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How To Get Free Checked Bags And Priority Boarding On American Airlines

a hand measuring a suitcase

Airlines continue to add fees to the price of your airline ticket. Navigating that maze of fees can be cumbersome even for experienced travelers.  Just like you spend time searching for the cheapest tickets, finding ways to avoid extra fees is the “new normal”.

If you’ve got any travel scheduled in the near future there’s a way to get elite status on American Airlines for a few months. These types of offers don’t usually hang around a long time, so I wouldn’t wait to jump on this.

Airberlin is offering 4 months of their Silver status, which will earn you oneworld Ruby status.  The page is in German, but you can use Google Chrome to translate it for you.

Free Checked Bags

You don’t need to have status with another airline in order for them to give you status.

This was posted on Australian Frequent Flyer.  I saw it mentioned on View From The Wing.

When flying on American Airlines you’ll get:

  • 1 free checked bag
  • Priority check-in and boarding
  • Preferred seats

Worth It

These are the sort of benefits you can earn by carrying one of the American Airlines co-branded credit cards. I recommend those cards for people who travel more than once or twice a year.

But, for very occasional travelers (or folks who carry another airline’s credit card), this is a perfect opportunity to score these benefits free for 4 months.

This promotion is set to expire on November 30th, but it’s getting a lot of publicity now. So, better to jump on this now before it potentially goes away early.

The post How To Get Free Checked Bags And Priority Boarding On American Airlines was published first on Pizza in Motion

11 Comments

  1. So how would it work? Do I need to book on Air Berlin’s site? I have an upcoming on AA. Do I need to rebook to get those perks?

    1. Angie, you wouldn’t need to book on airberlin’s site to get the benefits, but you would need to have your airberlin number referenced in the record. Do you have status now with American? I assume no. If you apply for (and receive) the airberlin status, plug that into your existing AA flight record to get the benefits. You can do this online or by calling reservations. If you still want to earn AAdvantage miles for your flight, AFTER you check-in and get your free checked bag and boarding pass, ask a gate agent to change your record to reflect your AAdvantage #. This isn’t foolproof but works most of the time.

  2. So how would it work? Do I need to book on Air Berlin’s site? I have an upcoming on AA. Do I need to rebook to get those perks?

    1. Angie, you wouldn’t need to book on airberlin’s site to get the benefits, but you would need to have your airberlin number referenced in the record. Do you have status now with American? I assume no. If you apply for (and receive) the airberlin status, plug that into your existing AA flight record to get the benefits. You can do this online or by calling reservations. If you still want to earn AAdvantage miles for your flight, AFTER you check-in and get your free checked bag and boarding pass, ask a gate agent to change your record to reflect your AAdvantage #. This isn’t foolproof but works most of the time.

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