From Wikitravel

This article is a travel topic.

American Airlines [1] is one of the largest airlines in the United States and a founding member of the Oneworld airline alliance. It is the predominant carrier between North America and Latin America and has flights from the US to Western Europe, China, India and Japan.

[edit] Key airports

• Dallas/Fort Worth (IATA: DFW) is AA's official headquarters and largest hub, with flights to destinations throughout the AA network. Although most of DFW's passengers are connecting, the airport was designed to be most convenient for locals: gates are very close to ticketing and baggage claim, but very far from each other. Fortunately, DFW has a new, fast and clean people mover system which makes two stops in each terminal. The international terminal (Terminal D) is the newest terminal in the airport, while the other terminals are of late-1970s vintage and have had spotty makeovers over the years.
• Chicago (IATA: ORD) is also an important hub for AA, handling flights across the US and to Europe and Asia. It is particularly susceptible to delays and cancellations in the winter, which can be good if you don't mind getting bumped and compensated, but can be bad if you're flying on a time-sensitive schedule. However, Chicago is the only AA station with service to Beijing, India (Delhi) and many European destinations.
• Miami (IATA: MIA) is AA's main north-south hub: if you're headed to Latin America, you will probably transit through either Miami or DFW. AA's terminal at MIA has been under construction for several years, so you may be in a brand-new part (concourse A and much of concourse D) or a very old part (concourse C, E and part of concourse D). Check-in, security, customs and immigration at MIA tend to be a hassle, so plan ahead and allot yourself extra time when departing or connecting through the airport. It is also a major connection point
• New York City (IATA: NYC metropolitan/all airports[2][3]) is a major market for AA, with three airports all serviced by American.
  • The main airport, John F Kennedy International (IATA: JFK) handles a number of transatlantic connections, as well as transpacific connections through Tokyo-Narita. It's also the major east coast connection point to OneWorld partner airlines for both transatlantic and transpacific service. The brand new terminal 8 is fully functional and now handling all of AA's traffic.
  • LaGuardia (IATA: LGA) is closer in to Manhattan by cab, and has both incoming flights from the DFW and ORD hubs as well as acting as a local hub for some short-haul regional flights in the northeast.
• St. Louis (IATA: STL) became an AA hub following its merger with TWA in 2001. STL's significance in the route network has diminished since then, and if you connect there nowadays, you are most likely flying on one or more regional jets en route. This hub will close in 2010.
• San Juan (IATA: SJU) is a smaller hub which handles much of AA's traffic in the Caribbean.
• Los Angeles (IATA: LAX) is a major focus city on the west coast; most flights to smaller west-coast destinations not large enough to be served directly out of Dallas or Chicago will connect through Los Angeles. Also, there is transatlantic service to London, transpacific service to Tokyo and Shanghai, and it is a major connection point to transpacific service on OneWorld partners JAL, Cathay Pacific, Qantas; transatlantic service on British Airways, and LAN to South America.
• San Francisco (IATA: SFO) is not a hub for American; however, it is a major connecting point to transpacific service on OneWorld partners JAL, Cathay Pacific, Qantas and also has transatlantic service on British Airways and South America service on LAN.

[edit] Aircraft

• Boeing 777s are used on all transpacific routes, flights to London, Frankfurt, Madrid, and on flights to South America, such as Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo. Domestic routes include Chicago-Dallas-Forth Worth and Los angeles-Miami. These are the only three-class aircraft in AA's fleet (besides the handful of 767-200's described below). All of the Boeing 777 aircraft are equiped with the "Flagship Suites," for First Class seating. These are enclosed seats that offer a fully-flat bed, personal on-demand video enterntainment, lots of privacy and large workspace. "Flagship Suites" are similar to the first class suites on British Airways and many Asian carriers. Business Class features angled-lie flat "Next-Generation Business Class" (NGBC) seats, which are nearly identical to those found on found on the AA Boeing 767's. All seats come with personal on-demand video as well as a large work table.
• Boeing 767-300s [4] are used on many long-range routes to Europe and South America. They are two-class aircraft. Business class comes with lie-flat NGBC seats, and video on demand, coach just has overhead video screens.
• Boeing 757s [5] are used on many medium to long-range routes, particularly to and from Miami and the Northeast and Central America, and for a handful of transatlantic flights as well. They have overhead televisions but no personal video. These aircraft are currently being updated with new interiors, featuring LCD screens and new seats. Aircraft operating transatlantic routes have been converted so that business class comes with lie-flat NGBC seats, and video on demand, coach just has overhead video screens.
• McDonnell Douglas MD-80s [6] are the mainstay of AA's medium-range fleet, and you are exceedingly likely to board one (or two) if you are connecting in Dallas or Chicago. Economy class on the MD-80 is the most spacious economy in the AA fleet, with an extra inch of seat pitch and width in comparison to most other AA aircraft. Seating is five-abreast (2-3), meaning you are less likely to get a middle seat. First class on an MD-80 features large, reclining seats. However, there is no in-flight entertainment on the MD-80s. Because the engines are at the back of the aircraft, first class is very quiet and the back rows are very loud.
• Boeing 737s [7] are used on some short and medium range flights. These aircraft have overhead video screens and feature similar First Class seats to those in the MD-80's.
• Boeing 767-200s [8] provide three-class service on flights from JFK to Los Angeles and San Francisco as well as JFK-Miami. These have a much older first class cabin than other AA planes, although it is quite comfortable. First Class is currently being updated with new fully-flat seats.
• American Eagle, which operates AA's feeder flights, mainly uses single-class Embraer regional jets, along with some Canadair regional jets (CRJ-700), and a handful of tiny Saab 340s and ATR's based mainly in Miami

[edit] Frequent flyer program

AA's frequent flyer program is called AAdvantage.

[edit] Earning miles

AAdvantage members earn miles on all Oneworld carriers (although in some cases, only in limited fare codes), as well as, Air Pacific (Fiji), Air Tahiti Nui, Alaska Airlines, El Al, Gulf Air, Gol (Brazil), Hawaiian Airlines, Jet Airways, and select routes on JetBlue. For the current list of Advantage Mileage Earning Airlines refer to here: [9]

As of late 2010 (with anti-trust approval earlier in the year and the first major changes effective 10/1), beyond the OneWorld membership, American Airlines is part of a new Joint Business Arrangement with British Airways and Iberia, including increased numbers of code-share flights and cooperation on transatlantic flights (including a removal of the prior rule of no mile-earning on transatlantic BA flights.)

A similar agreement with Japan Airlines on transpacific flights went into effect April 2011.

[edit] Redeeming miles

American has two basic types of its own award tickets: MileSAAver, which is subject to blackout dates and capacity restrictions, and AAnytime, which is not subject to blackout dates or capacity restrictions.

AAnytime tickets generally cost twice as many miles as MileSAAver tickets. Some international markets have "peak" and "off-peak" mile costs for economy class travel which skew this basic formula slightly.[10]

AAdvantage miles can also be redeemed for point-to-point "All Partners" awards to a given destination (which can include a mix of AA and partner flights, including some which are non-Oneworld airlines) and also "Oneworld Awards" (which are based on the total number of miles flown and are useable for Round-the-World and other complex itineraries, and which are limited to Oneworld partners and have other restrictions.)

An informal Wall Street Journal study in 2007 concluded that American was one of the easiest US major airlines on which to redeem miles for free travel.

AAdvantage miles can also be redeemed for car rentals and hotel stays.

[edit] Elite status

AAdvantage elite status is determined by the number of miles or segments you fly on an AA, AA codeshare, Alaska Airlines or mile-earning Oneworld flight. You can also earn status based on your accrued elite qualifying points: you get 1 point per mile traveled on most discounted economy tickets, 1.5 points per mile on full-fare economy and premium class tickets, and 0.5 points per mile on deeply discounted economy tickets. The basic tiers are: [11]

• Gold (25,000 miles/points or 30 segments) - Oneworld Ruby
• Platinum (50,000 miles/points or 60 segments) - Oneworld Sapphire
• Executive Platinum (100,000 miles/points or 100 segments) - Oneworld Emerald

AAdvantage is unique among frequent flyer programs in its challenge program. A passenger can earn Gold or Platinum status by calling AAdvantage, asking to take the challenge, and then racking up a certain number of elite status points within a certain period of time. As of October 2007, 5,000 points in 3 months were required for the Gold challenge and 10,000 points for the Platinum challenge. [12] However, a passenger can only attempt a status challenge once; it is intended to bring new people into elite status, not as a method of retaining elite status. So while you can easily make Platinum with a single trans-pacific flight in economy class, you will have to follow that up with much more mileage in order to retain your status for more than a year. Also, AA recently began charging a fee for challenges - $50 for Gold; $200 for Platinum.

[edit] Lounges

AA's main lounge is called the Admirals Club. [13] Membership costs $500 for the first year and $450 each year thereafter; you can also buy membership with AAdvantage miles, and obtain discounts based on your AAdvantage elite status. There is a discount for a married couple joining/renewing at the same time.

Oneworld Sapphire and Emerald members can use Admirals Clubs when travelling on a Oneworld itinerary that day; AAdvantage Platinum and Executive Platinum members can only take advantage of this when traveling on a same day international itinerary.

American also has a special first class lounge, called the Flagship Lounge, in Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, London-Heathrow and most recently New York - Kennedy John F. Kennedy International Airport. Access to the Flagship Lounge is available if you are traveling in first class to/from Europe, Asia, Central America, South America or Mexico City, or if you are traveling in first class on certain coast-to-coast transcontinental flights (in the case of LAX or SFO), or if you are an Executive Platinum/Oneworld Emerald member and otherwise eligible to use the Admirals Club. For first class transcons, you must be booked in F or Z inventory, but this does include AAdvantage awards. For international 3-cabin flights, you must be in First Class, but it doesn't matter how you got there.

London Heathrow also has an Arrivals Lounge open to all arriving first and business class passengers. Economy passengers can also use the lounge by paying US$90 plus VAT at the door. The lounge has showers, drinks, gym equipment and a business center.

This is a usable article. It touches on all the major areas of the topic. An adventurous person could use this article, but please plunge forward and help it grow!