Linking Multiple Reservations - QF and AA?

[erobin]

Hello!

I'm planning to travel from SYD to SFO. When looking at prices, it seems using the Qantas sale fares it is quite reasonable to book a R/T ticket SYD/LAX (~1250). But when I look at R/T SYD/SFO, sale fares become unavailable (for the times that I'd want), despite the actual individual flights showing sale fares available on the Qantas and AA websites, respectively.

What happens if I book SYD/LAX R/T through Qantas.com and then a separate flight LAX/SFO from AA.com? With both reservations, will I be able to check bags all the way through? Would I be able to book the US domestic leg as a JASA-equivalent through AA.com to maximise my point/SC gain?

Cheers,
Erobin

--Edit--
Apologies, the post changed slightly in nature as I began my writing it up! I saw another post that indicated separate QF bookings would require notifying Qantas, but it wouldn't provide any protection from missed flights. And that bags may or may not be checked through.

Still curious on why flights show up at the lowest rate when checked individually but not as a full itinerary and doing a JASA-equivalent on the AA leg.

Thanks!

 

[Kef]

Hi There,

Last year I did SYD/DFW on one PNR and then had another PNR for bookings I made separately on AA flying DFW to MCO. Upon checkin QF was able to combine all my flights into one and have my bags checked through to Orlando.

 

[Flying mermaid]

I had some separate PNRs last year. Main one was an AOne4 and then I had booked some different ones at The AA site - some YUPP and some discount Y. AA had no trouble at checkin coping with the various combinations. E.g the AONE4 went LAS-LAX-SYD and I did a discount Y LAX-SFO-LAX. Both in Vegas and San Francisco they were able to check baggage through to final destination and it didn't seem to bother them. I was QF from LAX.

 

[docjames]

The issue isn't baggage/boarding passes etc.

The issue is when there's a significant delay on the inbound QF flight.

If the AA ticket is not flexible, they technically have no obligation to assist if you miss check in for your lax-sfo flight. Same vv in return. They can even cancel your return lax-sfo ticket depending on fare conditions.

In reality, they (AA and/or QF) tend to be fairly willing to assist, but it's important you leave a decent "buffer" in the connections in lax.

You should also consider what your travel insurance will/won't cover.

 

[mannej]

The issue isn't baggage/boarding passes etc.

The issue is when there's a significant delay on the inbound QF flight.

If the AA ticket is not flexible, they technically have no obligation to assist if you miss check in for your lax-sfo flight. Same vv in return. They can even cancel your return lax-sfo ticket depending on fare conditions.

In reality, they (AA and/or QF) tend to be fairly willing to assist, but it's important you leave a decent "buffer" in the connections in lax.

You should also consider what your travel insurance will/won't cover.

I think you may be wrong there regarding how far AA will go to assist, as I am fairly sure they have it written that they will protect misconnect if they original flight was on a Oneworld carrier.

 

[kpc]

I think you may be wrong there regarding how far AA will go to assist, as I am fairly sure they have it written that they will protect misconnect if they original flight was on a Oneworld carrier.

Have you got a link for this as I did not know this and it could come in very handy one day edit as found it!
http://www.aa.com/i18n/agency/Booking_Ticketing/Reaccom/oneworld_tkt_policy.jsp

 

[mannej]

Have you got a link for this as I did not know this and it could come in very handy one day

Not on me no but I believe serfty posted it not too long ago

 

[docjames]

I think you may be wrong there regarding how far AA will go to assist, as I am fairly sure they have it written that they will protect misconnect if they original flight was on a Oneworld carrier.

Never seen it in writing, but certainly benefitted from this (official or unofficial).

 

[kpc]

Never seen it in writing, but certainly benefitted from this (official or unofficial).

see below

Have you got a link for this as I did not know this and it could come in very handy one day edit as found it!
oneworld - Separate Tickets

 

[Kangol]

What happens if I book SYD/LAX R/T through Qantas.com and then a separate flight LAX/SFO from AA.com? With both reservations, will I be able to check bags all the way through? Would I be able to book the US domestic leg as a JASA-equivalent through AA.com to maximise my point/SC gain?

...

Still curious on why flights show up at the lowest rate when checked individually but not as a full itinerary and doing a JASA-equivalent on the AA leg.

As has been said here, with two separate AA/QF bookings you can get the bags tagged all the way through - I have done so both to and from Australia with no problem.

JASAs (or any type of ASA tickets) are only available on QF or JQ flights. You can't book any class of ASA award on an AA metal flight.

 

[erobin]

Thanks for all the anecdotal evidence and in particular the link showing that AA will protect against a misconnect! Surprisingly, I wasn't able to find any flights on AA.com after I booked the SYD/LAX R/T, but Travelocity came through and I now have two separate bookings that should hopefully sync up!

As has been said here, with two separate AA/QF bookings you can get the bags tagged all the way through - I have done so both to and from Australia with no problem.

JASAs (or any type of ASA tickets) are only available on QF or JQ flights. You can't book any class of ASA award on an AA metal flight.

Appreciate the clarification. Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I thought there was some way to do an effective status run on AA while in the US?

 

[Kangol]

Appreciate the clarification. Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I thought there was some way to do an effective status run on AA while in the US?

There is, but that is completely different to using ASAs (usually in premium cabins) on QF flights using QFF points priced at classic award level.

The AA method is buying revenue tickets termed "Instant Upgrade", which are economy tickets that book into first class inventory (usually "P"). Depending on what your itinerary is, you can get good bang for your buck with multiple short(er) sectors that credit at first class earn rates.

This thread is a good start, there are more links in the first post:

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....gram/best-status-run-options-quick-35258.html

 

[Flying mermaid]

Appreciate the clarification. Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I thought there was some way to do an effective status run on AA while in the US?

You might be thinking of YUPPS. They are instant upgrades - cost more than a Y but give you domestic F. So you get F status credits for quite small amounts of money. We were getting 60 to 90 status credits for each leg we did - mostly as part of an AONE4 , but we ran out of sectors in the USA and added in some YUPPS as well which I booked directly with AA. You can select your seat after booking and although it is possible to be downgraded if there are delays etc, we never had any problem with them

 

[drewbles]

As has been said here, with two separate AA/QF bookings you can get the bags tagged all the way through - I have done so both to and from Australia with no problem.

JASAs (or any type of ASA tickets) are only available on QF or JQ flights. You can't book any class of ASA award on an AA metal flight.

Getting BP's or bags checked does not "link" bookings, they are still unique bookings. It's simply because they are (in this case) interlining between two OW carriers that these were done.

Of course in the case of QF to AA mis connects, you will be protected if on separate PNRs as mentioned on the AA site linked above.

 

[erobin]

Getting BP's or bags checked does not "link" bookings, they are still unique bookings. It's simply because they are (in this case) interlining between two OW carriers that these were done.

Of course in the case of QF to AA mis connects, you will be protected if on separate PNRs as mentioned on the AA site linked above.

Thanks for the clarification.

Also, the "instant upgrade" does sound familiar, thanks for the info, Kangol/Flying Mermaid! Unfortunately, AA.com didn't have ANY flights listed in any class, even though the aggregators had plenty of availability. Weird. I wonder, can you do "instant upgrades" at the airport after I arrive in LAX?

 

[Flying mermaid]

That is strange - are you using the Australian AA site or the "real" one - what date are you looking at - I had a look at lax-sfo on the 17th April and there were plenty of flights including YUPPS. The problem about trying to get an upgrade when you get to the USA is that every man and his dog lists themselves for upgrades before the flight and as I understand it one world status people can't or don't have the priority or something. Every Flight we had in the USA had a totally full F cabin, but most of them were on the day upgrades. It appeared really well organised with the names of the people who were successful appearing on the screen at the gate.

 

[erobin]

That is strange - are you using the Australian AA site or the "real" one - what date are you looking at - I had a look at lax-sfo on the 17th April and there were plenty of flights including YUPPS. The problem about trying to get an upgrade when you get to the USA is that every man and his dog lists themselves for upgrades before the flight and as I understand it one world status people can't or don't have the priority or something. Every Flight we had in the USA had a totally full F cabin, but most of them were on the day upgrades. It appeared really well organised with the names of the people who were successful appearing on the screen at the gate.

That's really bizarre. I looked at the US site and even tried using a separate browser (no cookies) and also on my work laptop with US VPN. After reading your post, I went back to check just now (departing LAX on 25/7, returning from SFO on 3/8) and it's showing flights! They have "Choice" as $437, with "Business/First" as $640. Return leg was -$200 or "included" for "Business/First." Not sure this is the YUPPS you were mentioning, but an extra $390 seemed steep for the SCs, though maybe I'm mistaken... perhaps easier than doing a status run in Australia!

 

[Flying mermaid]

That's really bizarre. I looked at the US site and even tried using a separate browser (no cookies) and also on my work laptop with US VPN. After reading your post, I went back to check just now (departing LAX on 25/7, returning from SFO on 3/8) and it's showing flights! They have "Choice" as $437, with "Business/First" as $640. Return leg was -$200 or "included" for "Business/First." Not sure this is the YUPPS you were mentioning, but an extra $390 seemed steep for the SCs, though maybe I'm mistaken... perhaps easier than doing a status run in Australia!

The wonders of computers.....The columns I can see have standard, flexible and instant upgrade on them and yes it is about 640 vs 240. So that will get you around 120 status credits. compare that to say J Syd - adl where you will get around the same status credits but it will cost more like $1100. Of course AA F is pretty dodgy - you won't even get any food for that, although you get extra leg room. We actually did lax-sfo-lax as discount Y as I couldn't see the value on such a short leg - we did YUPPs on longer legs. I am quite addicted to JASAs in Australia as they seem to me a very cheap way of getting status credits - particularly if I ever get a DSC offer!

 

[erobin]

The wonders of computers.....The columns I can see have standard, flexible and instant upgrade on them and yes it is about 640 vs 240. So that will get you around 120 status credits. compare that to say J Syd - adl where you will get around the same status credits but it will cost more like $1100. Of course AA F is pretty dodgy - you won't even get any food for that, although you get extra leg room. We actually did lax-sfo-lax as discount Y as I couldn't see the value on such a short leg - we did YUPPs on longer legs. I am quite addicted to JASAs in Australia as they seem to me a very cheap way of getting status credits - particularly if I ever get a DSC offer!

That's really weird. Seems like a better deal to do JASA (points + cash) than to spend the incremental $400 on a LAX-SFO-LAX trip. I just did a quick comparison and a status run from SYD-BNE-TSV-BNE-SYD is 200 SC & 5,960 miles for $265 + 48k points. This makes me feel less bummed about booking through Travelocity and missing an opportunity for an instant upgrade... though I am going to SFO anyway!

Also, AA is pretty dodgy, regardless!

 

[Flying mermaid]

That's really weird. Seems like a better deal to do JASA (points + cash) than to spend the incremental $400 on a LAX-SFO-LAX trip. I just did a quick comparison and a status run from SYD-BNE-TSV-BNE-SYD is 200 SC & 5,960 miles for $265 + 48k points. This makes me feel less bummed about booking through Travelocity and missing an opportunity for an instant upgrade... though I am going to SFO anyway!

Also, AA is pretty dodgy, regardless!

Enjoy SFO I just love it - sour dough - yum and Ghiradelli chocolates