Note that AA no longer offers free bags to OW Ruby (Qantas Silver) passengers. This is effective on tickets issues After 8 April 2014.
Didn't realise AA have since cut out OW Ruby's free bags. We travelled DEC 13-Jan 14 so fell
under the previous rules.
If i remember correctly, all pax were allowed free Main Cabin Extra seats as well, but I see that's been
cut for oneworld ruby since as well, although you can get them free within 24h of departure.
Were you the only pax in your group with PS (OWS) status? I'm surprised they gave the whole lot of you free bags as here in Oz it's definitely only the status pax eg a WP flying domestically who would get two bags while other pax in the same booking (eg all NB) would only get one bag ie everyone doesn't get 2.
I wonder if AA's checkin system has some glitch where it applies OWS status to everyone in the booking?
If you did a stack of flights in two months & everyone consistently was given 2 bags then that's way beyond a random act of kindness by a CSA. :sly:
We always used the self-check-in kiosks, which recognized my OW Ruby (& Everyone else's PB) automatically when i entered my QFF number. The baggage screen looked like this:
NAME - # OF CHECKED BAGS
MR & MRS EXCEL - 1 2 3 (none had a cost)
PAX 3 - 1 2 3 (3rd bag $35)
PAX 4 - 1 2 3 (3rd bag $35)
I didn't have my PS card with me so wasn't able to argue for PAX 3&4 to get free bags on the couple of times we used QPs and didn't travel on the same PNR. Also, based on a re-read of the rules (I was under the impression at the time we were getting a glitch-related bonus), prior to 8 April, the two free bags applied to "customers on the same reservation as the OW Ruby".
Thanks for the input
You're welcome. This is fun for me.
(Though to NYC I'd guess the best SC/$ aren't available, as I'm only going for a weekend time will be a factor)
The best part about travelling to the US (imho) is all of the "nearby" cities. Being from PER, I can't cheaply route via Geraldton or Kalgoorlie and add an extra one hour's flying to make it two flights instead of one. But in the states we can be creative and for example, fly DFW>BOS>JFK instead of DFW>JFK, and jump from min. 15 scs to min. 30 for an extra US$20-30. MIA isn't as easy to play with though because it's smack bang in the middle of the mileage table at 1090. Maybe a routing through MCO for your extra leg
Did you fly US Air at all or just AA?
Sampled AA, US, UA and AS while in the states and paid a total of $35 for bags - when i took a second bag on a UA flight. However this was prior to US/AA Merger so we only got the free bags on US due to UA Silver status - I think we weren't entitled to it, but when I asked the CSR if we were, we got that RAOK