dstan

Finally had a chance to confirm this personally for PLT + GLD traveling together yesterday as well - same PNR; cleared at T-72; did not have to remove ADC code; stickers pulled separately. Do we have a thread on this anywhere else? If not, perhaps we should start a new one to highlight the change to those unaware. (I will update the FAQ when I have a chance).

TB thread is here: http://www.travelingbetter.com/forum...ead.php?t=3726

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MODERATOR'S NOTE

This thread has been created by merging relevant posts from two other threads.

zphelj

Today on a 2 pax linked PNR (EXP and PLAT) all upgrades (14) for each pax had cleared just fine. EXP has 0 stickers in account and PLAT has 10.

OLCI for EXP was as expected, no stickers needed.

OLCI for PLAT pax: system noted PLAT was short stickers and prompted to purchase 4 upgrades. Upgrades purchased and check in was fine.

The only question in my mind is did the system try to pull from EXP 1st at all? In my FT reading on this topic I was expecting to have to go to the airport and work with an agent to clear this up.

dstan

That used to be the case, but no longer as of July 2009 - stickers get pulled separately (now copied to the OP of this thread)

<FAQ has since been updated>

sica4

Is this true Dstan?

I am a newbie EXP and am flying with my GLD mother and we were on the same PNR. I looked online and it was saying that I needed stickers to upgrade. I called the EXP line and they said because my mother was the 'primary' person on the PNR it was listed as a GLD request despite my being EXP. The 'only way' to get it refreshed so that we could clear at 100 hours instead of 24 was if we split PNR's and linked them and she forced me as the primary. I said fine and the agent did that. Right after I asked to see if I could make a note that the stickers for my mom's upgrade would come out of her own account and the agents said the only way that was possible was if we broke the PNR link and each upgraded separately and thus took a gamble on me clearing and her not.

In an ideal world I would like us both to upgrade at 100hours and she uses some of her own plentiful stickers instead of my meager supply. Does anyone here have any personal experience with this? What Dstan last said seems to conflict with what the EXP agent just told me

vasantn

My money is on dstan.

vrbaba

The stickers will come out of her account automatically. OCLI would be fine. This is due to the new change that went into effect recently. OP would not need to talk to any agent. Rather he should OLCI so the stickers come out of her account by default.

vrbaba

It seems that some (or many) of the agents (and FFs) are not aware of the changes and still go by the old rule. I only came to know about it when I recently was traveling with my PLT companion and was able to OLCI with upgraded seats without any stickers in my account.

sica4

Ah OK, so it seems that if we do OLCI the stickers should be pulled from her own account. Although maybe, if I want to better safe than sorry, I could speak with an actual check-in agent and make sure this happens. I just read some other threads and didn't realize stickers aren't pulled until the day of travel when you check in so it looks like I don't need to worry about it until departure day.

vasantn

I was completely wrong. It was past my bedtime and I was confused as to who had the higher status. Sorry! Corrections made.

dstan

Here's what I think we know (and do correct me if I'm wrong):

1) In July 2009, it was reported on TravelingBetter that stickers would be debited separately for elites traveling together. Start date was not known and there was a reference to self-service machine checkin, with a caveat about not knowing how this might work with other modes of checkin.

2) In Nov 2009, I reported confirming this personally, for two elites traveling together on the same PNR. I did not note it at the time, but we used OLCI. (Perhaps others confirmed this earlier, but this was my first opportunity to test it personally.)

3) In Dec 2009, zphelj reported confirming this for two elites traveling together on separate linked PNRs, using OLCI.


An addition issue in sica4's case is the assignment of the GLD as the requester and the EXP as the companion, leading to GLD-based priority and upgrade window. Others have reported in other threads that this assignment is based on whose name is listed first in the itinerary, and if so, would explain how to avoid this problem in the future.

sica4

Thanks Dstan for that excellent summary. I will add an additional data point in a week or so.

LDR

I can add another data point:

EXP traveling with GLD companion on same res (EXP's name listed first).
Upgrades cleared at T-100 and stickers pulled from GLD's account (as desired).

Glad this is now the default!

vasantn

The order in which the names appear (which is generally based on who makes the reservation) makes no difference. As long as the pax' statuses are correctly entered, the upgrade priority of the higher status member will apply. This is why sica4's experience didn't make sense to me.

Just to make sure my recollection was correct, I just logged in under my GLD daughter's name and put on hold a flight for Tuesday which I was pretty sure would have available upgrades. I listed myself as the companion with my AAdvantage number. As soon as I put the rez on hold, we were both upgraded. So I don't think there is any way for the lower-status person to be the "primary" unless the higher-status person's AAdvantage no. is not in the record.

dstan

Interesting! I've never had to worry about it myself and can't for the life of me find the thread where I read it now. No idea how sica4's upgrade request got messed up, then.

vasantn

Yep, I think that's why I was confused when I responded originally, thinking that the mother had the higher status. One of those mysteries! Now I'm thinking that the mother made the reservation but did not put sica4's AAdvantage number into the record.