Research & book AA "Non-refundable "/"Instant Upgrade"/"YUPP" fare to maximise SC's

[legroom]

Research & book AA "Non-refundable "/"Instant Upgrade"/"YUPP" fare to maximis...

Something to consider when planning is that AA points appear to be posted to your account Tuesday evening/early Wednesday morning AEST and the cutoff for flights that will get posted that week is somewhere between
SAN JUAN PR MON 2:15 PM ALT
and
MIAMI INTERNTNL MON 5:40 PM EST
as my SJU-MIA flight posted on Tuesday that week but MIA-DFW and the flight after that had to wait until Tuesday the following week.
So I flew home a SG rather than a WP, not that it concerned me too much but might be something to consider if it leads to a better experience on a future flight.

Also thanks serfty and AFF as that was far easier than I ever expected it to be and now I'm a WP

Probably you meant AA-derived QF SCs.

If so, there was some posts on another thread somewhere saying that AA often has delay of up to 3 wks or so.

I would not bank on those 'AA' SCs to qualify en route. Too unreliable !

I had to make a claim for SCs some months ago after getting back to Oz.

 

[Jean Prouvaire]

Re: Research & book AA "Non-refundable "/"Instant Upgrade"/"YUPP" fare to maximis...

I'm looking at doing an AA status run in mid-May from Los Angeles to New York, and/or New York to LA at the end of May/early June.

Have spent some time looking at various options using this (invaluable!) thread and the British Airways thread as guidance, and so far the best that I could find was:

JFK-BOS-DFW-LAS-LAX at the end of May, earning 360 status credits in First for about USD750.

Would this be considered a good deal or should I keep looking?

 

[legroom]

Re: Research & book AA "Non-refundable "/"Instant Upgrade"/"YUPP" fare to maximis...

I'm looking at doing an AA status run in mid-May from Los Angeles to New York, and/or New York to LA at the end of May/early June.

Have spent some time looking at various options using this (invaluable!) thread and the British Airways thread as guidance, and so far the best that I could find was:

JFK-BOS-DFW-LAS-LAX at the end of May, earning 360 status credits in First for about USD750.

Would this be considered a good deal or should I keep looking?

$2.08 per SC

Not too shabby

Anything under $2.00 is good value (Serfty's rule of thumb).

I got $1.85 for a recent booking but could not lower it further without looking ridiculous with timing / stopover / hotels....

 

[Jean Prouvaire]

Re: Research & book AA "Non-refundable "/"Instant Upgrade"/"YUPP" fare to maximis...

$2.08 per SC Not too shabby Anything under $2.00 is good value (Serfty's rule of thumb).

Good to know - thanks for that, and the speedy reply.

What with the exchange rate it's more like AUD850, so around $2.35 per SC I guess...

One nice thing about this routing is that it's done in a day - with almost two or more hours between flights, allowing plenty of time for delays and no need to worry about hotels.

 

[serfty]

Re: Research & book AA "Non-refundable "/"Instant Upgrade"/"YUPP" fare to maximis...

Wait a couple of weeks before booking, the price can drop almost exactly 3 calendar months out as at appears they load more P/A/I class on flights.

Use this tool to research: www.google.com/flights

It only recently it could do business/first fares and I am still exploring it. For example, select JFK-LAX, First Class and American Airlines.

Click on the date field and after a few seconds a graph of cheapest fares will load underneath the calendar.

Note the cheaper fares are currently up to 29th May - tomorrow that would be 30th May.

(There may be more restrictions on the cheaper fares -I am still researching that.)

 

[legroom]

Re: Research & book AA "Non-refundable "/"Instant Upgrade"/"YUPP" fare to maximis...

.... One nice thing about this routing is that it's done in a day - with almost two or more hours between flights, allowing plenty of time for delays and no need to worry about hotels.

That's what it should be: hassle / stress free.

I got a 50-min turnaround in DEN but in the same plane so that doesn't count as stress.

 

[Jean Prouvaire]

Re: Research & book AA "Non-refundable "/"Instant Upgrade"/"YUPP" fare to maximis...

That's what it should be: hassle / stress free.

I'll also have check-in luggage, so a lower hassle itinerary is a plus!

Wait a couple of weeks before booking, the price can drop almost exactly 3 calendar months out as at appears they load more P/A/I class on flights.

Use this tool to research: www.google.com/flights

Thanks for the advice serfty! Will delve into it.

 

[legroom]

Re: Research & book AA "Non-refundable "/"Instant Upgrade"/"YUPP" fare to maximis...

Wait a couple of weeks before booking, the price can drop almost exactly 3 calendar months out as at appears they load more P/A/I class on flights.

Use this tool to research: www.google.com/flights

It only recently it could do business/first fares and I am still exploring it. For example, select JFK-LAX, First Class and American Airlines.

Click on the date field and after a few seconds a graph of cheapest fares will load underneath the calendar.

Note the cheaper fares (as I post) up to 29th May - tomorrow that would be 30th May.

The multi-city only allows 5 flights.

But it gives the same option as my previously selected AA run so it's worth a bookmark.

Looking for the 6th or more flights would be a hassle if you want a low-cost F run.

Thanks, serfty

 

[hossein_au]

Re: Research & book AA "Non-refundable "/"Instant Upgrade"/"YUPP" fare to maximis...

I'm looking at doing an AA status run in mid-May from Los Angeles to New York, and/or New York to LA at the end of May/early June.

Have spent some time looking at various options using this (invaluable!) thread and the British Airways thread as guidance, and so far the best that I could find was:

JFK-BOS-DFW-LAS-LAX at the end of May, earning 360 status credits in First for about USD750.

Would this be considered a good deal or should I keep looking?

As a reference point, I think on an optimal routing one can get close to around 700 SCs for around the US1,000 mark. Of course JFK and LAX are on the expensive side of the scale, so you might not quite get such good deals... just saying what is possible at times.

 

[Jean Prouvaire]

Re: Research & book AA "Non-refundable "/"Instant Upgrade"/"YUPP" fare to maximis...

700SCs for USD1000 - that's a great bang-for-buck.

On the other hand, I'm not willing to spend a grand going somewhere I wasn't intending to go to in the first place. Whereas I am willing to pay a reasonable premium (in money and time) getting to a place I'm already heading for. Still, it's good to have a feel for how far off one is from optimal. Thanks for the info.

 

[legroom]

Re: Research & book AA "Non-refundable "/"Instant Upgrade"/"YUPP" fare to maximis...

As a reference point, I think on an optimal routing one can get close to around 700 SCs for around the US1,000 mark. Of course JFK and LAX are on the expensive side of the scale, so you might not quite get such good deals... just saying what is possible at times.

People often forget that time is also money.

Plus, overnight motel (say in SJU) is not free either.

I tempered those factors into my run.

But YMYV

 

[Jean Prouvaire]

Re: Research & book AA "Non-refundable "/"Instant Upgrade"/"YUPP" fare to maximis...

Have just booked a flight from Los Angeles to Dallas to Chicago to New York (LAX-DFW-ORD-LGA), traveling mid May in First (travel class P) for USD600 for 300 SCs. By the looks of it, that's only USD60 more than a direct LAX-LGA flight in First, for an additional 150 SCs. Time between each leg is 90 minutes which should hopefully allow some buffer and/or time in the AA lounges. (I assume I have access as a QFF WP.)

For research I used both the ITA Matrix website and google.com/flights (as per serfty's suggestion). They produced similar results, although the lowest price found through google was lower than ITA's indicative price.

One drawback of using google is that you have select each leg before the details (notably departure times) of the options for subsequent legs become visible. ITA's results screen is much busier, but everything can be seen at one glance.

(On the other hand, I like that with google you can limit airlines by alliance, ie Oneworld, Star or Sky Team with one click. Not so important for a domestic flight, but useful for researching international options.)

When using google you can click on the "book on American" button at the end of the process and it will take you directly to AA.com with all the flight details already populated, so you don't have to duplicate the search on the AA website. I already had an AA account, so after logging into that I had minimal additional information to enter.

I did run into two issues:

First, when trying to pay with any Australian credit card I had to clear the zip code field (which had been populated with my Australian post code) before it would accept payment. (The error message didn't provide any clues to the problem so I had to ring up American Airlines helpline, and a helpful operator told me what to do.) I can't recall if this tip has appeared elsewhere in this thread's 20 pages, but thought it's worth repeating anyway.

Second, the price of the booking increased by USD40 at the payment screen. Google priced the trip at USD560, and this is what initially appeared on the AA.com site, but I was asked to pay USD600 when it came time to enter payment details. Restarting the process reset the price to the original, lower amount, but again when reaching the payment screen it had increased again. I found this strange, but didn't quibble about forty bucks.

Will keep researching options for the return trip - New York to LA at the end of May.

 

[hossein_au]

Re: Research & book AA "Non-refundable "/"Instant Upgrade"/"YUPP" fare to maximis...

Second, the price of the booking increased by USD40 at the payment screen. Google priced the trip at USD560, and this is what initially appeared on the AA.com site, but I was asked to pay USD600 when it came time to enter payment details. Restarting the process reset the price to the original, lower amount, but again when reaching the payment screen it had increased again. I found this strange, but didn't quibble about forty bucks.

Will keep researching options for the return trip - New York to LA at the end of May.

I think you will noticed that anything bought in the US from a US website has the tax added AT THE END of the checkout. This is because the total tax is dependant varies between each state and county. Sometimes you can reduce (or eliminate) the tax by finding out where the web site operates resides and which state you should be residing in

 

[serfty]

Re: Research & book AA "Non-refundable "/"Instant Upgrade"/"YUPP" fare to maximis...

I think you will noticed that anything bought in the US from a US website has the tax added AT THE END of the checkout. This is because the total tax is dependant varies between each state and county. Sometimes you can reduce (or eliminate) the tax by finding out where the web site operates resides and which state you should be residing in

That may have been true once, but no so for a couple of years.

By US law, the fares advertised for US originating bookings on such searches MUST indicate the final basic price - which includes all taxes, levies and surcharges you must pay to book a seat on the flight.

I was mystified by the increase but am now believing the fare snapshot Google search was using (it is not a booking engine) has been superseded by subsequent carrier fare changes.

 

[JohnSydney2000]

Re: Research & book AA "Non-refundable "/"Instant Upgrade"/"YUPP" fare to maximis...

Will keep researching options for the return trip - New York to LA at the end of May.

Hi, JP.
I have not met you in person before. Greetings to you.
From NYC to LAX, many options.
1. No time up your sleeve
Look for a *UP fare to SJU. Then look for a *UP fare SJU-LAX or SFO or LAS or HNL to suit.
2. Time up your sleeve. Use Ita Matrix, and find 2 fares that allowed unlimited transfers on AA.
Look at something like a NYC to Bridgetown fare or NYC to Aruba fare, followed by a second ticket to where you want to get to (LAX eg)

Watch your spend to get SC's. They may not be an asset in the future. Mind you <$3 is better than <$8

Kind wishes
John.
Posting over the Mississippi on DFW-LGA tonight.

 

[hossein_au]

Re: Research & book AA "Non-refundable "/"Instant Upgrade"/"YUPP" fare to maximis...

That may have been true once, but no so for a couple of years.

By US law, the fares advertised for US originating bookings on such searches MUST indicate the final basic price - which includes all taxes, levies and surcharges you must pay to book a seat on the flight.

I was mystified by the increase but am now believing the fare snapshot Google search was using (it is not a booking engine) has been superseded by subsequent carrier fare changes.

My last booking on AA was around June last year for flights in September/October, and I was certainly presented with a certain $ figure which did not include taxes. The final price in the final step of the process increased by around 10% for the tax. From memory the LAX-SJU ticket was quoted at around US$700, and the final price was US$769 or thereabouts.

 

[legroom]

Re: Research & book AA "Non-refundable "/"Instant Upgrade"/"YUPP" fare to maximise SC

I made an AA booking in Feb 2014 for a domestic run (in F) from AA.com (US site) and paid what was quoted with no add-on taxes.

FWIW, it was identical to the quote from ITA Matrix.

 

[hossein_au]

Re: Research & book AA "Non-refundable "/"Instant Upgrade"/"YUPP" fare to maximise SC

I made an AA booking in Feb 2014 for a domestic run (in F) from AA.com (US site) and paid what was quoted with no add-on taxes.

FWIW, it was identical to the quote from ITA Matrix.

Cool! That always irked me and I never got used to that while I was living there. I prefer it when the complete and inclusive price is quoted at the start.

 

[Jean Prouvaire]

Re: Research & book AA "Non-refundable "/"Instant Upgrade"/"YUPP" fare to maximis...

1. No time up your sleeve
Look for a *UP fare to SJU. Then look for a *UP fare SJU-LAX or SFO or LAS or HNL to suit.
2. Time up your sleeve. Use Ita Matrix, and find 2 fares that allowed unlimited transfers on AA.
Look at something like a NYC to Bridgetown fare or NYC to Aruba fare, followed by a second ticket to where you want to get to (LAX eg)

Hello John and thank you for the AA trips.

I spent a fair bit of time over the last couple of days looking into these options. I have to admit I had more fun than I'd care to admit - in any other venue than this one - researching the various itineraries.

I found that while fares to Bridgetown (BGI) or Aruba (AUA) were both quite affordable (around the USD400 mark, IIRC, for first class with a couple of stopovers) the journey to LAX from these locations ended up being quoted at over a grand each for the dates I was looking at.

The most appealing option was a couple of hops to SJU and then some more hops to LAX for a total cost of around USD1100, including an overnight hotel in Puerto Rico. IIRC, this produced around 500 SCs (slightly fewer than optimal as there were only business class seats available to and from SJU, though first class was available for all other sectors.)

After mulling it over, in the end though I decided upon a more-or-less direct flight back to LA from New York, with only a single stopover: LGA-DFW-LAX for 240SCs in First (P class) for USD550.

While the prospect of accumulating hundreds of additional SCs for around $2.40-$2.50 each was highly appealing, I decided I didn't want to dedicate the time required this time around, as my trip to the US is a relatively short one. The time investment (two full days including overnighting in a place I'm not really interested in vs less than one day for the more direct route) was the deciding factor.

Thanks again for your post though. As I said, I had a great time looking into the trip options and imaging all those SCs flowing into my account.

The fare I got was still pretty good though, even though I'll probably have to hope for and rely on a DSC offer and/or some MASAs to retain WP.

 

[JohnSydney2000]

Re: Research & book AA "Non-refundable "/"Instant Upgrade"/"YUPP" fare to maximis...

Cool JP.... Well done on doing the research, and then being able to make an informed ticket purchase to suit your needs.
I have found that the KUP and "I" fares change quite often, and continued research is needed each year or so, as AA change the fare rules. Best wishes. John.