Originally Posted by
mentat
I just called AA on this the price went from £489 N to £569 V class, the lady said in order to change this she would need to do over the phone and this incurs a £15 booking fee so my total was £584. A bit of a rip for doing over the phone but I couldn't work out how to do this online. Anyway I will hit Platinum in one trip via the Platinum challenge I've already enrolled in for a bit of extra ££ so I'm pretty happy. This will set me up nicely for the rest of my trips this year.
mentat, these are the two key threads on upfaring:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-purchase.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milea...-code-ita.html
The first relates to upfaring for the purpose of booking an upgradeable fare class (now moot), but also applies to upfaring for the purpose of earning 1.0 EQP/mi on Challenges. The second shows you how you can use ITA to price out your upfared itinerary in advance so you know what the cost differential is.
AA.com Price and Schedule searches will reveal booking codes, but only a subset of booking codes will be available, and often not the cheapest 1.0 EQP/mi fare. That's why you need to call to upfare. However, you should not need to pay a phone booking fee. You should be able to have AA Reservations or Web Services upfare a reservation you have on hold, then you should be able to complete the purchase online. If you get an agent that tells you otherwise, then call back and get another agent. You may find that the upfared itinerary gets re-downfared when you try to purchase online. If so, call AA and explain this and ask them to waive the phone booking fee. If you get an agent who tells you they cannot do so, then call back and get another agent.
Hope this helps!