A couple of questions from an AAdvantage newbie

[openseat]

Re: MRe: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

Oh dear. What is "RDM"? And isn't B in a different earning category to H and K fares for miles qualifying?

RDM = redeemable miles, i.e. what goes into your Aadvantage account.


B earns 1.5 times EQP as simongr explains above with your example of MEL-PER.
You can qualify for elite status either through EQM or EQP, the idea being that higher fares earn greater EQP (such as full fare economy - B &Y - as well as business fares and first fares). So if you are an economy flier you may have to reach elite status through EQM. If you fly full economy or business then it would be EQP that pushes you over the line.

In Aadvantage-land EQM, EQP and RDM are all very important to understand if you are chasing elite status and bonus. Also wandering_fred's point about using BA codeshares on QF is also something to keep an eye out for. AY codeshares also provide reasonable opportunities (especially the sleeper fare class, 'R').

 

[simongr]

Re: MRe: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

Class of Service 	Fare...........	Base	Class	EQP
First Class.......... 	A, F ..........	100%	50%	1.5
Business Class.... 	C, D, I, J 	100%	25%	1.5
Premium Economy Class 	R, T, W 	100%	10%	1.5
Full Economy Class 	Y, B.......... 	100%	---	1.5
Economy Class ....	H, K.......... 	100%	---	1
Discount Economy Class 	L, M, V 	50%	---	1
Discount Economy Class 	G, O, S 	50%	---	0.5
No Mileage Credit* 	N, Q.......... 	0%	---	n/a

That should help in the future.

In simple terms - EQM and EQP used for qualification.

RDM = "points" in the QF parlance.

 

[Danger]

Re: MRe: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

Class of Service     Fare...........    Base    Class    EQP
First Class..........     A, F ..........    100%    50%    1.5
Business Class....     C, D, I, J     100%    25%    1.5
Premium Economy Class     R, T, W     100%    10%    1.5
Full Economy Class     Y, B..........     100%    ---    1.5
Economy Class ....    H, K..........     100%    ---    1
Discount Economy Class     L, M, V     50%    ---    1
Discount Economy Class     G, O, S     50%    ---    0.5
No Mileage Credit*     N, Q..........     0%    ---    n/a

That should help in the future.

In simple terms - EQM and EQP used for qualification.

RDM = "points" in the QF parlance.

So the 'Base' column equals RDM? And RDM is not impacted by status (ie. there's no bonuses for being Platinum etc.)?

And on the award front, if I wanted to fly from the US to Australia via Asia using AA miles, is it correct that I'd have to redeem two awards as North America to Asia is redeemable via the Pacific only?

 

[wandering_fred]

Re: MRe: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

So the 'Base' column equals RDM? And RDM is not impacted by status (ie. there's no bonuses for being Platinum etc.)?

And on the award front, if I wanted to fly from the US to Australia via Asia using AA miles, is it correct that I'd have to redeem two awards as North America to Asia is redeemable via the Pacific only?

1.EQM is used for qualification but also the base for calculating the EQP/RDM. As a AA PLT or EXP will attract a 100% status bonus from BA or QF. For other OW members check the AA earnings pages. Example PLT on a BA flight in J will earn RDM = (EQM *2) base + status bonus + (EQM* 0.25) class of service

2. Two awards to travel from the USA to Oz via Asia are required. OTOH given that SIN is only a 5+ hour flight to PER and the A330 isn't all that bad in economy, get a BA code-share seat and get full credit for the 2420 miles as opposed to QF's 1210 unless you are in H class or higher. Also award flights to SIN from the USA are relatively abundant compared to the QF flights into eastern Australia from anywhere. Plus economy flights to Europe end up in better fare classes from SIN than Australia. :shock:

Happy wandering

Fred

 

[Kangol]

Re: MRe: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

So if I do MEL-HBA (383 miles as determined by GCM) on QF metal and flight no in classes GOSLMV, as an AAdvantage no status member will I earn 192 RDM? (383*0.5 = 191.5 rounded up to 192)

If I do the same flight in classes HKBY then will I earn 383 RDM, and the same again in classes CDIJ earn 479 RDM (383*1.25=478.75 rounded up to 479)?

Qantas

If that is the case then in discount economy on that route QFF earns 1000 points compared to a paltry 192 on AA... then again the burn rates on AAwards are generally better...

 

[wandering_fred]

Re: MRe: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

So if I do MEL-HBA (383 miles as determined by GCM) on QF metal and flight no in classes GOSLMV, as an AAdvantage no status member will I earn 192 RDM? (383*0.5 = 191.5 rounded up to 192)

If I do the same flight in classes HKBY then will I earn 383 RDM, and the same again in classes CDIJ earn 479 RDM (383*1.25=478.75 rounded up to 479)?
...
If that is the case then in discount economy on that route QFF earns 1000 points compared to a paltry 192 on AA... then again the burn rates on AAwards are generally better...

Thanks for the link for QF earning to AA. It's been awhile since I have considered actually posting a QF flight to my AA account. The change of LMV to 50% seems to support my premise that QF really don't want to credit flights to partner (well at least AA) programs. As well, L and V seem to be the flexible fare classes exNZ. It will be interesting to see if BA will still code-share on the QF flights exAsia to Australia after 31 Mar 2013. At least they give 100% on almost all fare classes.

Also noted is that E class fares on QF are not mentioned at all.

Happy wandering

Fred

 

[drron]

Re: MRe: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

AA do have a 500 mile minimum-I always get that on my MEL-DPO flights if credited to AA.However probably the last 12 months I have not scored an eligible fare bucket for AA.

 

[Kangol]

Re: MRe: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

AA do have a 500 mile minimum-I always get that on my MEL-DPO flights if credited to AA.However probably the last 12 months I have not scored an eligible fare bucket for AA.

In the below links they say that the 500 mile minimum is only for AA elites (Gold, Plat, EXP) as of Jan 16, 2009:

Miles and Points (AA) - FlyerGuide Wiki
Minimum Mileage Guarantee

The first then goes on to say that it is essentially a 625 mile minimum, as to be eligible you need to be at least gold, which has a 25% status bonus on top of the min 500.


On AA flight numbers all eligible flights earn at 100% RDM per miles flown, even for the deep discount booking classes. For QF flights that is 50%

Inventory Classes and Mileage Eligibility (AA) - FlyerGuide Wiki

 

[Danger]

Re: MRe: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

Does AA receive different award inventory than other airlines?

I'm looking at an award from North America to Asia. There is availability on my date on the Qantas website but AA can't find any.

 

[wandering_fred]

Re: MRe: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

Does AA receive different award inventory than other airlines?

I'm looking at an award from North America to Asia. There is availability on my date on the Qantas website but AA can't find any.

Did you try the AA website or call? Some seats can only be found by calling.

Fred

 

[Danger]

Re: MRe: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

Did you try the AA website or call? Some seats can only be found by calling.

Fred

I phoned. I called the Australian (07) number but was transferred to an operator in the US. It's a CX award which as I understand it isn't viewable online. Apart from the significant different in points costs between Qantas and AA (although it's not comparing apples with apples, I acknowledge), there's a difference of about AUD180 in booking the AA award over the QF.

 

[adrian]

Re: MRe: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

I phoned. I called the Australian (07) number but was transferred to an operator in the US. It's a CX award which as I understand it isn't viewable online. Apart from the significant different in points costs between Qantas and AA (although it's not comparing apples with apples, I acknowledge), there's a difference of about AUD180 in booking the AA award over the QF.

AA should be able to see the same CX awards as QF. I book a lot of CX awards on AA, but often find that they can't see them - but if you can see them on QF, then they are there somewhere. Just call back a try a different operator (I always call the US number direct, is just faster). Last week, I had to try 4 different operators until they found the seat I wanted.....

 

[Danger]

Re: MRe: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

AA should be able to see the same CX awards as QF. I book a lot of CX awards on AA, but often find that they can't see them - but if you can see them on QF, then they are there somewhere. Just call back a try a different operator (I always call the US number direct, is just faster). Last week, I had to try 4 different operators until they found the seat I wanted.....

Wonderful. Thank you. I'll report back.

 

[knasty]

Re: MRe: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

Just a note on CX rewards. I have done a couple recently which involved a connection through HKG, being SYD-xHKG-BKK. AA could not see any availability, but when I asked them to check to the two flights separately (point to point) there was availability, and they were able to book it for me at the normal rate of 35k for J. So if you do want flights which involve a connection make sure you get them to see if the point-to-point flights are available and can be linked as a single award redemption.

 

[Danger]

Re: MRe: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

I phoned back and this time the agent could see the availability that was viewable to me with QF. I've got the award on hold for 96 hours which is fantastic.

 

[Danger]

Re: MRe: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

I booked the award, North America to Singapore via Hong Kong and onto Perth. It was 55k for the North America to Singapore with CX in J and another 25 for QF in Y to Perth. The agent told me that even though I had to purchase two awards, if I cancelled it in its entirety I'd only need to pay USD150 once in order to have the points reinstated.

The agent also said that it's possible to make date and time changes to the award without any fee or penalty, provided inventory is available. Is this correct?

Do routing changes incur a penalty?

I was also charged AUD80 which, according to the itinerary, is the telephone ticketing service fee. Is that avoidable? I know that CX awards aren't bookable online so I assume there's no way around that fee as using an agent is required.

 

[adrian]

Re: MRe: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

I booked the award, North America to Singapore via Hong Kong and onto Perth. It was 55k for the North America to Singapore with CX in J and another 25 for QF in Y to Perth. The agent told me that even though I had to purchase two awards, if I cancelled it in its entirety I'd only need to pay USD150 once in order to have the points reinstated.

The agent also said that it's possible to make date and time changes to the award without any fee or penalty, provided inventory is available. Is this correct?

Do routing changes incur a penalty?

I was also charged AUD80 which, according to the itinerary, is the telephone ticketing service fee. Is that avoidable? I know that CX awards aren't bookable online so I assume there's no way around that fee as using an agent is required.

AA EXP avoids all fees that I know of - re-routing, time changes, cancellation, late booking. I am not sure about AA Platinum.

 

[knasty]

Re: MRe: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

Platinum has to pay the award booking fee, but elite levels can use Australian credit cards through the US number now to pay only $25 fee versus much higher fee for using the Australian number.

 

[Danger]

Re: MRe: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

Platinum has to pay the award booking fee, but elite levels can use Australian credit cards through the US number now to pay only $25 fee versus much higher fee for using the Australian number.

Nooooooo. I was slogged AUD80 on the Australian (07) number. Spewin.

 

[wandering_fred]

Re: MRe: Couple of AAdvantage questions from a newbie to it

And (at least for the moment) the economy fares SIN-PER issued by BA are inexpensive enough (and credit fully to AA) that I would not book a Y award seat as long as I had money. Should be on the order of $600-650 round trip (AU or US $). 25K award miles each way is very iffy value. PEK, TPE, HKG or BKK to/from eastern Oz, perhaps

Downside is QF plays funny games on seat selection. But with status that shouldn't be an issue.

Happy wandering

Fred