Hal, thanks for stopping back to clarify things. Sorry to be so difficult, but I'm still not clear on what happened. As I'm sure a frequent flier knows, AA has charged a cash co-pay for mileage upgrades on discount fares for several years now, and that co-pay is currently $350 for a flight to/from Europe.

When you initially called AA to upgrade the flight, did the agent not get a credit card # so they could charge you the $350? You knew you had to pay it, right?

All's well that ends well, as it sounds like you were permitted to sit in Biz on the way to BCN.