Is American excluding AAdvantage Platinum members from Same Day Standby?
(Update: American is looking into this to confirm whether or not it’s just a mistake.) Now this is odd….and hopefully it’s just a mistake, but American seems to be excluding AAdvantage Platinum members from Same Day Standby on flights to and from the Caribbean.
Passengers with AAdvantage Executive Platinum or AAdvantage Gold status can still standby, but the fare rules omit Platinums.
Here’s an example from a fare rule for a DFW to SJU flight:
A. AADVANTAGE EXECUTIVE PLATINUM/ GOLD PASSENGERS AND THEIR ONEWORLD EQUIVALENTS AND AA CONCIERGE KEY AND AAIRPASS MEMBERS TICKETED WITH ANY FARE MAY STANDBY WITHOUT CHARGE AS NOTED BELOW.
The Flight Deal tracks fares and fare rules all the time, and they’re the ones that discovered it. For the full story, go here to read their post.
Photo: Question Mark Graffiti
Credit: Bilal Kamoon on Flickr
The general rule is here and includes Platinums.
http://www.aa.com/i18n/utility/standbyExemptionsList.jsp
The fare rules are using one word only to describe status level
Executive (Platinum)
Platinum
Gold
All they are doing is leaving out the Platinum after Executive, so you think when they say Platinum it’s the second word in the top tier status level and it’s actually meant to refer to the mid-tier level.
@ Gary – Thanks for the comment. I hope you’re right (and it would be odd for AA to exclude PLT) but one of the reasons that The Flight Deal thought this might be deliberate is that the fare rules are quite different from the typical language that accompanies a domestic fare rule. Here’s a sample from a DFW to ORD flight:
It wouldn’t make any sense for them to exclude PLT, so I think you’re probably right and it is just a case of a missing slash, but I’ve reached out to AA to ask them for some clarification. Again, thanks for comment.
Platinum has all the right for gold member!