A couple of questions from an AAdvantage newbie

[ejd711]

Re: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

Does this mean there are no CC fees for using an australian credit card?

Slightly confused by the question.

So usually there is the booking fees paid when using any of the call centres ($35 or whatever for the US one and $75 for the Australian call centre). This is separate to using the credit card. Obviously if you pay the American call centre using an Australian credit card then you may have got hit with the foreign transaction fees of 2-3% if they existed on your credit card, but if using a 28 deg, or bank west then no foreign conversion fees anyway. When I booked through the Australian call centre I believe I was just billed in Australian dollars (I can't check right at the moment). Is this what you meant by credit card fees?

 

[smit0847]

Re: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

Slightly confused by the question.

So usually there is the booking fees paid when using any of the call centres ($35 or whatever for the US one and $75 for the Australian call centre). This is separate to using the credit card. Obviously if you pay the American call centre using an Australian credit card then you may have got hit with the foreign transaction fees of 2-3% if they existed on your credit card, but if using a 28 deg, or bank west then no foreign conversion fees anyway. When I booked through the Australian call centre I believe I was just billed in Australian dollars (I can't check right at the moment). Is this what you meant by credit card fees?

Sorry what I meant is previously if you called AA US they couldnt book anything with an australian CC, directing you to the AA AU call centre who would charge a CC fee. The only way around this was to add a 0 to your Australian CC and say to US that it was a US card. Is this still the case?

 

[Kangol]

Re: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

Slightly confused by the question.

So usually there is the booking fees paid when using any of the call centres ($35 or whatever for the US one and $75 for the Australian call centre). This is separate to using the credit card. Obviously if you pay the American call centre using an Australian credit card then you may have got hit with the foreign transaction fees of 2-3% if they existed on your credit card, but if using a 28 deg, or bank west then no foreign conversion fees anyway. When I booked through the Australian call centre I believe I was just billed in Australian dollars (I can't check right at the moment). Is this what you meant by credit card fees?

No more phone booking fees for those that can't be booked online.
American AAdvantage Now Waiving Most Phone Ticketing Fees - One Mile at a Time

 

[ejd711]

Re: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

Sorry what I meant is previously if you called AA US they couldnt book anything with an australian CC, directing you to the AA AU call centre who would charge a CC fee. The only way around this was to add a 0 to your Australian CC and say to US that it was a US card. Is this still the case?

Ah ok. In the past I have used the El Segundo 0 in the postcode and then have paid with my Australian credit card. I didn't tell them it was an Australian credit card (or a US one) but as long as the address was the US they processed it anyway for me (last time was earlier in the year). I suspect I'd have to give them a new address if I needed to use the US call centre again because the Australian call centre switched it to an Australian one... Haven't heard of any changes which would make this no longer true.

 

[scwappy]

I recently booked an EY flight using AA miles and was charged an $80 service fee. After reading this, am I correct in assuming this should not have been charged, and therefore I should call for a refund of this?

 

[ejd711]

Sounds like it - I politely asked the Australian call centre when I booked maybe two or three months ago that the fee was waived for bookings unable to be made online and they said yes, so I think it would be worth a call to try to get a refund. I will always ask if I'm planning on calling the Australian call centre though.

 

[serfty]

Note that the "Australian" call centre has been charging a fee for most bookings for some years - I suspect the $80 is not the "Award Booking Fee",but the standard telephone booking fee. If they were used to make a booking that could be done online (e.g. QF flights) further fees would have been charged.

I avoid "mindpearl" (The contracted AA call centre with a Brisbane number but serviced from Fiji and (I think) the phillipines) as much as possible.

 

[dalereardon]

And in worse news overnight as reported by several bloggers AA is only able to access EY J and Y award seats, no F awards at the moment.

Hopefully this is temporary though given how EY has announced changes to their own program they may be talking to AA about increased fees, but hopefully not.

Dale.

 

[smit0847]

Re: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

Looking for assistance to get home from CMB to MEL anywhere from Jan 7 - 10th. 2 pax in J using AA miles. Can travel separately. CMB is rather frustratingly zoned as Asia whereas India and Maldives are zoned MEA which would open up QR and EY.

Ideally I'd like a connection through KUL that I could then potentially change to CX via HKG if seats opened up last minute. I know this is a very busy travel period!

Any suggestions?

Following on from this here is my #firstworldproblem of the day…

Ive placed CMB-KUL-MEL in MH J on hold. This is not exactly my preferred option. Im hoping CMB-HKG-MEL on CX J opens up last minute which it may or may not. I am reasonably flexible with dates.

My cousin and I are travelling back separately at this stage (he’s on the same routing 24 hours earlier) because he has to be back at a certain time for work. Again, I’d like to ‘upgrade’ him to CX J last minute but as he’s never flown J before I’m sure he’d be fine.

My problem is:

CMB is zoned Asia 2 on AA. MLE, and all airports in Southern India are zoned Middle East. If I was to fly out of MLE or India, although it would be an extra 10k AA points (45k vs 35k one-way), it opens up EY J as an option coming home. And sure enough, there’s 1 J seat MLE-AUH-MEL the day after I’m supposed to travel. There are a range of cheap flights from CMB-MLE to position, including a very interesting MU 5[SUP]th[/SUP] freedom flight.

I don’t know whether to take the direct route (via Asia) home, or the scenic route via the Middle East. With the positioning flight and purchasing the extra 10k miles, it would be about $400 extra, as well as an extra day of leave. Its not very logical to turn 4 + 8 hours of flying into 5 + 14 hours but I’ve never flown EY before (have flown CX J many times).

What would you do? Is it worth the hassle or is the extra cost and flying time not really worth it if its only in J?

 

[smit0847]

And in worse news overnight as reported by several bloggers AA is only able to access EY J and Y award seats, no F awards at the moment.

Hopefully this is temporary though given how EY has announced changes to their own program they may be talking to AA about increased fees, but hopefully not.

Dale.

Unless they cant physically fill the seats through selling or own-program redemptions, I dont know why any airlines give F award seats to partners. I guess EY got sick of AA members snapping up all the A380 F awards with their free CC sign-on points?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Unless they cant physically fill the seats through selling or own-program redemptions, I dont know why any airlines give F award seats to partners. I guess EY got sick of AA members snapping up all the A380 F awards with their free CC sign-on points?

Maybe it suits them from an alliance perspective? If Cathay were to block all F awards except to their own members, I'd seriously consider, as a QFFF member, flying CX in any class in the future. by allowing me F awards, I happily spend money on CX, knowing one day I can also get an award with them.

 

[dalereardon]

Good news - Etihad F once again bookable:

American AAdvantage Can Book First Class Etihad Awards Again! - View from the Wing

Now just need my dates to roll along for booking.

Dale.

 

[wandering_fred]

After a major screw-up on my part (no I won't supply details) I needed to call the AA FF center. I tried the USA via Skype (lousy wifi connection) and found a roughly 25 minute wait. I called the Australian non-toll free number where an expected time delay was not given.

Turned out to be about 5 minutes. And yes the call results were what I wanted...

Happy wandering

Fred

 

[ejd711]

So just wondering how much time people have taken between platinum challenges?

I've trawled this thread and seen that one person did one in 2011 and March 2014?

I'm trying to decide on flights for October and would pay more to be able to complete a platinum challenge.

I last did it in June 2013 and would be looking at October 2015.

I'm sure I can ring them up and ask them if I'm eligible but just wondering if there was any other experience in the community. Next time I'm hoping to be able to keep it or at least only drop back to gold but I had no international travel in 2014 which didn't help.

Cheers in advance.

 

[knasty]

Re: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

The general advice is you have to have lost your status from a previous challenge before you do another one ie. You cannot do another challenge to extend existing platinum. I had no issues doing the second challenge as you refer to; no idea how I will go when I eventually have to do a third.

 

[ejd711]

Re: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

The general advice is you have to have lost your status from a previous challenge before you do another one ie. You cannot do another challenge to extend existing platinum. I had no issues doing the second challenge as you refer to; no idea how I will go when I eventually have to do a third.

Cool thanks - I lost my status back in February and happy to pay for a higher class of ticket if I can use it to get the status back. Of course I could ring them up to check.

 

[smit0847]

Re: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

Trying to ticket an AA redemption I have on hold and the 828880 Skype number has been saying for days 'bad weather, not taking calls'. How do I ticket this before the hold expires?

I am happy to call the AU number (who I can get through to) but not if they will charge me the CC fee? Do they still do that?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

Trying to ticket an AA redemption I have on hold and the 828880 Skype number has been saying for days 'bad weather, not taking calls'. How do I ticket this before the hold expires?

I am happy to call the AU number (who I can get through to) but not if they will charge me the CC fee? Do they still do that?

You have to take your chances. The hold may or may not extend. If it doesn't, and you have elected not to ticket, you'll have to rebook.

I seem to recall calling the UK was an option.. they charge GBP5 for ticketing.

 

[blackcat20]

Re: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

Trying to ticket an AA redemption I have on hold and the 828880 Skype number has been saying for days 'bad weather, not taking calls'. How do I ticket this before the hold expires?

I am happy to call the AU number (who I can get through to) but not if they will charge me the CC fee? Do they still do that?

Use Google phone to call their normal number?

 

[serfty]

Re: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

Try this - it's normally free for the standard AA number:

Originally Posted by holtju2
When I was in Sydney the other week and booked a QF ticket on AA ticket stock and wanted to get it linked with my other AA tickets I simply dialed one of these numbers:

1-800-881-011
to place calls using Telstra
1-800-551-155
to place calls using Optus

And when prompted dialed the normal AA's 800 number in the States. My call was connected for free.

This service did work less than two weeks ago.

Contact American Airlines Reservations