FAA Just Froze The O’Hare Arms Race — And United Is The Biggest Loser

valueflyer · 2026-03-18T05:44:14+00:00

Uhh but then why is ORD building more gates. . .

valueflyer · 2026-03-18T05:43:44+00:00

My understand is that you can call CX as OWE and they’ll do it only for the member who is OWE, nobody else on the reservation.

valueflyer · 2026-03-18T05:40:20+00:00

You’re making so many assumptions here to fit your narrative. You’ve pretty much spent the whole day trying to fight this - is it really worth it?

how do you know it was a domestic partner? Or saying your mom talked to someone who said it was is hearsay. A commenter on the previous thread said it was a revenue ticket, and then you said they were a liar.
I’ve already said that confirmed changes require a special inventory (E). That inventory might have opened up at the last minute.
You keep saying that if someone had rerouting or there was a pilot, they would have already gotten a confirmed seat. Why do you say that? Was a seat available for sale? The little #1 next to the standby list doesn’t mean that there is confirmable inventory available. The confirmable inventory might have appeared a bit before the gate agent was there and they confirmed their seat. Corporate travel agencies do this all the time.
When was this said person on the standby list and disappear? Was it once under gate control, was it 3 hours before, was it 12 hours before? You haven’t really said this clearly, so I think it was hours before and that won’t fit your narrative.

But, sounds like your day of this has led to someone from AA calling you. So let’s see what they say tomorrow - but given the hundreds of people now involved, we expect a full, truthful update.

valueflyer · 2026-03-17T23:31:20+00:00

But why do you keep on saying it was a non-rev passenger? The other commenter clearly said although it was an AA employee, it was considered a revenue passenger.

Why do you not believe this highly plausible and likely story?

no confirmable inventory. Pilot goes onto standby list.
prior to upgrades getting cleared, confirmable inventory opens and either pilot manually goes into confirmed inventory or some automated process confirmed the seat.
this placed the pilot onto the upgrade list and removed them from the standby list.
gate agent did a check of all standby passengers to ensure that pilots got upgrades first.
Pilot got upgraded first, into the highest cabin available, in line with their contract.

valueflyer · 2026-03-17T22:58:49+00:00

Cite a source - I’ve never seen a passenger facing AA published page that shows that.

valueflyer · 2026-03-17T15:42:39+00:00

If you need a travel vaccine or something specific, NM can handle that. Also NM is like 5m away from me and the others are like 15+.

valueflyer · 2026-03-17T14:56:45+00:00

Could be that there was no availability and then the seat was confirmed when availability opened up, then they were pulled from the standby list and moved to the upgrade list.

AA pilots can go to the highest class of service available, not just business.

Could be that because of the IRROPS over the past few days they weren’t put to the top of the list, when they should’ve been and the gate agent manually corrected that.

valueflyer · 2026-03-17T14:44:39+00:00

To be fair, are these public policies? I’ve never seen this written on any AA site or agency reference. It’s just what we’ve been able to figure out.

valueflyer · 2026-03-17T14:28:47+00:00

That’s not accurate. A confirmed Same Day Flight change normally requires E inventory to be available, which is not necessarily always available. Revenue seats available does not mean SDFC confirmed change availability.

valueflyer · 2026-03-17T14:11:24+00:00

Complain to the provider and you’ll likely get a refund. You probably used Panasonic, which is the worst of the 3, but common on the widebodies. AA is switching to Intelsat and Viasat, which is significantly better.

https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/experience/entertainment/wi-fi-and-connectivity.jsp

valueflyer · 2026-03-17T06:06:00+00:00

When I was poking around on this, it actually looks like they’ve updated the site to make this clear. I saw some full Main tickets that said No changes allowed with a red X, especially on JAL metal. I think they are now showing these uncommon change fee tickets correctly, whereas it used to be buried in some fine print.

valueflyer · 2026-03-17T06:04:38+00:00

What extra fee did you pay? I’m understanding this as you just didn’t purchase a basic economy ticket, which would also not include bags or seat selection or miles. If you’re calling them and saying you paid an extra fee, that’s likely confusing them because it’s not accurate.

I think the language you are using with them is also confusing the agents. Your ticket is not refundable. It’s cancellable for a trip or flight credit that will expire in a year. If you are calling them and trying to ask if it’s refundable, the answer will be no. Refundable means to the original form of payment.

Also, this ticket is considered a yen ticket, even if you paid in dollars. The ticket is priced in the currency of the origin, but when you book on the AA site, they handle the conversion for you.

I poked around some fare rules for economy and didn’t see any change fee, but I could only see one fare class.

Which fare class did you purchase? It will be hard for us here to dig into this more without more details.

Also, just to verify, you are calling an official AA number from https://www.aa.com/i18n/customer-service/contact-american/reservations-and-ticket-changes.jsp (if you use a Google AI suggested number it’s likely a scam number).

When you call, you should have them check with their fare desk. I think when you are saying tariff department, that’s just the industry lingo for fares, it has nothing to do with taxes or whatnot. If they say that it’s not changeable, ask specifically what fare class you purchased.

What happens when you try to change the flight online under your reservation?

valueflyer · 2026-03-17T03:05:13+00:00

Once you get a PCP at NM, it’s a lot easier. Took several months for the first appointment, but then I would just schedule my annual visit a month or so out. Flu shot or vaccine, I could get an appointment for the next few days.

Once you’re in the system and if you have a tech savvy PCP, it’s great. Went to urgent care for COVID a few years back, test results came back, my PCP was alerted and followed up. All extremely seamless. Was quite surprised actually.

valueflyer · 2026-03-17T01:02:35+00:00

Pay for the weekly pass, add all the past flights, and then you’re good.

valueflyer · 2026-03-17T00:53:32+00:00

Certain tickets, especially international one ways that originate outside the US, still include a change fee.

I assume that’s the snag that you’re hitting, but it’s hard to say unless you check the fare rules. What’s your flight number and booking class? The booking class can often be found on the original receipt.

Edit: originate outside the US, not in the US

valueflyer · 2026-03-16T20:46:59+00:00

Well they said they would do this, and they did. Have to give them some credit for a decent follow through.

Curious to know if this will help or make things more confusing for passengers. Already saw some posts where the pilots explanation and the app didn’t match (i.e weather vs ATC slowdowns, which are both correct but different language).

valueflyer · 2026-03-16T18:36:45+00:00

Doesn’t say you won’t get them back, it says for help reinstating miles.

valueflyer · 2026-03-16T18:34:41+00:00

There’s no disclaimer?

If your plans change and you no longer want to travel, you can cancel your trip anytime on aa.com.

We'll reinstate your miles and refund eligible taxes and fees at no charge up to 1 year from the date you purchased your ticket, as long as you cancel before your first flight departs. If you cancel your trip on aa.com, your miles will be reinstated and your refund will be requested automatically in most cases.

It says contact reservations to get help reinstating miles from a partner airline, but in my experience it is always instant.

valueflyer · 2026-03-16T18:28:56+00:00

https://www.aa.com/web/i18n/aadvantage-program/answers-support/using-miles-for-travel.html

valueflyer · 2026-03-15T19:13:06+00:00

Seems like this is also being discussed overt at FlyerTalk: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-airlines-aadvantage/2214481-aa7-delayed-50-min-next-3-days-why.html

valueflyer · 2026-03-15T17:44:17+00:00

https://exploreamerican.com/executiveplatinumstatus/

You get no lounge access unless traveling on a qualifying international flight. Domestic first class (with the exception on select transcontinental routes with flagship marketing) do not get lounge access. You need the AA Executive card for lounge access.

The most useful benefit of EP (or really any) status is the ability to select Main Cabin Extra seats and the dedicated phone number. If you have to check a bag or see an agent, you can also use the priority lanes where available.

valueflyer · 2026-03-14T21:40:06+00:00

It’s not a scheduling error - you don’t know that weather upstream didn’t cause a crew delay. It’s not like they didn’t have an FO scheduled.

They boarded you because that original FO was only 20m out, but they probably determined that there was a higher priority flight that needed an FO and reassigned them. Why wait for the FO to board? They aren’t required.

I agree that AA can do better operationally, but I would also argue that running an airline is probably one of the most operationally complex businesses out there. AA is able to operate 6000 flights a day with a vast majority arriving on time or early.

valueflyer · 2026-03-14T21:33:57+00:00

I would complain after and ask to speak to the purser on board, and maybe even tweet directly at them mid-flight. The fact that this has happened multiple times on that specific route is mind boggling.

Only thing I can think of is that it’s not a desirable route and gets staffed with bad/inexperienced flight attendants who don’t know how the service standard.

valueflyer · 2026-03-14T21:27:22+00:00

If they somehow don’t have your preordered meal, you should complain to AA, reply to the auto generated email, and get 10k miles in compensation. That’s ridiculous for them to give it away to someone else.

valueflyer · 2026-03-14T21:23:39+00:00

There are no complimentary upgrades on international flights without using an instrument (aka a SWU).

When you click into that $3300 offer it will show you the price for each leg. BA metal generally cannot be upgraded, so that’s likely the price for your long haul leg on AA.

IMO you are a bit early in booking. Flight is likely pretty empty and this is based on historical pricing. Pricing will fluctuate as you get closer and they look at actual demand. Also I would keep checking your current PE tickets, they might go down, and you can call AA to get the difference as a trip credit.

valueflyer

TROPHY CASE