they do it. FWIW in my cases they did it mid morning HK time so I check from early afternoon EST.

Thanks - we'll actually be in HKG at T-7 and T-3 so it's going to be a bit of a pain to skype at this time while travelling. We may well just leave it via KL as they're both day-time flights and I would like to try MH (and see a bit of KL).

HWMBO, who a year ago said 'why would we pay anymore to go J when we can just fly Y?' has now changed his tune to 'there's no point doing overnight flights if the bed isn't fully-flat'.

I'VE CREATED A MONSTER.

 

[Happy Trails]

Re: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

.... However I am potentially looking at adding some segments on to a booking (same region and no change in miles) - if the need arises I will report back to see if it can be done.

I did this last weekend - added BKK-HKG in J (CX) to an existing HKG-SYD in F (QF).
No extra points, but there was a USD150 points reinstatement fee.

For a new HKG-SYD booking which was still on hold, I did the same, processed the payment and no fee was charged.

After an abortive attempt with the US call centre I used the Aus number for both transactions; excellent service and I wasn't charged the $80 fee.

 

[smit0847]

Re: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

No extra points, but there was a USD150 points reinstatement fee.

Isn't this a change fee if there's no difference in points then?! Or is it a decrease in points because you are commencing from a cheap region?

 

[Happy Trails]

Re: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

Isn't this a change fee if there's no difference in points then?! Or is it a decrease in points because you are commencing from a cheap region?

Sorry, I wasn't really paying attention, but I believe it involved crediting (reinstating) the 45k back to my account and then withdrawing them again to complete the transaction.

There was no change in region, its still Asia 2 to South Pacific.

 

[Kangol]

Re: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

I did this last weekend - added BKK-HKG in J (CX) to an existing HKG-SYD in F (QF).
No extra points, but there was a USD150 points reinstatement fee.

For a new HKG-SYD booking which was still on hold, I did the same, processed the payment and no fee was charged.

After an abortive attempt with the US call centre I used the Aus number for both transactions; excellent service and I wasn't charged the $80 fee.

Thanks, however unfortunately that isn't consistent with the principle in the quoted post:

"3) While American does generally charge a change fee for changes to origin or destination, there is an exception for dropping initial or terminal changes if the country of origin and country of destination do not change and the award type does not change."

The $150 fee is a change fee (redeposit miles then use the same amount to purchase a new award ticket).

Edit: Argh, I missed out the most important part (bolded above) - dropping segments, not adding them.

Edit again: Although you may be able to get around that by adding an extra transit then dropping the last or first leg. eg. you had LAX-MEL and wanted to change it to LAX-BNE. You could change it for free to LAX-BNE-MEL, then get rid of the BNE-MEL, or even no show the last leg. If doing the reverse you wouldn't be able to no show the first leg...

 

[Danger]

Re: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

Isn't this a change fee if there's no difference in points then?! Or is it a decrease in points because you are commencing from a cheap region?

Thailand is in the same redemption zone as Hong Kong but I think the USD150 is charged because AA requires the ticket to be reissued. To do this they require the miles to be re-deposited before being taken out again.

 

[Danger]

Re: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

With the alliance between AA and BA (and IB), is it possible to use EXP SWUs on BA? I assume the answer is no but want to confirm.

Is it possible to book a fare in a specific fare bucket? When I go to the website I'm only getting fares (on a particular routing) returned in N but I'd like to beef it up to the net fare level so that it earns 1.0 AA points. The results page has only N and the next column is Business; there's nothing in between.

I'm guessing only through an agent.

It is my understanding that if using the USA website and you place the reservation on hold, a call to web services will permit a change to a higher fare class (and price). I have not tried this option. YMMV

Happy wandering

Fred

I did as suggested, putting an online booking on hold and phoning AAustralia. To go from N to V it was another $500. I'm going to double-check and phone AA in the US, just to make sure.

 

[Danger]

Re: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

I did as suggested, putting an online booking on hold and phoning AAustralia. To go from N to V it was another $500. I'm going to double-check and phone AA in the US, just to make sure.

Phoning AA in the US got me a much better price. It was only another $240 Australian to from V on the outbound flights and L on the inbound.

 

[smit0847]

Re: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

I'm about to pull the trigger on my first ever AA redemption. I know USDM and Lifemiles like the back of my hand but want to try different carriers to get back from HKG (as reliable as TG is I have 13 flights this year with them in J and F and am getting a little bored of them!).

While we would have loved a direct CX J HKG-MEL there was no availability except to cut our trip very short so we're going HKG-KUL-MEL on CX and MH J with a 20 hour stop in KUL (never been before and never flown MH or CX). I rang AA about availability and the operator was lovely - very helpful with allowing me to choose flight times (mixing carriers and 20 hour stopover was not a problem). If a direct CX HKG-MEL flight opens up at T14 we will consider paying the change fee.

Is there anything else I should know before booking? I know the CX regional product could be just about anything (hoping for 1-2-1 333 obviously) and MH is angled flat (Im expecting MH to be very similar to TG).

I still can't believe how easy and cheap it is to fly proper J for not much more than Y - I don't know why people fly Y just to collect a few lousy status credits!

Booked and ticketed this last night. Apart from an initial problem with using a Australian CC (a little 0 after my postcode transported me to Rayle, Georgia and fixed the problem) the entire process was really easy and the call centre staff were super friendly and helpful. I'm very used to using US and AV miles for redemptions like this - in comparison AA is definitely more expensive to buy miles through but I am getting sick of doing every trip on TG J! OW does seem to have slightly more premium carriers than *A though.

Looking forward to finally experiencing all these HKG OW lounges I've heard so much about and also the MH satay!

 

[blackcat20]

Re: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

Booked and ticketed this last night. Apart from an initial problem with using a Australian CC (a little 0 after my postcode transported me to Rayle, Georgia and fixed the problem) the entire process was really easy and the call centre staff were super friendly and helpful. I'm very used to using US and AV miles for redemptions like this - in comparison AA is definitely more expensive to buy miles through but I am getting sick of doing every trip on TG J! OW does seem to have slightly more premium carriers than *A though.

Looking forward to finally experiencing all these HKG OW lounges I've heard so much about and also the MH satay!

You can just leave the postcode blank to get around the Aussie address problem.