AA's SYD-LAX flight

[ComeFlyWithMe]

However on my ticket it does not list me as business. Just as"confirmed". However for the Qantas Business award seats return it says "business confirmed" on the same ticket.

Should I be concerned about the AA leg and that it won't be business? I have already locked in my AA business class seats on my Qantas dashboard so I'm hoping it's all ok

This is normal on awards with non-QF operated flights. Something in the reservations/ticketing systems. IIRC the same can happen on a paid flight with another airline's code on a QF ticket.

As long as the booking says Business Confirmed (see classic.checkmytrip.com) and on QF.com then you will be fine.

 

[big_RED]

As long as the booking says Business Confirmed (see classic.checkmytrip.com) and on QF.com then you will be fine.

Thanks, yep it says "Business". No "Confirmed" but I'll take it

 

[PaulybGC]

Just finished a trip to the US flying SYD - LAX return in J
After all the differing opinions i wasn't really sure what to expect but happy to say i was extremely happy with the product & service although im probably a little bias as this was my first International J experience
On both legs we chose seats we chose seats 3D & 3G in the Mini cabin, i usually like a window seat if i have a choice but due to this being our first J flight and the seat configuration we chose the middle seats so we could have a bit more contact & share the experience. As others have said the mini cabin seems like its own little world, very private, close to the bathrooms ( but not too close) and a few steps to the snack bar and first choice of meals on both legs.
A few photos of the food & bev options if anyone is interested, some are a little blury due to the low light sorry.

 

[dfcatch]

Just finished a trip to the US flying SYD - LAX return in J
After all the differing opinions i wasn't really sure what to expect but happy to say i was extremely happy with the product & service although im probably a little bias as this was my first International J experience
On both legs we chose seats we chose seats 3D & 3G in the Mini cabin, i usually like a window seat if i have a choice but due to this being our first J flight and the seat configuration we chose the middle seats so we could have a bit more contact & share the experience. As others have said the mini cabin seems like its own little world, very private, close to the bathrooms ( but not too close) and a few steps to the snack bar and first choice of meals on both legs.
A few photos of the food & bev options if anyone is interested, some are a little blury due to the low light sorry.
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Great review - but as you say - as your first international J experience you have little to benchmark it against.

Fly the route again with a good QF 380 crew and you'll have a good comparison point.

 

[Limewood]

Great review - but as you say - as your first international J experience you have little to benchmark it against.

Fly the route again with a good QF 380 crew and you'll have a good comparison point.

Or out of BNE on 747 upper deck in J, own galley, own loo, own crew and take your racquets with you as there's nearly enough room to play tennis .

 

[PaulybGC]

Or out of BNE on 747 upper deck in J, own galley, own loo, own crew and take your racquets with you as there's nearly enough room to play tennis .

Sounds Good ! , what seats does the 747 have ? I did like the reverse herringbone seating on the AA flight - each seat having isle access
BNE would be my preferred city to fly from but lack of award seats meant SYD & the OOL to SYD in J at no extra points helped to manage the luggage my wife somehow accumulated during the trip:shock:

 

[snabbu]

Nothing of what happens in AA necessarily translates to QF and vice versa. The point is they don't necessarily have to allow or charge what the other carrier does. Because QF charges "carrier charges" on its flight, doesn't mean AA does or does not have to (eg look at the insane charges on BA awards for AA).

eg. DFW-SYD AA Y DFW-LAX QF J LAX-SYD

AA 80,000 miles and US$27.90
QF 112,000 points and US$453.69

Eg. SYD-LAX AA J

AA 80,000 miles and US$80.16
QF 96,000 points and A$106.87

Eg. SYD-LAX QF J

QF 96,000 points and A$465.45

Explain the logic in that? QF is encouraging you to use AA for the awards flights. AA charge basically the same no matter which.

Just looking at a return trip on points and omg why would you fly QF J when you can fly AA J for next to no $$ cost.

SYD-LAX-SYD QF J 192k points and $860.90 (AUD)
SYD-LAX-SYD AA J 192k points and $143.94 (AUD)

So for an extra $700 I'll get a droopy semi flat seat and headphones gate to gate? Umm no thanks.

 

[drron]

Or out of BNE on 747 upper deck in J, own galley, own loo, own crew and take your racquets with you as there's nearly enough room to play tennis .

Horses for courses.I would fly the AA mini J cabin anytime over the upper deck of a QF 747.A much better product as the seat fits my body size perfectly.I find the 747 QF seat very uncomfortable.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Horses for courses.I would fly the AA mini J cabin anytime over the upper deck of a QF 747.A much better product as the seat fits my body size perfectly.I find the 747 QF seat very uncomfortable.

+1 to this drron, it's a far superior hard product.

 

[Timtammi]

+1 from me also. Done QF J in 747 and A380 on this route and my most recent trip on AA J in mini-cabin was far superior when it comes to seat. On these long flights, seat is king for me. Having said that, the AA soft product wasn't bad either! In the next couple of weeks I get to try NZ J to LAX so stay tuned to see how that compares.

 

[Limewood]

Sounds Good ! , what seats does the 747 have ?

Seats were the updated MK11 not angled just normal comfy we found, think only about 16/18 seats in the bubble, massive amount of room with normal overheads and side bins, exit seats had no access to side bins from memory.

 

[stevenaus]

+1 from me also. Done QF J in 747 and A380 on this route and my most recent trip on AA J in mini-cabin was far superior when it comes to seat. On these long flights, seat is king for me. Having said that, the AA soft product wasn't bad either! In the next couple of weeks I get to try NZ J to LAX so stay tuned to see how that compares.

Looking forward to your findings on the Air NZ seat. I have recently flown it and rate it very highly. Enjoy

 

[Timtammi]

Yes, not wanting to get OT but I'm looking forward to it too, might do a mini-trip report if I can get myself organised enough.

 

[Moindardt]

Just did a quick trip for myself SYD-LAX-SYD and my wife and 4 kids are still in the middle of theirs SYD-LAX-LHR-LAX-SYD (with a stopover in LAX on the way over and a side trip to Manchester for ManUtd v Leicester). Their flights are a proper SYD-LON AA fare btw.

My SWU's cleared for both legs. The family landed in London last night and their 5 SWU's cleared for the whole way over (both legs upgraded about 3 days before each flight). For those that don't know, 1 SWU will cover 3 legs in one direction (and can include stopovers). When they come back, they probably won't get the upgrade for LHR-LAX (only 6 seats left in J) but should have no problems with LAX-SYD.

I have to say, the hard product was excellent but you would have thought they learnt from CX and made the table adjustable. We also had some overhead space issues because of all the crew stuff and oxygen tanks. There was space, it just might not be above your seat. Pretty minor things but that was how hard it was to find any faults.

The soft product was a mix. On the way over, It seemed everyone that had the meat (beef and lamb) and prawns loved it, but the rice/pasta dishes were inedible, like seriously disgusting. I had the chicken curry and the rice was so overcooked, I didn't know it was possible to do that and the chicken was completely cartilage with no sauce. Thankfully I had had a big breakfast in the QF F lounge. On the other hand, my two youngest, who are the most painful eaters, absolutely loved theirs. I don't really know what desserts they offered as I didn't see anyone get anything other than the ice cream sundae. Every time I have one, it takes me back to my childhood. They are just simply amazing.

We had an old lady as our flight attendant. When I say old, she would make some of the pensioners on here feel like kids again. Her hands shook so bad, most of the nuts went all over the floor. I only got half a bowl. After they had gone by, the aisle looked as though it had been a bunch of kids throwing nuts at an elephant at the zoo. We all started reaching out to grab the food off her. She was at least half deaf and at least half forgetful. She would mis-hear the order and then couldn't remember who she was supposed to deliver it to. I have seen a number of attendants where the badges from the original airlines they worked with (before AA bought them out) and I think hers had the Wright brothers on it But she was such a sweet-heart and fussed over everyone like they were her grand-kids (even though her grand-kids were probably on the pension).

On the way back, I followed everyone else's recommendations from the first flight and got the short rib. It was a pretty decent meal. The service was pretty average. I had been one of the first served and the guy said no Ice Cream Sundae only Ben and Jerry's so I had something else which was ok but then later all the Sundae's came out. By this time it was 1am LAX time and I had already had dinner with family, dessert, coffee and drinks in the LAX Flounge, a full bowl of nuts this time, another dinner and another dessert and was sitting with a glass of Baileys. I tried to summon the courage and room to fit it in but couldn't *sob* A bad bad mark against that FA.

When we landed in Sydney, I was amazed to see the signs for the ConceirgeKey - there was 8 of them. In all my flights in the US, the most I had ever seen was 2 (and that was once).

As a data point, both flights had full F and were at least 6/8 from weeks out, so they probably were paid F. J was only half full 3 days out in both directions but full at flight time. Keep in mind, on the way to LAX, we accounted for 6 of the upgrades, so there was a lot to be had. We'll definitely be doing this again.

 

[get me outta here]

If you are on a rewards flight would they maybe offer USD1000 to offload? (Says she hopefully).

.... snip .... On his way back from LAX to SYD, they had overbooked the flight and was asking passengers to give up their seat for some credits for future flights, I believe he says they were offering up to $1000.

 

[Moindardt]

If you are on a rewards flight would they maybe offer USD1000 to offload? (Says she hopefully).

Yes, you can get it on a rewards flight. They can do all sorts of weird and wonderful. I have seen reports of them refunding points (if you used AA) or dollars paid, booking you in a higher class on a later flight, paying for hotels, meals, taxi's AND giving you compensation (apparently $600-$800 is the sweet spot to get other bonuses). It does appear that the rebooked flights also earn points/credits. I just did LAX-ORD-BOS-LGA-MIA-PTY-MIA-TPA-DFW-LAX and every single flight was 100% capacity. I wasn't particularly listening but heard at least a few offering compensation.

In saying that, looking at loadings on SYD-LAX, they are 2/3 full most of the time. It is not a heavily loaded route.

 

[get me outta here]

Thanks Moindart I'll make a note of that. And these SWUs people are talking about, can a person get hold of one of those? I have read the thread and am looking forward to my flight next July. Now just to decide whether to go into 3J or back in 8J away from disturbances.

Yes, you can get it on a rewards flight. They can do all sorts of weird and wonderful. I have seen reports of them refunding points (if you used AA) or dollars paid, booking you in a higher class on a later flight, paying for hotels, meals, taxi's AND giving you compensation (apparently $600-$800 is the sweet spot to get other bonuses). It does appear that the rebooked flights also earn points/credits. I just did LAX-ORD-BOS-LGA-MIA-PTY-MIA-TPA-DFW-LAX and every single flight was 100% capacity. I wasn't particularly listening but heard at least a few offering compensation.

In saying that, looking at loadings on SYD-LAX, they are 2/3 full most of the time. It is not a heavily loaded route.

 

[Moindardt]

Thanks Moindart I'll make a note of that. And these SWUs people are talking about, can a person get hold of one of those?

An AA Executive Platinum (equivalent of QF WP) gets 4 SWU's a year. They can earn up to 4 additional SWU's. This can be used to upgrade up to 3 sectors one class, ie Y to J or J to F. They use A & C class availability which is an award class and if available at the time of purchase, can automatically upgrade you. If not, then it is waitlisted until availability comes out. If you apply it against more than one sector, it is used, even if only one sector is upgraded. It can only be used on AA operated and marketed equipment.

Upgrade order is based on Status and then the order of applying the SWU. ie. if you apply yours 11months out as a Gold/Plat and an ExP comes in a week before you fly, they jump over the top of you. I believe from next year some time, EQD's (Elite Qualifying Dollars) gets added to the middle. If you earn qualified for ExP today, your membership would be until January 2018, which is also when the SWU's you earn for this year expire. You are not allowed to sell SWU's but you can apply them against anyone's suitable ticket. Danger did that last month (*LEGEND!!*) http://www.australianfrequentflyer....home/another-four-aa-swus-giveaway-77850.html

This is a bit more of a blurb:
How To Use American Airlines Systemwide Upgrades - One Mile at a Time

 

[david1]

I'm on this flight (LAX-SYD) on Friday night, wondering about security. Which is quicker, security at T4 then connector to TBIT, or walk to TBIT after checking in and going through security there?

I recently flew out of TBIT on AA but on a morning domestic leg, the terminal was all but deserted, one security queue open, through in a few minutes, but I haven't been through at this time before.

 

[dfcatch]

I'm on this flight (LAX-SYD) on Friday night, wondering about security. Which is quicker, security at T4 then connector to TBIT, or walk to TBIT after checking in and going through security there?

I recently flew out of TBIT on AA but on a morning domestic leg, the terminal was all but deserted, one security queue open, through in a few minutes, but I haven't been through at this time before.

Evening is the worst time for TBIT - I'd go T4.