BOB999

I would book the flight you want (non-stop to BOS). If you end up cancelled they'll either put you on the DL non-stop flight or route you via JFK.

COPA has installed lie-flat seats on the 737 MAX aircraft. Keep in mind equipment swaps can happen and if you end up on a non-MAX then you will have the older recliner seats very similar to US Domestic first class. In fact I think they use the same seats that Continental used. As for the MAX itself, I have no issues. I've flown it more often lately than anything else.

Yes you can, just select your desired date of departure and the Flights by Celebrity website will show the selection of flights along with the price.

Mind you, the fare that is shown on the website is the blended average fare for 2 people, it's not like the first person is the price on the website and the second person is 75% off of that. So for example on a random cruise I pulled up, the Celebrity website shows $1,079 per person. In reality, when you go to book you see: Guest 1: $1,786 Guest 2: $371 So the total is $2,157 or an average of $1,079 per person.

At LAX Uber Black picks up on the arrivals level in any White Passenger Pickup which is on the outer island. The pillars are numbered and your driver may ask which pillar you are at. Unless you get lucky and get someone already in the loop it will take a little while for the Uber Black to arrive.

Welcome to Cruise Critic! While sometimes you can find a good deal booking a cruise at relatively last minute (e.g. less than a month or two prior to sailing), the booking avenue would be the cruise line website, telephone call center and/or a travel agent. Cruise lines by in large don't have sales offices at the port and the folks at the port (most don't even work directly for the cruise line) are there to check in reserved passengers as opposed to selling cruises.

Somewhat OT, but I know someone who was convinced he could get a great deal on a cruise by showing up at their Corporate Office (about a 10 minute drive). Needless to say he was handed a card with their toll free number.

Not all cruise airfare is bad. Many cruise lines allow you to pick your flights at time of booking, pay when final payment is due, get cheaper air and offer some protection on delays causing you to miss the ship. That being said, some offer what I refer to as "opaque air" where the cruise line chooses your flights with limited recourse if you don't like them. Of these, I've heard the most grumbling about NCL which appears to assign your flights 30-45 days prior and if you don't like them, then tough since their custom air closes 75-110 days prior to sailing. Perhaps you would have been lucky and gotten the non-stop flights both ways, but just as likely if not more likely to have to double-connect via the US or some other country.

TSA at JFK will allow access to other terminals with any valid JFK boarding pass. Given the Amex Lounge, Chase Lounge and other Priority Pass lounges are in T4, the TSA there is used to people doing this. I've done it myself. If you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, the associated Priority Pass can also be used at the Bobby Van's Steakhouse in T8 for a $28 per person credit.

I took the subject line "on AA" to mean an AA-AA connection, though BA-AA, IB-AA or AY-AA would have the same result.

At ORD, all non-Precleared international flights arrive at Terminal 5. So you would clear Immigration/Customs at T5 and have to take a train over to Terminal 3 for AA for your ongoing domestic flight. At JFK, AA flights all arrive/depart out of Terminal 8, so you wouldn't have to transfer terminals. Otherwise 6 in one, half dozen the other.

Checkin and luggage acceptance times vary by airline. Who are you flying?

FYI, Alaska Airlines will begin returning 737 MAX 9 aircraft into service on Friday following new inspections. https://news.alaskaair.com/alaska-airlines/operations/as-1282/

At this point, any Alaska Airlines mainline flight is a risk irrespective of the scheduled aircraft. With each day Alaska (and United) are choosing which flights they want to operate and which ones aren't. With the flights they choose to operate they swap in whatever aircraft they can (e.g. 737-900, -800, -700, -8MAX, etc). Using the OP's PDX-FLL flight as an example, it's operating today, flew yesterday and was cancelled the five days before. The PDX-MIA flight cancelled the last two days but operated 5 of the previous 6.

Only difference I see is seating. AA offers complimentary advance seat assignments and as a Gold member you would have access to Preferred seats at time of reservation and Main Cabin Extra seating at checkin. With Iberia advance seating is paid only and their website doesn't specify any benefit for oneWorld Ruby members (it does for their Sapphire and Emerald levels).