major aa upgrade change

[Guest miguelmiche1]

greetings fellow posters - been awhile since i last visited.

be sure & check this out:

 

 

American Airlines Sets Fee

Of $250 on Certain Upgrades

 

(dow jones, december 6, 2004)

 

American Airlines will start charging passengers a $250 one-way fee to use frequent-flier miles to convert low-cost international tickets into first-class or business-class seats.

 

The nonrefundable fee, effective Dec. 1, will apply to discounted and deeply discounted coach-class tickets. Full-fare coach tickets and business-class tickets will be exempt from the fee, said the Fort Worth, Texas, unit of AMR Corp.

 

The fee applies to flights between North America and Europe, Japan, and parts of South America, including Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. At the same time, passengers flying between Latin America and Europe no longer will be able to use frequent-flier miles to upgrade their seats.

 

American's decision comes amid a trend of added consumer fees in the airline industry. Many major airlines recently started charging fees for bookings made through U.S. call centers and at airport ticket counters. Airlines also are charging fees for paper tickets.

 

Continental Airlines last month announced plans to boost most of the fees it was charging coach passengers who exchange miles for upgrades to first-class on international flights. American has been allowing mileage upgrades on international flights with no extra fees.

 

American cited sagging coach-class fares for its decision. "With fares so low, the disparity between discount and premium-class fares is too great to be offset by miles alone," said American spokesman Tim Wagner. "Rather than limit upgrade awards to full-fare tickets only, it will allow AAdvantage members to upgrade even if they buy a deeply discounted ticket," he added.

 

For example, a specially discounted coach-class ticket on American Airlines from Miami to Quito, Ecuador, is $329 round trip departing Oct. 13 and returning Oct. 16. A business-class ticket traveling on the same flights would cost $1,573.50 round trip. To upgrade the lower-fare ticket, the passenger would have to cash in 25,000 frequent-flier miles. But once American's fee kicks in Dec. 1, that passenger also would have to pay an additional $500.

[trilingual]

Thanks for the heads up! Looks like I can kiss business class good-bye. Now that I'm retired I use cheap consolidator fares, and I'm not spending an extra $500 for a slightly wider seat and a better meal. I'll just suffer in coach and bring tasty snacks for the endless flight!

 

ATTENTION: According to the AAdvantage Desk, the new co-payments DO NOT apply to upgrade requests made before December 1, 2004. If you have purchased tickets already for travel after that date, you can still request upgrades for those trips without the co-payment. If you've got the miles, use them now! (Even if you're wait-listed for the upgrade, the co-payment doesn't apply if the upgrade comes through after December 1. You just have to be wait-listed BEFORE December 1.)

 

BTW, according to the announcement the co-payment only applies to "deeply discounted" tickets, not to all discounted fares. Before buying, ask the AAdvantage Desk which fare classes will require a co-payment. Write them down, then see if your travel agent can get you a fare that doesn't fall in one of those classes.

 

Needless to say, I've requested upgrades for my next two trips, for which I've already bought the tickets. After that, it's back to coach. . .

 

Something else to remember after December 1: If you connect within the U.S/Canada to the flight to South America (for example, SFO/MIA/RIO) you can still use your AA electronic upgrades on the domestic leg. Frequent flying to South America can rack up those electronic upgrades, and you can buy more for cash. Half a trip in business is better than none, especially if you want a decent meal on the way when you have a tight connection in MIA/DFW/JFK.

[paulsf]

Move over Tri, that will be me sitting next to you in coach.

While I have already locked my upgrades in for Carnival in February, I will be stuck in coach most of the time now also. If you can get center seating with nobody next to you, its somewhat tolerable.

Bottle of water and a box of cookies helps.