1Ken

I recently paid for a LAX to LHR business class ticket and used miles to upgrade to First in a 3 cabin plane. AA decided to downgrade the plane to 2 cabins and said I am out of luck...had I known this I would have bought a coach ticket and used miles to get business class. They did refund my miles and sur charges for the upgrade but basically said I was out of luck. Any thoughts or is this common since I do not fly internationally often...thx!

footballfanatic

why not just be happy that you're earning a ton of EQMs and EQDs, forget the upgrade game, and enjoy what you purchased? I agree with you 100%, BUT you'll either be completely obsessed and miserable over this, or you won't.

jay_dubya

you should be able to cite the intl contract of carriage, saying the equipment swap is unacceptable to you, and either be rerouted to catch a 3 cabin plane or take a refund and start over

MAH4546

You can be rerouted on a 3-class 77W flight with no change fees.

mcrw00

My AA DFW to NRT flight in January had a last minute equipment swap from 2 to 3 cabin.

I travel frequently internationally (tho not as much as many business travelers) and I would say my total experience is that equipment swaps happen about 10% of the time. Of course this varies widely by airline, and is just my personal experience.

N1120A

AA specifically has protection for EQP swaps. That includes putting you on a flight with 3 classes. In certain situations, they will even put you on a partner.

3Cforme

You don't know that strategy would have been successful. Count all the posts about mileage upgrades not clearing on long-haul routes...

Ask them to move you to a 3-class routing if that can be convenient for you but in any case just let go.

richarddd

There's a sizable FT contingent who seem to believe one should never let go

fly747first

I sure don't. Every time I encounter a problem, I blow it up... it's the only way a mediocre airline like AA would ever learn.

JonNYC

Agreed. And/or, just ask for a REFUND. End.

sdsearch

I'm not sure that you would have! (Well, I presume you would have tried, I'm not just at all sure you would have succeeded.)

Just because there was miles upgrade availability from business to first does not mean there would necessarily have been miles upgrade availability from economy to business on the same flight. Had you bought economy without a confirmed upgrade to business available at the time of purchase, you would have been waitlisted but not guaranteed an upgrade to business.

So perhaps you should be glad you at least have business seats because that's what you purchased?

Also, keep in mind that there may be a correlation between how easy it was for you to upgrade to first and the plane change. Perhaps the whole reason you were able to upgrade to first in advance so easily was because first class seats weren't selling well enough on the flight, and AA cares more about sales than upgrades when considering when to use three class vs when to use two class planes.