Those of you that fly American Airlines often will know that they’ve long had a “Gourmet Snack Mix” comprised of mostly pretzels, with a few other crunchy things thrown in (picture courtesy of I Love Charts):

On a recent American Airlines flight, however, I was presented with a bag of Mixed Nuts:

I was ecstatic!  Not being a pretzel fan, I would always pass on the snack mix… but on shorter flights where there are no warm nut ramekins, I finally had an option.  As it turns out, this is a very, very limited catering option and isn’t on most flights.  The FA’s, however, thought it had better uptake and encouraged me to blog about it and have folks send notes to Customer Relations requesting the Mixed Nuts more often.

What’s your preference?  The “Gourmet Snack Mix” which is mostly pretzels?  Mixed nuts (whether packaged or warmed)?  Nothing?  Something else?  Comment below… and if you want mixed nuts in place of snack mix, email Customer Relations!

It’s the end of January… time for a status update.

First a reflection of how last year ended up:

As for this year?

My EQM should be at 31,178, but the latest sweep of the DEQM promos haven’t hit yet.  Edit: As of 2/1, my last DEQM bonus has posted so my EQM are now correct at 31.178!  This means I’m already qualified at the AAdvantage Gold level, and I’m more than halfway to AAdvantage Platinum.

I’m already looking at another 24 domestic short-haul/mid-con segments next month and a trans-atlantic trip that by itself will net 10,875 EQM in March for an approximate total of 53 segments and 60,000 EQM by Spring Break, give or take a few flights (and without any additional AA promos for EQM).

Million Miler balance?  682,511.

SPG?

I’ve had several chances to post about bad experiences with both Delta and United, and in the comments of those stories, someone asked if I’d post the same should I experience bad service on American Airlines.  Well, Friday the 27th was that day.

It started in San Jose, probably American’s worst slew of gate agents as a group (even worse than Miami, which says a lot, but it’s really only a few bad apples in Miami, which is a large hub  for AA – San Jose agents are arguably the worst about actually following proper procedures and responding with a customer service attitude).  I’ll put up another post about my quibbles with handling the upgrade list, but the GA knowingly altered the boarding order, even telling another agent she was going to do it differently.  She then proceeded to board First Class (only), followed by Executive Platinum and Platinum.  You can only imagine the rush, as one of the benefits of Executive Platinum is priority boarding with the First Class passengers, so that if you’re an EXP in coach you get first dibs on overhead space.  Several EXP’s naturally tried boarding with First, only to be told “no, we’re doing it different, we’re not boarding you yet.”  BAD experience.

The flight crew (both cockpit and cabin) for that flight, however, were excellent (as usual).  They even handled a catering screwup apologetically, and comped snack items for passengers who were inconvenienced.  In this case, the flight left at 3:50 PM PST and got into Dallas around 9:00 CST, so a “dinner” flight over three hours, which means catering should have loaded sandwiches for purchase (or, for EXP’s, for free – which this flight crew knew about and got right).  That didn’t happen (or not enough were loaded) so they were out of “real” food for sale, leaving only a couple tubes of chips and no snack trays.  Needless to say, passengers were not happy… but the FA’s don’t control what catering loads, and they really did try to accommodate people and/or comp what little was left in terms of drinks, etc.  Very professional.

Getting to Dallas, however, it was back to horrible gate agents.  In fact, in Dallas, I met someone who is arguably the worst gate agent AA has.  Meet Lottie, the GA working the Dallas – Austin flight.  I walked up for the flight (my originally booked flight, but changed due to my standby on the SJC-DFW flight) with the DOOR STILL OPEN.  Lottie, looking at me AT THE DESK (not just walking up), says nothing, but goes to close the door and close out the flight.  I mentioned that I was originally booked on the flight and asked about standby, and immediately she starts demeaning me, stating “I’ve been making final call for minutes now, and you didn’t board!”  ”Well, considering I just came off the SkyTrain escalator and walked up, it’s probably because my connecting flight just arrived.”  ”Well I was calling and you weren’t’ here and I’m not putting you on the flight.”  ”But I’m here, and the door is open.  Why not walk me down with you?”  ”I’m not doing that.  The flight is closed,” as she closes the door.

Absolutely poor customer service, and from my point of experience, a horrible attitude.  When I asked for her employee ID to file a complaint with CR, she refused, stating she didn’t have to give me that.  Just like I’ve done with TSA personnel who refused to provide identification in Charlotte, I took her picture.  So, here it is.

If you see Lottie, my advice is to simply walk away.  Based on my interactions with her, you’re not likely to have a pleasant interaction, and she’s not likely to care about customer service in any form or fashion.  As AA ponders downsizing the workforce, this is one GA that would definitely get my vote for someone to be replaced with a self-service kiosk and automated boarding gates – it’d certainly be more pleasant and efficient.

Note: For those of you that think this is going too far, Lottie works in a public position and has no expectation of privacy with regards to her work situation.  I’m not posting any other information that someone walking through the airport couldn’t see.  I’m simply posting my experience with her and using her as an example of an employee who, in my experience, does not live up to the expectation I have for customer service with American.

And did I email CR?  No.  It’s honestly not worth the hassle.  I’ll get a form-letter response that may or may not be on target with my complaint, and I’ll have to respond a few more times until anyone notices.  Another aspect of American’s customer service that needs significant improvement.

I received an email today from United letting me know that I could preview my 2012 MileagePlus program status (United recently extended current benefits through March, so the new program status starts then).  Having received both my UA Premier Exec (1P) and Continental Platinum through a corporate status match, but not having flown any significant miles on United or Continental this year, I was unsure how long the match would last.  Typically a match lasts through the end of the current year and all of the next, but that can depend on several factors.

I was pleased to log in find the following as my status:

Having moved to a four-tier elite status system, Premier Platinum is the second highest tier in the new United system (not counting Global Services, a revenue based tier much like American’s Concierge Key offering).  Significant benefits are 75% bonus miles on all flights (compared to 100% for both Platinum and Executive Platinum on American), StarAlliance Gold status, unlimited domestic upgrades (as available, clearing at 72 hours before flight), priority boarding, access to Economy+ seats at booking, free same day standby and free checked bags.  An interesting differentiator for United is that for Platinum and 1K members they refund the Global Entry program fee (a benefit I already get through American Express).

All in all, not something I’ll try to use (I’m actively avoiding both United and Delta due to poor customer service issues), but something nice to have in my back pocket for at least one more year.

Did you get your expected status in the post-merger United program?  How do the new status tiers work for you?

Friday evening.  I’m coming home to Austin from Oklahoma City after a three-cities-in-four-days road trip.  I just wanted to get home.  Unfortunately I was scheduled on the last flight of the night… an hour and a half later.  As I exited the plane from OKC at DFW Airport I looked around for the monitors to see where my late flight home was, only to notice a flight at the next gate boarding for Austin!  Jackpot!

I went over to the gate and asked if there was room for standby.  The GA replied “are you executive platinum?”  I answered “yes!” and she promptly produced a boarding card for the last seat on the plane – 30E.  This was a new 737-800 with the Sky interior, but 30E was the middle seat in the very last row.

The trade-off?  I had a confirmed upgrade on the MD-80 that was the last flight out.  On a DFW-AUS flight leaving an hour early?  I’d gladly give up that upgrade to get my time back and get home at a more reasonable time.

Me?  Executive Platinum.  My seat?  Middle seat, last row.  The perk?  Same day standby and priority on the standby list (even more so as a connecting passenger – the only thing that would have trumped me is a disrupted passenger).

It’s funny how the perks trade off – upgrades ahead of time vs. great standby availability if you’re willing to ride in the back.  I know the tagline for the blog is “I’d rather sit up front,” but sometimes, I’d rather just get home again.

What about you?  Will you stick out a longer layover just for the more comfortable seat up front?  Or can time trump comfort and make a middle seat in the last row the best thing on the planet?

Several weeks ago I wrote a post that discussed “triple upgrades” we were able to secure on a trip back from Denver.  In a footnote to that post, I made mention to not being able to sign up for these upgrades at the time of ticketing, but didn’t explain why.  Now, after talking with American Airlines, I can explain why we couldn’t apply for upgrades at ticketing, and what should have happened.

The tickets in question were DynamicAir awards tickets – American’s “floating cost” redemption program that bases the number of miles needed on the fare of the ticket.  Unlike traditional award tickets which book into “T” class for Economy tickets, DynamicAir tickets typically book into “Q” class, which is a revenue fare bucket (meaning that you can often purchase “Q” class tickets).  ”Q” class, at least in a purchased fare, is an upgradeable fare – using miles+copy, stickers, eVIP’s/SWU’s or EXP unlimited domestic upgrades.  DynamicAir awards, however, were listed as not upgradeable… at least on their web page.  Another note: while you earn miles on purchased “Q” fares, DynamicAir “Q” fares aren’t supposed to earn miles, either.  I wasn’t quite sure how American Airlines was going to differentiate “Q” fares in their system to prevent mileage accrual and upgrades… considering a fare class is a fare class is a fare class.

Fast forward to Denver.  We’re at the airport, at the gate.  There’s room on the flight in First class per ExpertFlyer.  There’s a crowd at the gate, but nobody on the upgrade list (holiday travelers, often without status).  So, holding a “Q” class ticket, I ask about being added to the upgrade list (technically, my wife and I both were added since we both had tickets and status, and my daughter added as my companion).  I figured that if they were real “Q” tickets it would work – if they weren’t supposed to be upgradeable, it wouldn’t work.  It worked!  Not only did we get the upgrades (twice! in Denver and Dallas!) but miles for these trips posted into our respective accounts.

Now the quandary.  Was this a fluke or were these types of award tickets actually meant to be upgradeable, and the web site was just wrong?  If so, that would certainly have been an incredible perk for DynamicAir redemptions – they redeemed into revenue fare classes that were upgradeable and actually earned miles (offsetting the initial mileage “cost”).  If a fluke, I certainly couldn’t blog about it and be responsible for promulgating either false information or a massive loophole that could have significant unintended consequences.  So I asked a few trusted friends and advisors and decided to simply say nothing pending further investigation.

Yesterday, I got a call from the AA Executive Relations office… and it went to voicemail (strangely, it came in as “Unknown” on my cell phone).  I called them back when they opened this morning and got the scoop – it was, in fact, a fluke.  While DynamicAir awards are, in fact, issued in “Q” class, there is an internal audit trail applied to the tickets (I won’t discuss that here – not that I’ve been asked not to, but I don’t see it as pertinent to the expected use).  More than that, the audit group is actively auditing these redemptions, looking for exceptions like happened here (assumably to track the effectiveness of training for gate agents, etc. on recognizing these award tickets).

So, the summary: DynamicAir awards are not intended to be upgradeable, nor are you intended to earn miles on them.  They are, exactly as described on the site, “plain” award tickets.

A final note?  American certainly couldn’t undo the already-flown upgrades (though they could have easily demanded an equivalent redemption of 500-mile certificates, etc.) and never asked for reimbursement.  Additionally, they graciously allowed us to keep the miles earned (a small fraction of what we paid in miles for the tickets), chalking it up to their error in allowing it, and in watching the tickets post to our accounts (which we had absolutely no control or influence over).  They could have simply said “we’re deducting the earned miles,” but they recognized that their internal procedures didn’t work as expected and were open and honest – in fact I was told the original reason they called was to make sure that when I made further DynamicAir redemptions in the future that my expectations weren’t set that the tickets were upgradeable/mileage earning.  Very gracious, very customer-friendly, and very open.

Kudos, AA, to the way you handled this… and I’ll be happy to help “beta test” any new schemes you come up with in the future!

While WiFi has always been an Admiral’s Club benefit, it’s been one that was restricted to members or certain customers traveling internationally, and has been accessed using scratch-off cards with codes, or using a member’s AAdvantage number.

I am pleased to report that every Admiral’s Club I’ve been in since the first of the year has the new AT&T WiFi in it, and it takes no code or authorization to use.  Access to the club = access to WiFi.

Way to go, AA!  From someone whose access comes via American Express Platinum, a heartfelt THANKS!

Coming back from Tokyo on JAL, our connection from SFO to AUS was on United.  That meant that we cleared customs an immigration in SFO, then continued to United’s domestic services.

The experience was HORRIBLE.  The first stop was the baggage transfer desk – someone met us at the door from baggage claim and customs and directed us to the desk.  We waited in line, got to the baggage agent and the attitude started as we were walking up.  ”Are you on the flight from Frankfurt?” she yelled as we approached (rather than waiting for us to get to the desk and simply asking in a normal tone).  ”No, Tokyo,” we replied.  ”You shouldn’t be here – I’m only doing Frankfurt,” she snippily replied.  When I explained that the man at the entrance directed us to her she point blank said “Nobody directed you here, nobody told you that.”  She might as well have called me a liar directly.  After more pointed back and forth, we simply decided she wasn’t interested in actually doing anything other than yelling about the flight to Frankfurt, so we walked away, headed for the United terminal (which is connected to International Arrivals, thankfully).

Walking up to a counter agent to check our one bag each (containing liquids more than 3oz – our whiskey from Japan), the agent initially said we’d have to pay for my wife’s bag since she didn’t have status.  Reminding her that I did, and that we were on the same PNR, she seemed startled, mumbled something and tagged our bags (still not getting it right, she only “Priority” tagged my bag – both should have been done).

I need to pause here to note the scope of the United attitude problem.

The couple on the left of us was working with their agent; after arriving from India they found that their domestic connection flight had a schedule change a month ago, with the connection leaving now before their incoming flight arrived.  They didn’t get the notice, and the ticket agent wouldn’t let that stand… “You must have received notice or else you wouldn’t have been rebooked, you did receive notice, there’s no way you didn’t get notified.”  I can only assume that their incoming international flight was on a different PNR, so United was unaware of the connection overlap… but it mattered not.  She was informing them that all the rest of the flights that day were overbooked and they were effectively hosed… but she was being direct, unapologetic, and displaying an attitude of “I’m not here to help you, I’m here to tell you you’re screwed.”  They were frustrated, to say the least.

The young man on the right of us was apparently caught in a United/Continental systems error.  He had a valid ticket receipt (and key, his ticket number!), but was being told the ticket didn’t exist in the system.  Insisting it did, he finally convinced them to provide a boarding pass.  They then told him he’d need to pay for his bags… at which point he showed them the same receipt with proof of pre-payment of baggage charges.  They insisted that since they couldn’t find it, he’d have to pay again and file for reimbursement with United.  He balked, stating he didn’t bring the money with him for the baggage fees and would have to go home, then, to get it.  Grabbing his bags and starting to turn to walk away, the United agents balked and said “Sir, we’ll do it this time, but it’s a one-time exception.”  Again, he was very frustrated.

The overall experience was that United agents weren’t there to help – they were there to be heavy hands and collect as many fees from as many people as they could.  Nobody smiled.  Customers weren’t trusted, be it that they were told to go to a desk and being called liars about it, or having a printed receipt with ticket number and having it suggested that they were attempting to use a fraudulent receipt to get on a flight, or being insinuated that they were stupid and liars for suggesting that United didn’t provide notification of a schedule change (note: the same thing happened to my sister with United – had it not been for me tracking her flight in my TripIt account, she’d never have known about a schedule change or a subsequent equipment change including loss of seat assignment).

At the end of the day, despite the things I can legitimately complain about with American, I can say that by and large the staff at American Airlines do have a customer-service mentality (the GA’s a Miami are a notable exception to this) and will attempt to resolve problems 9 times out of 10 – especially at the Executive Platinum level with the EXP Desk, and in the Admirals Clubs with the AAngels working the desk there.

Given a choice, I’ll pay for better service, and I’ve learned my lesson – a cheaper United flight isn’t worth the increased potential for hassle and unresolved problems.  I will definitely not be chasing renewal of status on United in any form or fashion this year… not that it was ever really a consideration anyway.

What have your experiences been comparatively between United and American?

My first two AA flights this year were the first part of a trip to San Francisco: AUS-DFW and DFW-SFO.  I got to Austin Bergstrom International Airport in time for the 6:00 AM fight to Dallas, scheduled in at 6:55, and a connection to SFO leaving at 7:45.  Not great, but not undoable at DFW.

Then things went south when the flight went mechanical – an MD-80, of course.  After sitting on the ground all night in Austin, something wasn’t working and a 10-minute maintenance delay turned into a 30+ minute delay.  Fortunately, loads were low enough that the re-accomodated us on the 6:40 flight, but it wasn’t due in until 7:45.  There went the SFO connection.

A quick call to the EXP desk (and use of the co-terminal rules) got me on a 9:15 AM flight to San Jose, which is closer to where I needed to be.  A rescheduled rental-car later and we were good to go.

So, the first flight of the year went mechanical and forced a misconnect, and the misconnect ended up in a voluntary reroute to another Bay Area airport.  The good side?  Both upgrades cleared, so I started the year 2/2.  Can’t argue with that…

Most of my mechanical delays are MD-80′s (one notable exception is a 767 that required a complete wheel assembly replacement due to brake failure on landing, but it was fixed at the gate in < 3 hours).  Has that been your experience, that MD-80′s are the most likely culprits for failure?

How has your flying year started?  Especially for those of you on mileage runs, have you encountered any difficulties?

Many of the often-overlooked benefits of elite status on an airline are the benefits conferred by that airline’s alliance.  For American Airlines, that’s the oneworld Alliance.  The statuses for American Airlines map as follows:

• AAdvantage Gold – oneworld Ruby
• AAdvantage Platinum – oneworld Sapphire
• AAdvantage Executive Platinum – oneworld Emerald

The biggest benefit, in my opinion, is reciprocal lounge access.  At the Sapphire and Emerald level, elite members on any oneworld airline have equivalent access at any oneworld lounge.  Simply put, there are two ways to get into the lounges when traveling internationally: by fare class (Business class or First class tickets) or by oneworld elite status (on any class of travel, including economy).

• Persons without elite status or oneworld Ruby members who are flying in Business class get access to any Oneworld carrier’s Business-Class lounge.
• Persons without elite status  or oneworld Ruby members who are flying in First class get access to any Oneworld carrier’s First-Class or Business-Class lounge.
• oneworld Sapphire members get access for themselves and a guest to any Oneworld carrier’s Business-Class lounge, even when flying Economy class.
• oneworld Emerald members get access for themselves and a guest to any Oneworld carrier’s First-Class lounge, even when flying Economy class.

Individual lounge policies may vary, as seen below from Cathay Pacific, who allows anyone traveling in First class to bring a guest into the lounge, so the oneworld rules only specify “minimum” access policies.  Specifically, from Cathay Pacific’s web site (as of this blog post):

And from Japan Airlines (JAL):

I should have booked the trip as two one-ways.  I should have booked it as just one way… but I digress.

We recently vacationed in Japan.  Doing so required a connection in SFO.  The flight BACK from SFO to AUS was significantly cheaper on United than American, and there were no MilesAAver awards or DynamicAir awards available, so spending 50K for a domestic round trip in coach was out of the question.  United it was – coming home Wednesday night and getting in the door at the house around 1AM on Thursday morning.

Then, after planning the vacation, I learned I needed to be in SFO for business on Thursday and Friday after our return.  A quick look and book out of habit, and I had a round trip from AUS to SFO and back (via DFW) on AA, leaving at 6AM on Thursday.

A few weeks later it hit me – I should have booked the trip as two one-ways so I’d have the flexibility of just staying over in SFO (abandoning my UA return on my vacation round trip from SFO back to AUS) so that I could abandon the AUS-SFO flight and still have an SFO-AUS flight back home.

As booked, however, since it was a round trip, if I didn’t make the AUS-SFO outbound, the SFO-AUS return would be canceled.

I should have booked it as two one-ways.  The price would have been the same (now days the airlines usually price domestic flights as the combination of flights included, so the same as the individual legs), but I’d have had significantly more flexibility in my travel plans.

Bottom line?  Two one ways is often the same price, but it offers the ability to cancel or change one leg without affecting the other.  Flexibility is key…