Should I select 'Choice Essential' fare for priority 1 boarding feature.

[kaz]

Hi, I'm going to book via the AA.com website and I'm wanting to travel DFW to MCO and then FLL to DFW and was going to book a Multi-booking, however I can't seem to bring up the selection to choose a "Choice Essential' fare when doing a multi booking. I can however choose the 'Choice Essential' fare when booking 2 separate 1 way trips. I'm only wanting the 'Choice Essential' fare as it offers Group 1 boarding. The reason for wanting Group 1 boarding feature is to ensure I don't get bumped off the plane due to overselling seats as I have an award flight out of Dallas the following nighty. Is overselling seats a problem on AA or should I just book the multi-booking and save a total of $257 USD. I'm Qantas Silver, but not sure if that provides me priority boarding with AA. (for some reason when I post I cannot to go to the next line so I apologise for all the text in 1 paragraph...does anybody else have the same problem ??)

 

[Paddy55]

I'd pay the $100 - $150 extra for the additional QF SCs and to stay out of the Y rat race if you can afford it! :shock:
90 SCs vs 15 in Y is tempting.

OT: Must research in AFF where the YUPPs and KUPPs have gone with their web redesign

 

[kaz]

I'd pay the $100 - $150 extra for the additional QF SCs and to stay out of the Y rat race if you can afford it! :shock:
90 SCs vs 15 in Y is tempting.

OT: Must research in AFF where the YUPPs and KUPPs have gone with their web redesign

I'm no longer after QF status credits as I mainly fly VA now, the QF award flight is the last flight with QF I'll be taking.
just also realised that by the time I fly I won't have any QF status, so won't get OW ruby priority boarding.

 

[drewbles]

I'd pay the $100 - $150 extra for the additional QF SCs and to stay out of the Y rat race if you can afford it! :shock:
90 SCs vs 15 in Y is tempting.

OT: Must research in AFF where the YUPPs and KUPPs have gone with their web redesign

I simply don't use aa.com for searching. Use ITA and other tools, then depending on number of segments, book it as a multi-city using the same flights you've got on ITA etc and it should price up the same. The other option is to do stupidly complex ones like I do, get the fare calculations from ITA and pass it to your Travel Agent with the flight details and have them book it

 

[kaz]

I simply don't use aa.com for searching. Use ITA and other tools, then depending on number of segments, book it as a multi-city using the same flights you've got on ITA etc and it should price up the same. The other option is to do stupidly complex ones like I do, get the fare calculations from ITA and pass it to your Travel Agent with the flight details and have them book it

Thanks for your reply drewbles, When I searched via ITA matrix site, it still did not give me the option of a 'Choice Essentials' fare and just the same info I found by searching AA.com and doing a multi booking. Am I doing something incorrectly ?

 

[drewbles]

Thanks for your reply drewbles, When I searched via ITA matrix site, it still did not give me the option of a 'Choice Essentials' fare and just the same info I found by searching AA.com and doing a multi booking. Am I doing something incorrectly ?

Sorry kaz my response was answering paddy's post not yours. Choice Essentials is just a bucket of fares that AA name so (like QF flexi or Red e-deals). I'm sure someone cam advise which buckets they use. You would need to use expert flyer to check those though or ask someone to assist on that.

 

[ronicat]

We have just returned from US and our experience was:

Ticket 1 - cheapest flights booked on aa.com.au. Multi booking with three flights (one of which was a two part flight) Qantas silver. Printed copy of aa luggage policy before we left home
Flight 1. No problem kerbside check in. Free checked baggage. Priority checkin and boarding (saved us a considerable amount of time as it was the day lax changed their screening procedures)
Flight 2. Checked in online but rejected by kerbside baggage drop off. Approached priority desk who wanted to charge $200 for our 1 checked bag. Said we were not entitled to priority boarding. Showed her the printout, argued a bit and were reluctantly given free baggage but group four boarding.
Flight 2b - connection delayed by four hours in DFW. Gate moved three times and aircraft changed twice - we made no changes just moved as we were told.
Flight 3 - could not do checkin as ticket had been cancelled. Rang aa (1 hour). Said tickets had been cancelled as we did not take our connecting flight which then voided the remaining ticket. Firm discussion ensued whereby they agreed it was not our fault and so they rebooked us - different seats but at least we were able to fly. Got the baggage issue and OW silver access corrected. Arrived at airport. No free baggage. Fortunately a supervisor noticed me showing the baggage printout, she intervened and gave us free baggage.

Ticket 2 - cheapest flight booked on aa.com.au. No issue at all three extra weight bags each checked through to au (we were expecting to pay for the third bag each) and boarding passes printed to Sydney even though the next two flights were with UA on a separate ticket.

My advice. Book as separate tickets not a multi ticket - unless it's connecting and print copy of baggage rules to take with you

 

[kempvet]

To answer one of the questions, yes oversold flights are common in the USA due mainly to the weather. There is also the guarantee that EXP AA members will always be sold a seat at least in Y on sold out flights at any time, therefore if ORD is closed by the weather and a flight NYC-ORD-STL is not possible, then the NYC-MIA-STL route would be sold to the EXP AA, therefore the real possibility that the NYC-MIA will be oversold as the EXP AA members are catered for and the cheapest Y's are bumped off the place with a voucher or something else.

 

[kaz]

There is also the guarantee that EXP AA members will always be sold a seat at least in Y on sold out flights at any time...

Sorry, don't know what EXP AA members means ?? Also as I'm not flying into NYC-ORD-STL or even MIA so I guess you used that as an example.

 

[Kangol]

Sorry, don't know what EXP AA members means ?? Also as I'm not flying into NYC-ORD-STL or even MIA so I guess you used that as an example.

EXP = Executive Platinum, AA's highest status level - OWE and equivalent of QFF WP.

I think the points that kempvet was trying to make are that:
(1) yes, overselling is common in the airline industry - including AA, and
(2) if your route is not oversold but another route departing from the same port is delayed or cancelled due to weather or other irregular operations, then the higher status pax (AA EXPs) on that flight may bump you if they are re-routed to be on your flight.

Oh, and regarding the topic of using ita.matrix to search for routings and fare buckets - be careful because a specified fare bucket does not necessarily equate to a specified fare condition (in your case Choice Essential).

I just looked at a random date next year for FLL-DFW and saw this - all three Y types of fare conditions are in the same fare bucket.

Also interesting how when you hover over "Choice Plus" it says you get a 50% bonus of AA miles yet the booking class is still G - there must be some changes that I haven't read about...

 

[kaz]

Thanks Kangol for your explanation, I understand it all now.