Which Oneworld partner program other than AAdvantage is useful for a US-based AA flyer with mostly US domestic travel? I asked myself this as I looked at my secondary earnings program and why I use it. For now, it’s Alaska, because I have to fly enough Delta and don’t want to be a SkyMiles/SkyTeam member. I also carry an Amex Platinum, which gets me lounge access on AA/AS/DL/US, so I’m not depending on status for that, either. Finally, the domestic benefits of AAdvantage – upgrades, in particular – make it well worth staying primary. My next goal is 1MM on American, and lifetime Gold status. That said, is there a case for Oneworld flyers in the US where AAdvantage be better supplemented with a partner’s program?

Let’s look at the OW members and their status programs (several have different earning programs such as JAL MileageBank), at a glance, and cut out any with significant restrictions (flight on native airline, reduced earnings, etc.):

BA/Iberia (IAG): Avios
(o) Uses Tier Points, based on fare/partner
(-) Requires 4 segments on BA/Iberia

S7: Priority
(-) 25% mileage credit on anything lower than Y/B fares
(-) Status earning (EQM/EQS) seems restricted to only S7 flights – partner flights are RDM only

Royal Jordanian: Royal Plus
(-) Requires at least 4 segments on RJ for Silver (Ruby), 8 for Gold (Sapphire)

airberlin: topbonus
(-) 25% mileage credit on deep-discount economy fares, 125-mile minimum earning

Finnair: Plus
(-) 25% EQM earning on deep-discount economy, 50% on W fares

LAN: Lanpass
(+) 100% EQM/EQS on all AA Economy fares
(-) Requires at least 4 segments on LAN

JAL: Fly On
(o) Uses points and miles
(-) Requires significant percentage of travel on JAL group airlines for status

That leaves Cathay Pacific and Qantas. Of the two, each has some different perks, depending on your approach:

Cathay Pacific: Marco Polo
(-) $50 fee to join Marco Polo unless you status match in or earn Silver without being a member
(+) 100% EQM/EQS on all AA Economy fares
(+) works on a rolling 12-month basis, resets EQS/EQM to 0 at each level change
(o) Status ladder would be:

• 30/20,000 to reach Silver
• reset
• 40/60,000 to reach Gold
• reset
• 80/120,000 to reach Diamond
• reset
• 80/120,000 to re-qualify as diamond (12 months from upgrade date)

Qantas: Frequent Flyer
(-) Uses status credits based on mileage distance of the flight
(+) All fare classes on AA flights qualify for full status credits
(+) Generous lifetime status program: 7,000 credits for Silver (Ruby) and 14,000 for Gold (Sapphire)

Are you a member of another Oneworld program, but a US-based domestic traveler? Are there benefits besides lounge access or lifetime status that I’m missing?

Just a quick post of a pic of ONE of the Arrival boards at Austin Bergstrom Int’l Airport when I got back from COS last night.

On this one board, 5 3 of 5 3 flights delayed from two different locations (ORD and DFW).  No weather or other delays in Austin… so the delays continue for AA.

Have you been impacted by delays?  Are you making any changes to travel plans because of it?

The view from COS airport:

My first flight from COS-DEN I met Charlie Hobaugh, Commander of STS 129, Atlantis.

While sitting in the United RCC, the retro-jet pulled up:

Got to the gate to find the overbooked DEN-AUS oversold and needing 3 volunteers. $400 voucher plus reroute was the offer, but the route/times I needed evaporated while the GA was checking and two other volunteers had no time restrictions, so I’m on my way home for the night. My wife will be happy, and it will be good to get HOMe.

Today is the day of group trip HOM for about 16 Milepoint members, many of whom are also BoardingArea bloggers. HOM is the “House of Miles,” the headquarters of the Frequent Flyer Foundation and “home” of Randy Petersen.

Randy extended and invitation for anyone to stop by, so in Milepoint fashion a group set up a “do,” a planned date/time event to visit. A group rate was set up for the DFW-COS trip and plans were made.

I’m coming from Austin, joining the group on the 9:05 flight to COS. My first leg, AUS-DFW, pushes back at 7:00, and it’s on a Boeing 737 with the new Sky interior, which is a nice start. I’m seated in 3E and ready to go!

A meetup at the Terminal C Admiral’s Club and we’ll be on our way.. check back here for updates as the day continues!

An interesting side note: I’m coming home on UA, as AA cancelled our COS-DFW home as part of their short-term schedule changes due to the ongoing labor action against them. See my prior posts for more on this…

The cabin crew from AA 1992, AUS-DFW:

Ryan Bingham’s autograph:

This FA deserves a tip: knowing the Glenlivet was loved, he pulled the two from the first flight to get two more. Apparently I’m the only one drinking Glenlivet this morning (at 10 am on this flight):

This post will be the live blog for the HOM Do today. Pictures and comments will be posted as they are taken! Check back often!

On arrival at COS, Randy surprised everyone – Porsche limo!:

The crew in the limo:

Old Cathay Pacific CyberTraveler ad:

The brunch spread at HOM:

Everyone enjoying breakfast:

House of Miles:

Randy at the beginning:

Randy’s belated birthday gift organized by Ryan and Perry:

Ryan Bingham and French fries:

Randy holding court:

All in all a great day. Thanks to Randy et al for hosting the group!

I had a very, very poor experience last night (the 20th) on AA 2941 from ORD-AUS.  Bad enough that the first thing I did when I came home was to file a complaint with the DOT and send a copy to AA.  I’ll start this post with that complaint:

On 9/20/2012, AA 2491 was involved in three issues related to ground safety and flight safety that may be related to an ongoing labor issue between American Airlines and its ground and flight crew(s) (see http://flapsdown.webs.com for more).

1) During pushback from Gate L1 at ORD, the plane was rotated 180 degrees the wrong way with its tail to the entrance of the alley. After a ground hold, the pilot announced that “the ground crew was unfamiliar with the MD-80 at this gate” and backed the plane out incorrectly, and that they were holding to discuss how to move the plane. At no time was the plane pulled back to the gate and backed out correctly, instead the plane was pushed backwards via tow the length of the alley, which required stopping vehicular traffic on the tarmac to ensure clearance (this activity was visible to passengers on the left side of the plane). Given that the MD-80 is not an uncommon aircraft and ORD is a hub airport for AA, this is not a rational excuse or course of action.

2) Upon approach at AUS on runway 17R (last tracked coordinates via FlightAware are 01:19AM 30.2219 -97.6592 with a heading of 180° South) the pilot landed at a point significantly enough down the runway that all high-speed turnoffs were missed, requiring a u-turn at the end of the runway and taxi back up the centerline of the active runway to an available turnoff.

3) Following turn-off, the pilot proceeded to taxi around the airport in what would appear, based on ground reference points visible through the windows and correlation with airport maps, to have been the longest possible taxi to the terminal, specifically avoiding shorter and more direct routes. This resulted in an increased delay in an already late flight.

I recommend review of the flight data and cockpit voice recordings of this flight to determine whether there is a competency issue with this flight crew that should require removal from the flight line or whether such landing was part of a coordinated labor action aimed at further delaying and disrupting flight operations and whether such activity constitutes a safety violation or violations.

The sites with more data:

• Operation Flaps Down
• FlightAware Track
• ABIA Airport Diagram

I’m not anti-union.  I’m most certainly not anti-AA.  I’m not against workers holding companies accountable for acceptable work conditions and contracts.  I am, however, against ass-hattery that puts the customer at a disservice.

This contrasts significantly with the flight I had from STL-ORD that evening.  In a post on Milepoint, here’s what I had to say:

Even better, the ground and maintenance crews can “support” their union brothers by working “to the rule” and proactively identifying maintenance issues… and having a backlog that prevents them being fixed.

I’ve seen this game played out before and it gets ugly. It’s time to find examples and fire them for cause – no severance, no pension, no benefits – and tell the rank and file that there’s one less person to lay off now. Petulance around a situation you helped cause must be nipped in the bud.

That said, I had one of the most professional flight crews I’ve ever had tonight on an STL-ORD flight. It’s these folks (and their professionalism) that these ass-clown compatriots are harming most because customers just see an AA uniform.

To all the caring, hard-working employees at American Airlines: your customers should not be in the middle.  We know you want to provide great service and take pride in your professionalism.  Please help us stand up against those who would call themselves your brother and sister employee yet engage in activity that not only harms the customer, but harms the customer’s perception of you and your service.

Respectfully,

Mike Reed

http://gettingstatus.com

Edit to add: Today, American Airlines sent out a note from Suzanne Rubin explaining that there were indeed system-wide service issues.  It’s been reported elsewhere, so I’ll just link to it here.

Although I’d been watching the increase in cancellations of American Airlines flights this week, none of them had hit me yet.  I’m currently in the middle of a two-city business trip with flights home on Thursday evening, so I’ve definitely had my ear to the ground (especially since my upgrade has already cleared on the longer leg of that trip).

Imagine my surprise this evening when one of my flights (two, actually) on Sunday were cancelled!  I didn’t get any notice from American Airlines, but I did get a notification from TripIt (Pro).  A quick call to the EXP desk confirmed that my flight back from Colorado Springs on Sunday was indeed cancelled, and that there were no other same-time-or-later flights through any other hub (ORD, LAX, etc).  My choices were fly back the next morning (very inconvenient, even with an AA-provided hotel stay) or fly back on another airline.

I’d successfully avoided any flights on United this year, but I guess it wasn’t to be.  I’m now flying back on United through Denver – both in Canadair jets (vs. the MD-80′s I’d have been on with American).  At least the DEN-AUS leg is a CRJ-700… and I still have Premier Platinum status on United from last year so I’ve grabbed Economy+ and will be on the upgrade list as soon as the flight actually tickets.

I’d love to write a rant about the bankruptcy, the pilots, the union… something.  I’d probably be well justified from a frustrated customer perspective.  In the end, though, American and their pilots have made their choices and now the customers are suffering at the hands of both groups.  Both are responsible.

My take?  It might be fun to think about firing the pilots, but if they really are using sick time to cause the cancellations, as long as they’re using a legally accrued benefit in a way that doesn’t violate AA policy and/or their contract, who am I to complain?  And while it might be fun to talk about penalizing management, is the loss of management talent that would be sure to happen actually help the situation?  One can argue either side, but poking the beehive just doesn’t seem like the right option.   Either way, the result still stings… this just stings less.

Have you been impacted by the delays and/or cancellations that have increased this week?

Note: Not that they (we) should be treated any differently, but this particular flight was part of a pre-planned group trip to the House of Miles in Colorado Springs.  Canceling the flight home for a large cadre of BoardingArea bloggers and/or Milepoint members wasn’t exactly the smartest move I’ve seen American make lately.  Given the number of Concierge Key and Executive Platinum members on the canceled flight there are a lot of folks who will be fighting for limited reaccommodations.  In fact, some have already had to either accept a drive to Denver  to fly out from there or overnight accommodation in COS as there were no more flights available on any airline out of Colorado Springs on Sunday.

Today’s a good day for a status update, primarily because I crossed the 75-night mark with Starwood Preferred Guest last night.  That means an additional Starpoint per dollar spent and access to Your24, the ability to check in at a chosen time and then check out 24 hours later (pending availability at each property).

As for airlines, here’s my current chase for status to date this year (including travel booked through 10/5/12):

American Airlines: 98,567 EQM and 96 EQS – I’ll re-qualify for Executive Platinum in October when I cross 100,000 EQM.  I’ve held off on this because I know the travel is there and I want to make sure I don’t over-commit to AAdvantage and miss re-qualifying as MVP Gold on Alaska (see next).

Alaska Airlines: 30,652 EQM and 48 EQS – I’ll re-qualify for MVP Gold at 60 segments, likely in either late October or early November – after I’ve put the EXP re-qualification in the bag.

Total: 129,219 elite-qualifying miles and 144 elite-qualifying segments

For Alaska, the next chase could be for MVP Gold 75K which requires 90 segments to achieve (30 more than MVP Gold) but awards an additional 50,000 bonus redeemable miles along with the status (and four Alaska Boardroom passes, but I don’t need those since I have Priority Pass via Amex Platinum).  In total that’s at least 80,000 redeemable miles for the effort: 50,000 bonus + minimum 1,000 redeemable miles per segment (500 minimum base + 500 bonus) x 30 segments.

Achieving MVPG 75K, though, represents an additional five two-city-in-one-week trips at six segments per trip in the last six weeks of the year (including two weeks of holidays).  I frankly don’t see that happening and I won’t be scheduling travel for the sake of travel to get to 75K (either personal travel or business travel) but it would be nice to hit… if only for the miles.  Although it might help occasionally with upgrades on Delta, I don’t find myself competing with Alaska elites for upgrades on Delta as much as I do Delta elites who always have priority over me anyway (as they should).

If I do end up traveling more than I expect and come close to MVPG 75K, economics start to come into play… how much it would cost in time and travel to cross the line and earn the 50,000 extra miles.

And lastly, some might ask why I bother with EXP if I contribute so much to Alaska?  Great question, and the answer falls within my flying pattern.  I typically credit longer flights to AA, where I can take advantage of EXP upgrades – flights like DFW-SJC/LAX/SFO, DFW-RDU, DFW-MIA/TPA, and even DFW-ORD.  I credit ALL of my Delta flights (primarily southeast travel through ATL or MEM) and quite a few of my short-haul AA flights to Alaska – flights where an exit row is just as good as a domestic first seat because as an EXP on AA they both come with a drink and a snack and both have decent legroom… flights like OKC/STL/MCI-DFW-AUS.

If you read my last post about the 100% bonus for buying US Airways Dividend Miles you’ll know I bought 50,000 miles and earned a bonus of 50,000 miles.  Knowing that would cover one ticket I started looking for a strategy for a second.  Well, it dropped in my lap this week – US Airways returned their 100% bonus promotion.  Buying miles at less than 2 cents per mile but being able to redeem them at a much higher rate is a given – IF you have plans to actually use the miles in the near term.  Miles are a horrible long term investment, though.

I pulled the trigger on the second set of miles yesterday, netting another 100,000 miles.  Where will we go?  The two tools needed to answer this question are the US Airways Star Alliance Partner Award Chart and the Star Alliance Route Map.  For the miles we’re looking at using, South America, Europe and Asia are all in play.  We’ve actually talked about South America, but we’re thinking of waiting for the 2016 Summer Olympics for that trip.  Back to Amsterdam for longer would be good, too… we enjoyed our short stay there and I’d love to visit the Hague and Rotterdam, as well.

Wherever it is, it’ll have to work around our Hawaii trip.  Maybe we’ll just take a winter trip to Zurich instead?

If you’ve ever wanted to have airline or hotel program icons in your signature on travel boards, the folks at Milepoint have just about every airline, alliance and hotel program in the world.

Mine?

• Alaska Airlines (MVP Gold) 
• American Airlines (Executive Platinum) 
• Starbucks (Gold)
• Global Entry 
• TSA Pre-Check 
• Kiva (Milepoint Team) 
• Milepoint Premium Membership 
• Hilton HHonors (Diamond)
• Starwood Preferred Guest (Platinum 75)
• Hyatt Gold Passport (Platinum) 
• BoardingArea Blogger  

Yours?