Maximising SC flying in USA

[Kangol]

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.

If not a non-AA OWE, it has to be out of a port with a F/L (LAX, ORD, JFK) and either international or transcon. Which more or less leaves you with LAX-JFK (if solely in the USA) and vice versa. Unless there is something I've missed.

 

[Flying mermaid]

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.

They do have warm nuts and freshly baked cookies in F on quite a few planes and they are really nice! I know there were changes to food second half of last year, but I hope warm nuts remained!

What I do is around 4 months before I check prices on the flights I am interested in and then keep an eye on it and book when they drop. i have generally found the AA staff in F very pleasant.

 

[Quickstatus]

It seems that the F prices on AA and maybe other US dom flights come on at high prices then drop over time before rising again. i wonder when the lowest point occurs. ?3-4 months out?

 

[wandering_fred]

Mid last year LAX-DFW-PHL and return.
One ticket was purchased 5 months out. Included a Y-only connecting flight from Arizona. The return about one month in advance. Quite decent prices in P class considering I would need to flown in Q or N anyway. Those legs would now earn 90SC each.
I would start to match prices on aa.com with fare bucket availability (KVS/ExpertFlyer) about 3 months out after looking initially at the prices as soon as I could predict dates and routes. And use the US site if flying US planes. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. At least you have checked the $$.

Happy wandering

Fred

 

[Isochronous]

Those warm cookies on AA domestic F are divine!

 

[serfty]

Those warm cookies on AA domestic F are divine!

Sadly the baked on board cookies went away on September 1st.

They now have what are basically "warmed" biscuits. (Although they appear to have changed supplier/brand more recently.)

 

[Flying mermaid]

It seems that the F prices on AA and maybe other US dom flights come on at high prices then drop over time before rising again. i wonder when the lowest point occurs. ?3-4 months out?

When I booked a number of sectors in the first half of last year it appeared to be around 80 to 90 days before the flight that the price drops happened. There were quite significant drops. Not sure now - I have a few sectors in May,but they are part of an AONE4, so didn't have to do my normal price scrounge.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Sadly the baked on board cookies went away on September 1st.

They now have what are basically "warmed" biscuits. (Although they appear to have changed supplier/brand more recently.)

Do they still have warm nuts? I loved the smell of the cookies baking, but the nuts were my favourite.

 

[kermatu]

In my experience price drops happen exactly 90 days out.
Warm nuts on almost every flight. Good quality but a bit boring after multiple flights. Meals (average) served so soon after you can't really relax and enjoy. Mid range flights had either a cookie or slice of cake. Was winter over there.

 

[Quickstatus]

In my experience price drops happen exactly 90 days out.
Warm nuts on almost every flight. Good quality but a bit boring after multiple flights. Meals (average) served so soon after you can't really relax and enjoy. Mid range flights had either a cookie or slice of cake. Was winter over there.

Thats what i thought but i think not if if the seats start filling up before then

 

[Verde]

I wonder if anyone has tried to work the pattern out (and if there is any consistency between routes). I just went month-by-month on AA.com for a trip I'm looking at doing next January and it seemed to drop in price in a 2-4 month out window. Interestingly F seemed to have a wider window again (seemed to increase in price about 6 months out), compared to Y.

When I booked a number of sectors in the first half of last year it appeared to be around 80 to 90 days before the flight that the price drops happened. There were quite significant drops. Not sure now - I have a few sectors in May,but they are part of an AONE4, so didn't have to do my normal price scrounge.

 

[Verde]

I wonder if anyone has tried to work the pattern out (and if there is any consistency between routes). I just went month-by-month on AA.com for a trip I'm looking at doing next January and it seemed to drop in price in a 2-4 month out window. Interestingly F seemed to have a wider window again (seemed to increase in price about 6 months out), compared to Y.

I just went day by day on two routes, seems to vary (and the prices did look set rather than variations due to already existing bookings).

LAX-DFW-GRI was best in F from 25 days out to 147 days out.
LAX-JFK was best in F from 27 days to 119 days out.

Y was similar but did vary.

Additional info - the consistently cheapest F on the LAX-???-JFK was actually code share US airways flights sold by AA with a stop over, so it would be interesting to know how much of the window is set by US Airways rather than AA. The LAX-DFW-GRI was F LAX-DFW and Y DFW-GRI since it is single class on that plane.

Digging a bit more, this time into LAX-DEN

Direct AA F flights seem to be standard value between 28 and 110 days out. Less than 28 days it becomes load affected (some days a third-ish cheaper, other days more expensive - Y also seems to be half-ish price in this block too when lightly loaded). The US Airways codeshares (LAX-PHX-DEN) in F don't seem to have the discounting that AA flights do but also had a longer window for their flights at the "standard" better value price.

So on the three different routes I looked at, the better rate (except for when lightly loaded) seems to kick in between 25 and 28 days out with a window size that varies by route. Guess a rule-of-thumb of booking at about 3 months/90 days out would make for a fairly safe bet as was suggested.

If I think to revisit it in a month or two, it would be interesting to compare those days/routes and see if/how they've changed (how much is route specific and how much is seasonal).

 

[serfty]

The 'drop' if or when it may occurs seems to vary somewhat between routes.

See here for the use of flights.google.com to see these (if present):

I have been researching some June flights for the last month and have found that the cheaper availability often does not happen until 90 day before the flights. So you may need to consider delaying booking your October flights until July.

Have a look at Flights - Google Search.

Select one-way, First from JFK to MCO.

Then after it refreshes, select AA. [Edit: & US]

Click on the date Icon and see a calendar of prices, as well (if you wait a few seconds) a graph showing the cheapest fares over a two month period.Drill down and these are normally one or two segment routes.

Also, it seems the USair pricing is starting to infiltrate. (I had to deal with this for several years with USair in my quest for *G with AirNZ).

The routes are there but you need both the Upgrade fare basis and P or A available.

e.g. for an SA14ERP1 fare you need both S and P availability on the same route to book. The P may be there but often the S isn't.

Fire up ITA and look.


JFK-MCO for USD257 (90 SC's)
JFK/LGA-xMIA-MCO for USD377 (150 SC's)
JFK-xORD-xMIA-MCO for USD456 (270 SC's)

 

[JohnM]

Sadly the baked on board cookies went away on September 1st.

Won't miss them. Never ate them after the first one or two occasions years ago. They must be close to pure sugar (or more likely corn syrup, being LOTFAP). Soooo sickly.

Do like the warm nuts - but sometimes they just about fry them to a cinder.