Discounted AC Membership

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Dave Noble

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AA is offering discounted Admirals Club membership to those residing outside the US. This may be of value to those with Platinum/Executive Platinum status who would like access when travelling on "domestic" North American itineraries.

For others, then Qantas Club membership is probably better value

AAdvantage member $350 (approx AUD455)
AAdvantage member with spouse $650 (approx AUD845)
AAdvantage Gold member $300 (approx AUD390)
AAdvantage Gold member with spouse $550 (approx AUD715)
AAdvantage Platinum member $250 (approx AUD325)
AAdvantage Platinum member with spouse $450 (approx AUD585)
AAdvantage Executive Platinum member $200 (approx AUD260)
AAdvantage Executive Platinum member with spouse $350 (approx AUD455)

The discounted membership can be purchased from any International Admirals Club location. It cannot be purchased online or over the phone

Dave
 
You'd have to travel quite a bit to make it more worthwhile, especially if you have no status on AA.

NB, Daypasses are available for $50 on AA.com.
 
futaris said:
You'd have to travel quite a bit to make it more worthwhile, especially if you have no status on AA.

NB, Daypasses are available for $50 on AA.com.
And you still need to pay for drinks (+ tip).
 
futaris said:
You'd have to travel quite a bit to make it more worthwhile, especially if you have no status on AA.

NB, Daypasses are available for $50 on AA.com.

Absolutely, as I said, for a regular/gold member, then a Qantas Club membership is probably a better bet; but for an Executive Platinum member for example, $200 is can be better value than day passes. With an AC membership can take 2 guests in / entire family whilst day passes are $50 per person

Dave
 
If one has life club membership for himself and spouse (I Can have senior rates for renewal) then this will this give me and spouse always access to priority check in and access to all one world lounges when we fly . Is there a way besides having silver/ gold/ platinum to get the extra cabin bonus status for the points?
Regards
JohnF
 
fursten said:
If one has life club membership for himself and spouse (I Can have senior rates for renewal) then this will this give me and spouse always access to priority check in and access to all one world lounges when we fly . Is there a way besides having silver/ gold/ platinum to get the extra cabin bonus status for the points?
Regards
JohnF
I assume you are talking about being an Admirals Club member in this context (this is a thread about Admirals Club) and not about Qantas Club membership.

Admirals Club members can access AA's Admirals Club lounges and Qantas and Aer Lingus lounges when flying with those airlines. Admirals Club membership does not provide access to all OneWorld lounges.

Admirals Club membership does not provide priority check-in, priority baggage handling, priority boarding etc. Those are privileges of FF status.

Cabin bonus on AAdvantage miles is only available by paying for travel in the particular premium cabin (i.e. 25% bonus for business class and 50% bonus for first class).

Status Bonus on AAdvantage miles is only available by achieving Gold/Platinum/ExecPlatinum status in the FF program. Status bonus is 50% for Gold, 100% for Platinum and Exec Platinum status.

Admirals Club membership does not provide any bonus on earning miles through flying.
 
fursten said:
If one has life club membership for himself and spouse (I Can have senior rates for renewal) then this will this give me and spouse always access to priority check in and access to all one world lounges when we fly . Is there a way besides having silver/ gold/ platinum to get the extra cabin bonus status for the points?
Regards
JohnF

NM has nicely covered AC access, but since you mention Silver/Gold/Platinum I suspect that you mean QF Club membership.

QF Club membership does not offer priority check in other than when travelling on QF.

Also, you only have access to
QF lounges when travelling BA or QF
AA lounges when travelling AA
BA lounges when travelling BA or QF

you do not get access to all OW lounges

Dave
 
NM said:
... Admirals Club members can access AA's Admirals Club lounges and Qantas and Aer Lingus lounges when flying with those airlines. Admirals Club membership does not provide access to all OneWorld lounges. ...
That being the case, a QF NB could join the AC and get QP lounge access in Oz for that USD350 (approx AUD455). Much less than the joining fee inclusive AUD685 for the first year of QP membership.
 
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serfty said:
That being the case, a QF NB could join the AC and get QP lounge access in Oz for that USD350 (approx AUD455). Much less than the joining fee inclusive AUD685 for the first year of QP membership.

It is cheaper for a 1 year membership and for someone wanting membership on a one off basis, definately worth a consideration, however it is definately worth taking into account that the renewal costs for QF Club membership would bring it in to a similar cost over 2 years. Also, do take into account that QP membership does give BA lounge access which is not offered with AC membership

Dave
 
And Qantas Club membership comes with other benefits when travelling Qantas such as business class check-in and increased baggage allowance. These benefits are not available to Admirals Club members.
 
Are North American segments of a xONEx fare considered sole North American itineraries?
thx
 
Febs said:
Not all BA lounges though. At LHR, Qantas Club members can only access two lounges (gates 1 and 10, Terminal 4, as per Flying with Us - Qantas Club - Lounge Locations - UK/Europe).

Cheers,
- Febs.

On that page, they are listing "associated lounges" which are lounges at International Ports where QF flies from but where it does not operate its own lounge. At LHR, they only list the T4 lounges since it is T4 where QF departs

From Flying with Us - Qantas Club - Lounge Access , it states

Code:
Access to Partner airline lounges
In addition to Qantas Club lounges, you can relax in British Airways lounges (Terraces and Executive Club lounges),
American Airlines® Admirals Club lounges and US Airways Club lounges. 

To access a partner airline lounge, simply present your Qantas Club card or Platinum or Gold Frequent Flyer card at
check-in and again with your boarding pass at the lounge reception. You may also invite a guest. Note that both you
and your guest must be travelling together and have onward travel that day on a flight marketed and operated by
the partner airline whose lounge you wish to visit.* 

* Marketed and operated means a flight operated by the same airline whose flight number appears on your ticket.
Includes American Airlines® or British Airways operated flights with a 'QF' flight number on your ticket.

so you can use the other BA lounges when travelling on a BA flight

Dave
 
Dave Noble said:
so you can use the other BA lounges when travelling on a BA flight
Thanks Dave, didn't realise that.
Unfortunately though, it's not of much use when the BA staff don't know the rules, and blatantly refuse someone with QC passes access (as happened to my girlfriend on the weekend, who was continuing onto FRA on a BA flight).

:evil:

Cheers,
- Febs.
 
Febs said:
Thanks Dave, didn't realise that.
Unfortunately though, it's not of much use when the BA staff don't know the rules, and blatantly refuse someone with QC passes access (as happened to my girlfriend on the weekend, who was continuing onto FRA on a BA flight).

:evil:

Cheers,
- Febs.
BA are well known for applying the rules as published. What type of pass was she using and at which lounge?

BA flights to FRA depart from Terminal 1. There is no Qantas Club lounge at Terminal 1. So you are not entitled to use Qantas Club Complementary Guest Passes (like the ones provided to Silver FF members) at the Terminal 1 BA lounge. So if that was the type of pass she was trying to use, then BA were correct in not allowing access using one of those passes.

However, if she is a Qantas Club member and showed a Qantas Club membership card, she should have granted access to the BA lounge at Terminal 1 if flying on either a BA or QF codeshare flight number.
 
vt01 said:
Are North American segments of a xONEx fare considered sole North American itineraries?
thx
The rules for Admirals Club access by AAdvantage Platinum and Exec Platinum members are very specific. It does not matter if on a xONEx or not. Access is permitted if you have a same-day international connection on a OneWorld carrier. So if you arrived into North America on a OneWorld flight, or are departing from North America on a OneWorld Flight on the same calendar day as your AA domestic flight, then you get access. If your international flight is not on the same calendar day, then no access to the Admirals Club.
 
NM said:
BA are well known for applying the rules as published. What type of pass was she using and at which lounge?
It was a QC single-use pass, the same as given to QFF Silvers (kindly donated by Mal).

She showed the pass and her BP at the Terminal 4 gate 1/10 lounge (which are considered "Qantas Clubs" according to the QF website), and was told to instead go to the Terminal 1 lounge, where she was told "sorry".

So the Terminal 4 lounge dragons were wrong, and the Terminal 1 lounge dragon was right. :)

Unfortunately, the crowds were huge and she didn't have time to double back to T4. The lounges were busy, so no doubt the T4 dragons just couldn't be bothered.

Cheers,
- Febs.
 
Febs said:
It was a QC single-use pass, the same as given to QFF Silvers (kindly donated by Mal).

She showed the pass and her BP at the Terminal 4 gate 1/10 lounge (which are considered "Qantas Clubs" according to the QF website), and was told to instead go to the Terminal 1 lounge, where she was told "sorry".

So the Terminal 4 lounge dragons were wrong, and the Terminal 1 lounge dragon was right. :)

Unfortunately, the crowds were huge and she didn't have time to double back to T4. The lounges were busy, so no doubt the T4 dragons just couldn't be bothered.

Cheers,
- Febs.
Something does not seem to make sense here. How did she get to the Terminal 4 lounge? Upon arrival into LHR (either by air or land) she would not have had access to the airside area at Terminal 4 unless she had a boarding pass for a departure from Terminal 4. BAA rules (British Airport Authority) do not permit people to pass to the air-side areas of any terminal unless they have a departure from that terminal.

Are you certain she approached the staff at the Terminal 4 lounge? Or was it perhaps the staff at the Terminal 4 arrivals lounge, which is after immigration processing? The arrivals lounge is not a Qantas Club and hence no access with a guest pass either.

If she had asked any BA ground staff, they would have quite rightly pointed her to Terminal 1 since that was the terminal from which her flight departed and the only terminal at LHR that she would have been able to get airside.
 
NM said:
Something does not seem to make sense here. How did she get to the Terminal 4 lounge? Upon arrival into LHR (either by air or land) she would not have had access to the airside area at Terminal 4 unless she had a boarding pass for a departure from Terminal 4. BAA rules (British Airport Authority) do not permit people to pass to the air-side areas of any terminal unless they have a departure from that terminal.

Are you certain she approached the staff at the Terminal 4 lounge?
OK, an explanation is in order (this is what happens when brief text messages are your only form of communication :)).

It wasn't a lounge staff member she asked, but a random BA staff member (at a service desk somewhere I assume). She showed the pass, but obviously they just assumed it was a regular QC membership card.

Thanks for clearing everything up. :) So it seems that she had no way of accessing a lounge, but will on the way back to SYD.

Cheers, and sorry for the confusion.
- Febs.
 
NM said:
The rules for Admirals Club access by AAdvantage Platinum and Exec Platinum members are very specific. It does not matter if on a xONEx or not. Access is permitted if you have a same-day international connection on a OneWorld carrier. So if you arrived into North America on a OneWorld flight, or are departing from North America on a OneWorld Flight on the same calendar day as your AA domestic flight, then you get access. If your international flight is not on the same calendar day, then no access to the Admirals Club.
Thanks NM. I was trying to figure out what I used to get access to the AC on my trip last year. So from what you've said, it was a sole North American itinerary. I just showed my QF platinum FF card and boarding pass.

This thread got me thinking - now that all my flights go to AA, I'll eventually drop to NB in QFF. However, I should still be AA plat or EXP plat. But this will not be enough to get me free access to the AC as per AA rules. So I would still need a valid QP membership to get free access to the AC.

If this is correct, it's another consideration before switching from QFF to AA. I'll have to join QP once I'm NB. But then once I take into account the fuel fines QF charge for award flights and the lack there of the AA charges, I should still end up ahead.
 
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