chrisremo

Last week I flew on two US flights, OAK-PHX-DFW; they were my first flights as AA Gold, which I had reached just a couple days earlier, so the reservations were made before I had elite status.

When I checked in around T-20, I bought an F upgrade on PHX-DFW because I wanted the sleep (this was leading up to the AA 787 inaugural).

The next morning, I remembered that as Gold I get free upgrade eligibility on US metal, if available. I checked in again and was able to select an F upgrade on the first segment for free. Of course on the second segment I had already paid.

It turns out what happened, as I understand it, was that my status wasn't originally tagged to my reservation at the time I checked in, even though my AAdvantage account showed me as Gold; overnight, an automatic processor added my status to the reservation and I was able to take advantage of it.

(I'm pretty confident that my very recently acquired elite status was the culprit; for my last flight later on, ORD-SEA, I put myself on the upgrade list in the ORD AC. When I was bumped up, I was told "That's weird, your reservation doesn't show you as Gold." The GA reissued my BP (and the one on my phone instantly changed to show my status, which it previously had not) when she processed the successful upgrade.

So is there any chance I can get a refund on the fee I paid for the PHX-DFW upgrade, since I was within the T-24 window for Gold upgrades and there was clearly upgrade space available?

I tried filling out the form at http://refund.usairways.com/ but every time I submit it, I just get an error. Very helpful.

I'm not even sure who to call--AAdvantage? US Reservations? AA Reservations? (I booked the flight with AA since it's what I'm used to and the itinerary included both AA and US flights.)

Apologies if this is the wrong place to put this! Thanks for any help/advice/experience. I realize that these are nonrefundable and if I have to eat the cost, so be it; I just figure it might be the case that I wasn't supposed to be charged it in the first place.

PHL

The T&C don't explicitly state the "GoUpgrades" are non-refundable, but since you took the trip already in your paid upgraded seat, I don't think this is going to get far.

http://www.usairways.com/en-US/trave...oupgrades.html

You would need to contact US Airways reservations and plead your case and refund request. But I don't think you'll get very far. You received the service you requested, putting aside any elite benefits you were entitled to post purchase.

chrisremo

Yeah, I take your point. To be fair I think I was actually entitled to the elite benefits BEFORE I purchased it, not just after; there was just an issue where the system didn't recognize it which was later corrected.

But yeah I think it's going to be an uphill battle and I don't know if I have it in me to stick it out since it is kind of a gray area.

dtremit

I think you may have an "in" here since the system that charged you for the upgrade was the same one that was supposed to give you the upgrade for free. So the process you followed was correct, the price was just wrong.

Can't hurt to try your best.