Posts Tagged ‘Upgrade’
Miami, FL – Dallas, TX | AA 395 | 4D
December 9, 2010Miami, FL – Bogota, Colombia | AA 913 | 3A
November 30, 2010Nothing like making a traditional holiday as untraditional as possible. This trip is a rescheduled trip from August 2010 that I had planned to take to Bogota to see friends and co-workers. I learned a few new “airline rules” on this rebooking for my Thanksgiving day flight. If you have ever used a co-pay with miles to upgrade, you might find it helpful to know the rules around the upgrade. When I cancelled the original travel (August 2010), American told me that I had a few options regarding my $150 co-pay and 15,000 miles that I used to upgrade the first portion of my flight. I could leave the “upgrade” unused for up to one year from the original date of my flight and then rebook the flight with an upgrade for no additional fees. The upgrade was a “free standing purchase” that can be moved to another reservations within the same upgrade region. This means that I could rebook to Colombia (or any other destination in the same upgrade category, like Venezuela) and use the upgrade on one of those flight segments. The other option is to forgo the $150 and have the miles added back to my account. Knowing that I would get to Colombia, I decided to leave this on account for a future booking.
My Thanksgiving morning flight was on-time with little traffic and congestion at the Miami International Airport. A few things have changed in that the “Flagship Lounge” and the E Concourse Admirals Club which were both closed. In late 2011, the new Flagship Lounge will open in Concourse E. This was a disappointment in that my flight left from gate E8. I figured this to not be an issue since I didn’t have a long wait and I can have endless mimosas on the plane. Well, not so fast…they were out of champagne after one mimosa. How can this be on a 767 with over 20 business class seats? I guess that a lot of people were giving “Thanks” with champagne or American understocked the galley. White wine had to play substitute but it wasn’t the same.
Back to the topic at hand. The flight left on time, arrived on time, and it was a remarkably smooth flight given the rain in the region. After a quick immigration process, it was time for yoga and then dinner in beautiful Bogota.
Cheers Randy