First time AA question

[lukeasht]

Good evening all, first time posting here so please be gentle.
I'm flying to Indiana on Friday and am doing QF Bne to Lax, AA lax to Ind. Because I'm cheap I managed to get a red e deal but would really like to upgrade to First on the AA domestic leg to Indianapolis. Can anyone tell me if possible and if so how do I do it?. I had a look on AA site but there doesn't seem to be much info.
Any help much appreciated.
Thanks
Luke

 

[Princess Fiona]

Good evening all, first time posting here so please be gentle.
I'm flying to Indiana on Friday and am doing QF Bne to Lax, AA lax to Ind. Because I'm cheap I managed to get a red e deal but would really like to upgrade to First on the AA domestic leg to Indianapolis. Can anyone tell me if possible and if so how do I do it?. I had a look on AA site but there doesn't seem to be much info.
Any help much appreciated.
Thanks
Luke

Hi Luke,
Welcome to AFF.
Unfortunately as your ticket is purchased through Qantas there's no way of being able to upgrade your domestic AA leg.
I'm no expert on this so it's possible that there's something obvious I can't think of.

 

[lukeasht]

Thanks, I guessed I probably couldn't, but I might ask if they have any paid upgrades available at the AA desk in Lax.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Thanks, I guessed I probably couldn't, but I might ask if they have any paid upgrades available at the AA desk in Lax.

Good idea

 

[serfty]

Are the IND flights marketed by AA or QF?

If AA you will be able to upgrade with AA miles if there is A class availability.

 

[lukeasht]

Thanks Serfty, it is AA marketed and I am an AA member but alas the account is bare. I only have about 15K Qf points but I figured if I could purchase the upgrade I might have a bit of a chance. I figure nothing ventured nothing gained.
cheers
luke

 

[serfty]

Fair enough. The trick is to book QF just to LAX/DFW/SFO then look at Non Refundable First on AA to/from your 'final' destination.

 

[lukeasht]

Good idea, I didn't think about it that way, I was just happy to get to Indiana return for under $1400. Coming back I'm going through DFW and the flight from Indy to DFW is fairly cheap so I might just Spring for another ticket in F.

 

[serfty]

If your booking is IND-DFW-<Oz> then you can't skip the IND-DFW bit as the rest would be cancelled.

 

[lukeasht]

Thanks for the heads up, that might save me a bit of grief.

 

[knasty]

Are you going to do the AA platinum challenge? Depending on your booked fare class you may qualify with these flights or get very close, and would have AA Platinum (One world Sapphire) status until end of Jan 2018.

 

[lukeasht]

Hi Knasty, I don't know if I can. I booked a red e deal and submitted my Qf FF number so I'm unsure if I can change it to my AA number. It works out to about 140sc because I'm QF Silver, but if I could I would be dead keen to do the challenge.
cheers

 

[Anna]

I might ask if they have any paid upgrades available at the AA desk in Lax.

My experience of asking for paid upgrades on other airlines on a QF booking is that they tell you if you want to upgrade, the whole booking needs to be recalculated at QF's F rate - even if you are just trying to upgrade one sector, and even if the other sectors have already been flown. I haven't asked when on AA flights though. But I have been told in the past it is a QF requirement that this is what happens on QF's tickets.

Fair enough. The trick is to book QF just to LAX/DFW/SFO then look at Non Refundable First on AA to/from your 'final' destination.

Yes, and also being aware that if you have checked bags you will now need to allow enough time between flights to retrieve and recheck your bags between your QF and AA sectors. If it was me I would now allow 4-6 hours between QF and AA sectors, not 2-3 hours as I would have done before the baggage interline changes (when there was also misconnection protection). You'll also need to check what your travel insurance says about missing your AA flight if your QF flight is delayed (or vice versa).

 

[serfty]

I don't check bags and still would allow 4-6 hours at a minimum.