I was wondering how members in Western Europe were finding the service for AAdvantage queries/bookings since the Dublin office closed?

I always had excellent service there and got to know a few of the agents from around Europe when we were doing our upgrades for our last trip.

I have specific question. We do this sort of trip every two years. We have around a month in USA and have managed to upgrade with miles and $$$s on each occasion for outward and return legs.

The problem comes in the small number of upgrades available (we now fly from MAD, or could go from BCN). By having to wait a month before we can book both legs, the upgrades available for the outward leg tend to disappear before we can grab the two we need.

Last time I was surprised that the staff in Dublin (and, I believe, authorised by "head-office") allowed me to book a return flight using a return date we did not want, so that we could bag the outwards upgrades, then, when it became available, make the return reservation for the date we needed, changing our original "dummy" one without charge, thus being able to upgrade both legs.

Have other members been allowed to do this as a matter of course or were the agents that dealt with me being exceedingly helpful and kind?

I ask as, in the not too distant future, I will be trying to carry out a similar exercise and wondered if we would meet with such helpfulness wherever our calls now get routed (sans Dublin!). We are a couple of old dodderers well past our sell-by date.