FreakwentFlier

Used to fly AA frequently, have shifted to UA & DL as my travel requirements changed (no longer working for a Dallas based company.)

Made last minute reservations BWI-DFW and thought I would use miles for an upgrade - have close to 100K miles that have been sitting around for 5 or 6 years. I fly AA once a year or so and it keeps the account active but haven't found any attractive routes when looking for award travel.

Called AAdvantage the dAAy of travel from the check-in line and was told it would be 15,000 miles plus a $75 same dAAy fee. I asked if I called back after checking in would I be able to upgrade my return flight in two days without charge and was told yes. Didn't upgrade and managed to get an exit aisle so all was ok, but my return flight has a center seat assignment right now.

Called back and was told I would still have to pay the upgrade fee as the "same dAAy" fee applies for any upgrades within 7 days of travel.

Which person was right, which was wrong? Just curious for future reference.

Did a quick search and didn't see this topic, I apologize if this has been thrashed over before.

Cheers,
Jeff

brp

Trying to find this on the AA site to make sure I'm correct. I can't at the moment, so I'll go with what I think is correct and someone will surely back me up if I've erred.

For award-related stuff, there's a $50 fee from 21-7 days out, and a $75 fee for 7-day of. I know this applies to booking award tickets and, IIRC, it applies to mileage upgrades as well.

Cheers.

tt7

Well, I guess you and I were doing the same thing at the same time! In an effort to be helpful I too went off to the AA site to try and find the information .... and couldn't, so I gave up (as I've no real clue off the top of my head what the correct information is).

aaupgrade

Here is the link to Award details which includes Award Fees about half way down the page. Perhaps the TA meant that if you upgraded with miles and paid the fee on the outbound that you would not be charged again for the return upgrade. I don't know if this is true, but I have a feeling that is what the TA may have meant; FWIW, when I was reading your post that is what I assumed until you said "didn't upgrade". And who knows maybe if you pay the fee for the outbound then you don't have to pay it for the return when requested at a different time. With AAs propensity to charge for everything, I would assume they would charge $75 on both when made at different times. BTW, this charge has been around for years - not that that matters to anyone paying for it the first time.

FreakwentFlier

Thanks all!!

I did look at AA's website before posting and didn't find it, thanks for the guidance.

I was fairly clear that I wasn't going to upgrade and was going to call back since it wasn't same day. Odd that both agents used the phrase 'same day' when it apparently is a week.

Was going to book Airtran, but didn't have a late enough flight - 4pm v. 7pm - can upgrade for $35 to $70 each way without miles - cheaper and easier.

Need to find something to do with 100K AA miles though.

Cheers,
Jeff

srk123

If you're having trouble finding something to do with those 100K miles, you can book me a business class seat to Rome 330 days from now (because anything less than that probably wouldn't be available.)