I asked this about a month ago and was assured that everything would be allright but then I saw what happened to me last week and it made me question again.

I was in the middle of an itinerary when I became EXP. AA.com recognized my new status 2 days later when the flight posted. However, when I went to take the returm portion of the trip, the boarding pass printed off my old status (that is PLT which I was when I made the reservation).

As it relates to the time come February to upgrade my DFW - OGG route with stickers, it would seem to be most beneficial to have the computer attempt to upgrade me at the EXP window.

My brain says though that it seems the PNR recognizes the status at the time the res was made(thus why my recent return trip showed PLT when I had already become EXP). I'm hoping that the upgrade logic isn't in laymans terms -"go look for all PNR's that are EXP's and upgrade" and it will think my PNR is PLT as it was when my res was made and appears to continue on the PNR even after status has changed.

Someone tell me that although the PNR for the itinerary that made me EXP still showed me PLT throughout the journey, future PNR's will know I'm EXP even though I was PLT when I made the reservation.