Qantas status on AA flights

[Lynda2475]

Sorry I meant oneworld Sapphire / SG and above get access.

PS / Ruby only get access to AC's if they have QP membership.

Yes that was my experience as a PS with QC Admirals club, once I hit Gold/Sapphire Flagship First but they did take a few minutes in JFK to ensure I was eligible whereas in ORD and DFW waived straight on in.

 

[serfty]

Booking class is king.

I'm booked to fly DFW-LAX soon on an American 787. It is sold as two class with the premium economy seats available as "main cabin extra".

J C D R I for the business seats, 1x2x1 layout.

Y H K L M ... etc. for economy, 2x3x2 and 3x3x3 layout.

 

[Thibault]

Choose the flight you are interested in. Then - click on Fare Basis at the right of the screen



First letter is your fare class - in that case L here.

Ensure the fare class earn miles/status by checking the QF website as explained by a fellow member several posts above.

Enjoy !

 

[RichardMEL]

Fare basis is not always accurate unfortunately in relation to booking class used with some airlines)but most of the time yes). Specially with the "YUP" type fares (or whatever today's version is). some fares CAN book into a different fare class. FF schemes don't care about the fare basis, only the fare class bucket actually booked into. Back when AA sold domestic "First" two class as First booking classes (oh the days gone), for example, YUP type fares would actually book into the P bucket (which, at the time, credited as First under QFF). ie the fare basis might start with YUP..... but booking class was P. These was some time back.

With the AA website, one can select "Details" under the flight number and times info and it will show the current booking class codes for each cabin type. eg:



Please note: I am doing this from the AA US website, unlike the AA Australian Website, which has slightly different functionality (and the screenshot earlier comes from - note AUD pricing).

as an aside, most of us find the AA US website far better to use as the AU one can sometimes price much higher on some routes.

personally I find the fare basis discussion to be a bit misleading in the context of points earn. It's all about the booking class.

 

[SYD]

You might want to compare Alaskan (AS) pricing also. Same SC earn as AA for 2x Class and might actually be cheaper.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

RichardMEL is on the money here.

SCs are earned on the eligible booking class. For YUPs although it is an economy fare, it is eligible for an *instant upgrade* to First (aka business). And books into First (business). So you earn SCs at the business rate.

The quirk with these instant upgrade fares is that in the event of travel disruption, there may not be seats available in the first class cabin when you want to fly. There may be seats in F later in the day, but if you choose to fly economy sooner, you generally lose your business class SCs.

 

[serfty]

Choose the flight you are interested in. View attachment 320851Then - click on Fare Basis at the right of the screen


View attachment 320852
First letter is your fare class - in that case L here.

Ensure the fare class earn miles/status by checking the QF website as explained by a fellow member several posts above.

Enjoy !

To get booking class - DO NOT USE the "Australian Portal".

Here is the same search on the USA Portal (prices are USD):



Then Click on Details:

 

[jpp42]

Any tips on getting the AA.com portal to stick, when using an Australian IP address? It kept redirecting me back to the Australian one (americanairlines.com.au) . I was able to work around it by connecting to my corporate VPN with a US location, but this isn't available to everyone.

 

[serfty]

Any tips on getting the AA.com portal to stick, when using an Australian IP address? It kept redirecting me back to the Australian one (americanairlines.com.au) . I was able to work around it by connecting to my corporate VPN with a US location, but this isn't available to everyone.

Not really, I just kept at it. Eventually it seemed US portal sticks for the most part, but will still revert to AU now and again. Be alert.

 

[justinbrett]

Any tips on getting the AA.com portal to stick, when using an Australian IP address? It kept redirecting me back to the Australian one (americanairlines.com.au) . I was able to work around it by connecting to my corporate VPN with a US location, but this isn't available to everyone.

Search google flights, then click buy with American. It forces the US site. No VPN required.

Once in you can do a new search if required (you don't need to go back to google flights).

 

[RichardMEL]

I just select the flag icon, change country/region to North America - US/English - note the US flag then go from there.

Note booking with AU credit cards may need to be creative but it does work. for example adding a leading 0 to one's postocde for the ZIP code usually gets around that, and booking will generally go through fine.

 

[Thibault]

Fare basis is not always accurate unfortunately in relation to booking class used with some airlines)but most of the time yes). Specially with the "YUP" type fares (or whatever today's version is). some fares CAN book into a different fare class. FF schemes don't care about the fare basis, only the fare class bucket actually booked into. Back when AA sold domestic "First" two class as First booking classes (oh the days gone), for example, YUP type fares would actually book into the P bucket (which, at the time, credited as First under QFF). ie the fare basis might start with YUP..... but booking class was P. These was some time back.

With the AA website, one can select "Details" under the flight number and times info and it will show the current booking class codes for each cabin type. eg:

View attachment 320854

Please note: I am doing this from the AA US website, unlike the AA Australian Website, which has slightly different functionality (and the screenshot earlier comes from - note AUD pricing).

as an aside, most of us find the AA US website far better to use as the AU one can sometimes price much higher on some routes.

personally I find the fare basis discussion to be a bit misleading in the context of points earn. It's all about the booking class.

Thank you - have learnt something today !
I usually always go with the fare letter and all my flights were correctly credited.

 

[SYD]

I just select the flag icon, change country/region to North America - US/English - note the US flag then go from there.

Note booking with AU credit cards may need to be creative but it does work. for example adding a leading 0 to one's postocde for the ZIP code usually gets around that, and booking will generally go through fine.

Entering your USA hotel address is an easy way to push through with an Oz credit card.

 

[justinbrett]

Entering your USA hotel address is an easy way to push through with an Oz credit card.

You might get unstuck if you were ever in a situation where you receive a flight credit - pre covid this was physically mailed to the billing address. It was suspended during covid so not sure if that’s coming back.

I personally don’t mind taking the two minutes to pay by phone and getting my real address on the booking.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Hello,

Super impressed by the speed of response to my last question, so thought I would throw out another one to the collective.

I want to know how much Qantas status I get for flying AA within America.
See screen shot below, of a trip I want to take SFO - PHL. The 2 options I have are "main cabin" and "first".

In general First class does not exist in the United States - it's all just business class. The airlines call it First class because it harkens back to the good ol' days where they did indeed offer First class service to business travellers. The only exception here are the handful of routes American Airlines operates domestically which feature both a Business and a First class (i.e. some flights on JFK to LAX comes to mind). In those instances yes you literally can get first class service on that flight.

In terms of how QF determines how many status credits you earn, as others point out it's based on the fare code which is a single character printed beside each sector of your ticket. For instance it may say Business (J) which indicates that you are ticketed into J class. Hence, in all likelihood if you book an AA "First" class domestic flight chances are you will receive business class status credits for the trouble.

Now if your question is how to maximize status credits on such an itinerary my recommendation would be to look at routings, and try to make that non stop into a connecting flight. For instance, if you flew LAX to PHL via DFW you would earn 160 status credits instead of 100 since Qantas would credit you 100 status credits on LAX to PHL and a further 60 status credits for DFW to PHL. There are obviously more creative routings you can do out there, but something to keep in mind if you are on the hunt for quick status credits flying AA/AS.

Oh.. ok. the fair basis shows "Y7AUPRD6"
Does this mean it's Y class? which only translates to flexible economy? The pricing of $2555 doesn't seem quite right for flexible economy...compared to the main cabin price of $415.80

The fare basis is the actual rules that American Airlines uses to price that ticket. Looking at the fare basis code by itself tells you nothing (instead you'd have to look up the fare rules to see what fare it would ticket into, and what conditions there are on the ticket).

 

[serfty]

Looking at the fare basis code by itself tells you nothing (instead you'd have to look up the fare rules to see what fare it would ticket into, and what conditions there are on the ticket).

The fare basic generally does tell you something- the first letter normally indicating which bucket availability is required before one can be booked in the premium cabin under the fare. Nxx_xx_xz indicates N class needs to be available, same with L and Y as referenced earlier in this thread.

 

[RichardMEL]

The fare basic generally does tell you something- the first letter normally indicating which bucket availability is required before one can be booked in the premium cabin under the fare. Nxx_xx_xz indicates N class needs to be available, same with L and Y as referenced earlier in this thread.

again. Normally this is true, but this is not 100% the case, and not for all airlines and all fares. This was my point when reviewing details on the AA website that does actually indicate the fare class directly (unlike QF).

However there are some fares where the fare basis is different. here's a random one I pulled up for an routing LAX-ATL on AA:

V FARE BASIS BK FARE TRAVEL-TICKET AP MINMAX RTG
1 LVAHZRRZ RX 883.01 ---- 21/1 -/ - 406
PASSENGER TYPE-ADT AUTO PRICE-YES
FROM-LAX TO-ATL CXR-AA TVL-13SEP23 RULE-J11H DFR/11
FARE BASIS-LVAHZRRZ SPECIAL FARE DIS-N VENDOR-ATP
FARE TYPE-FND OW-FIRST CLASS NON-DISCOUNTABLE
USD 821.40 0406 E25MAR23 D-INFINITY FC-LVAHZRRZ FN-
SYSTEM DATES - CREATED 25MAR23/1620 EXPIRES INFINITY

PUBLISHED RTG LAX-ATL/AA406 /TAR-DRG1 EF-25MAR23 DIS-INDEF

MAP CONSTRUCTED LEFT TO RIGHT AND RIGHT TO LEFT
1. LAX-CHI-ATL
2. LAX-PHX/LAX/DFW-MIA/DFW/CLT-ATL
3. LAX-MIA/DFW/CLT-ATL
4. LAX-PHX-ATL

ie: this is one of the "YUP"/instant upgrade type fares and books into R class(see under BK):

NOTE - THE FOLLOWING TEXT IS INFORMATIONAL AND NOT
VALIDATED FOR AUTOPRICING.
NOTE - THE FOLLOWING TEXT IS INFORMATIONAL AND NOT
VALIDATED FOR AUTOPRICING.
AND - ECONOMY FARE WITH AN INSTANT ONE-CLASS UPGRADE
AT THE TIME OF PURCHASE TO FIRST/BUSINESS.
APPLICATION
CLASS OF SERVICE
THESE FARES APPLY FOR ECONOMY CLASS SERVICE.
CAPACITY LIMITATIONS
SEATS ARE LIMITED.
BOTH ECONOMY AND FIRST CLASS BOOKING INVENTORIES
MUST BE AVAILABLE AT TIME OF BOOKING. THESE FARES
PERMIT A ONE-CLASS UPGRADE AT THE TIME OF
BOOKING.

As opposed to a standard full J fare:

V FARE BASIS BK FARE TRAVEL-TICKET AP MINMAX RTG
1 JA2AA JX 2025.00 ---- - -/ - 506
PASSENGER TYPE-ADT AUTO PRICE-YES
FROM-ATL TO-DFW CXR-AA TVL-13SEP23 RULE-2000 DFR/11
FARE BASIS-JA2AA NORMAL FARE DIS-N VENDOR-ATP
FARE TYPE-FU OW-FIRST CLASS UNRESTRICTED
USD 1883.72 0506 E26MAY22 D-INFINITY FC-JA2AA FN-
SYSTEM DATES - CREATED 26MAY22/1512 EXPIRES INFINITY

PUBLISHED RTG ATL-DFW/AA506 /TAR-DRG1 EF-26MAY22 DIS-INDEF

MAP CONSTRUCTED LEFT TO RIGHT AND RIGHT TO LEFT
1. ATL-CHI/CLT/MIA/PHL/WAS-DFW
2. ATL-DFW

ie: fare basis begins with J, books into J.

Now mostly fare basis will match up, but not always.

 

[serfty]

Now mostly fare basis will match up, but not always.

Thats why I used the word generally ...

 

[Fatcat_jr]

What I don’t understand is if these seats are instant upgrade (and the only available tickets on the site) why do they not just sell them as business class in the first case? Is there a risk if I purchase such tickets and on the day there are “no seats in business available?” And I get downgraded to economy? There are no other ways to purchase business (ones that are actual business and not instant upgrade) on the actual website I can purchase???

 

[RichardMEL]

What I don’t understand is if these seats are instant upgrade (and the only available tickets on the site) why do they not just sell them as business class in the first case? Is there a risk if I purchase such tickets and on the day there are “no seats in business available?” And I get downgraded to economy? There are no other ways to purchase business (ones that are actual business and not instant upgrade) on the actual website I can purchase???

At the end of the day it really doesn't matter if they're instant upgrade or not tbh as you say. It's the fares that are available for the cabin you want when you go to book that matter.

However to directly answer your question. No. this is not a concern. this is why it is called "instant" and per the wording I quoted above - they require availability to be there when you book, and they book into a Business (domestic "First") fare bucket (in that example, R), and thus is a confirmed seat up front - one selects seats etc.. You never "see" economy. In this context the word "upgrade" may confuse. To me, this is an upsell product - potentially aimed at business flyers - "pay economy, sit up front" type deal.. and to cost conscious folks - and of course availability is usually limited to the most discounted fare buckets, such as R in AA's case.

This is why fare basis talk should be irrelevant to passengers and so on and why I've argued the discussion of such things in this thread just leads to confuse imo.

What I will say is that in previous generations of the AA website - we're talking well over 5 years ago - instant upgrade fares were specifically highlighted as such during the purchasing process. It doesn't seem they do that anymore - which is probably (ahem) simpler for the customer to process. Now they may show up via a different search actually - I've just not seen them for a long time, but clearly they still exist (per @jpp42 above)

However what IS important is the conditions of the fares - these so called instant upgrade fares have extra restrictions. Now, fare rules and restrictions for any fare are displayed, so again it doesn't matter what the underlying fare is - and that's why I think the so called instant upgrade fares are being displayed as such anymore (a least on the AA USA website). While I quoted the text above stating Instant Upgrade, and that is a current fare in the system, it really doesn't matter in terms of what the customer gets - which is a seat up front for the money they pay.

Anyway try not to get too confused or worried about this talk. It's a tangent to illustrate a point - not something to worry about when booking imo.

and yes, you can select "fully refindable" fares to select full fares when searching.