Maximising SC flying in USA

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sanne

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Fairly soon I will be booking award flights to the USA for a holiday in 2016. These will be J I hope! And will be either to LAX to DFW depending on availablility.

We will need to buy flights in business to Miami return and wish to maximise our SC to maintain Gold for 2016. I figure we will be best to fly AA.

Can I purchase these on the AA site and if so, are there any tips you could share things about doing the booking i.e. what booking code should I be looking for? Should I use the US site or do I have to do this on the Australian one?

I would really appreciate your help with this.

Thanks guys.
 
Not an expert, but the things I have learnt are to definitely use the AA site and also around 90 days before the flight, flights become much cheaper. Generally AA has economy and first domestically, although there are some 3 class flights on longer legs. First can be very good for status credits :)
 
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First can be very good for status credits :)
Certainly, but since "Simpler and Fairer (TM)" , you need to look for segments over 750 miles for best earn.

Search the forum for the term "YUPP", but for more informative results look at posts in the last year - since fare structures have generally changed from what they had been previously.
 
Certainly, but since "Simpler and Fairer (TM)" , you need to look for segments over 750 miles for best earn.

Search the forum for the term "YUPP", but for more informative results look at posts in the last year - since fare structures have generally changed from what they had been previously.
You are definitely the guru when it comes to these fares - I just dabble. However I still find the USA fares good compared to Australia. E.g J Cbr to Syd will get me 40 sc and cost between $500 and $600, whereas between Lax and Sfo I will get 40 SC and could get it for around $300. I know people used to do much better before the changes, but I never do status runs, so probably not noticing the difference that much.
 
Fairly soon I will be booking award flights to the USA for a holiday in 2016. These will be J I hope! And will be either to LAX to DFW depending on availablility.

We will need to buy flights in business to Miami return and wish to maximise our SC to maintain Gold for 2016. I figure we will be best to fly AA.

Can I purchase these on the AA site and if so, are there any tips you could share things about doing the booking i.e. what booking code should I be looking for? Should I use the US site or do I have to do this on the Australian one?

I would really appreciate your help with this.

Thanks guys.

KUPPs ex HNL to Caribbean are not that much more than ex LAX or LAS & Aust to HNL cheaper than West Coast. Award seats in "U" class can be tricky to get same as LAX, DFW etc.

Keep your eye out for U award seats on the QF flights to YVR then you could get the train YVR/SEA & start a KUPP there which may be cheaper than ex YVR.

You're probably better off $$$ wise doing a KUPP to the Caribbean somewhere then you do an award ticket using QFF points on AA to get back to MIA. Then do the reverse ex MIA & get a KUPP ex Catibbean back to LAS, LAX or HNL.
 
Thanks all for your replies.

So to sum up.

I book AA on the American site with my Australian CC.

I book either a business in 2 class cabin and a first or business in 3 class cabin.

Look at fares about 3 months before flying for best deal.

One more question ….. Are there any business seats that don't get SCs.

Thanks also to Ozbeachbaby for your comprehensive answer. I'm afraid you lost me a bit though. I will spend some time on working our what you meant. And also to Serfty. I will search for YUPP ( not sure what that means! ) posts.
 
Thanks all for your replies.

So to sum up.

I book AA on the American site with my Australian CC.

I book either a business in 2 class cabin and a first or business in 3 class cabin.

Look at fares about 3 months before flying for best deal.

One more question ….. Are there any business seats that don't get SCs.

Thanks also to Ozbeachbaby for your comprehensive answer. I'm afraid you lost me a bit though. I will spend some time on working our what you meant. And also to Serfty. I will search for YUPP ( not sure what that means! ) posts.
Two class is first and economy, 3 class is First, business and economy. Don't expect anything much out of domestic First - it is worse than domestic Business in Australia.
 
Two class is first and economy, 3 class is First, business and economy. Don't expect anything much out of domestic First - it is worse than domestic Business in Australia.

Thanks for that info. I won't set my hopes too high!! Really am happy for a bit more leg room, some extra luggage and the SCs.

In a 3 class plane will I still get SCs for business or should I buy first?
 
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Thanks for that info. I won't set my hopes too high!! Really am happy for a bit more leg room, some extra luggage and the SCs.

In a 3 class plane will I still get SCs for business or should I buy first?

You need to get A, F or P class to get first class SCs. Basically you must buy first.
 
Thanks all for your replies.

So to sum up.

I book AA on the American site with my Australian CC.

I book either a business in 2 class cabin and a first or business in 3 class cabin.

Look at fares about 3 months before flying for best deal.

One more question ….. Are there any business seats that don't get SCs.

Thanks also to Ozbeachbaby for your comprehensive answer. I'm afraid you lost me a bit though. I will spend some time on working our what you meant. And also to Serfty. I will search for YUPP ( not sure what that means! ) posts.

Two class AA DOM birds will be F and whY. Three class birds fly the longer DOM routes (eg. SFO-JFK). Birds out to the Caribbean are two class but J and whY.

It's the long DOM sectors in F that are the sweet SC earners.
 
Don't expect anything much out of domestic First - it is worse than domestic Business in Australia.

But if you've got more than a short layover, then the AA Flagship Lounges are excellent, and for that you need to be flying AA First, or be OneWorld Emerald.
 
A related question for maximising SCs while flying Domestic in the US:

I'm planning to fly DFW to NYC on AA, and there are a couple of QF code-share flights on that route. Will I earn at a higher rate if I select one of them rather than just any AA flight?
 
A related question for maximising SCs while flying Domestic in the US:

I'm planning to fly DFW to NYC on AA, and there are a couple of QF code-share flights on that route. Will I earn at a higher rate if I select one of them rather than just any AA flight?

I believe that you will. Run it through the calculator on the QF website and compare with what you would get from AA in the Simpler and Fairer[SUP]TM[/SUP] table. I assume it's F you'd be looking at? I can't imagine it would make a big quantum of difference in whY.
 
The magic distances in the USA are now 750miles+ and 1500miles+. Historically over 1200 was the "sweet spot".

PDX/SEA-DFW-BOS will be two 1500+ segments.

I seem to recall reading that the QF code shares book into the J fare classes whereas AA and US book into F classes. Caveat emptor.

Happy wandering

Fred
 
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