Originally Posted by
Gardyloo
I think you may have some misunderstanding on if/how one can upgrade on partners using another airline's miles. AFAIK the rules for AA/BA are the same as with UA/LH, i.e., you can upgrade a LH flight with UA miles, but only from full-fare categories, e.g. Y/B to C. The same applies to AA/BA - you can use miles to u/g on the partner, but only from full-fare base buckets.
Thanks for your reply and advice--depending on how this plays out, I may simply consider sticking this out through the merger. However, after reading your post, I immediately called AA Plat and this is what they tell me in this specific case:
The last leg of my flight is booked on AA metal on a BA itinerary as BA4329, JFK-SFO on a B fare. They told me that there is absolutely no way to upgrade me in either system--I cannot upgrade in AA because it was not booked through them, and I cannot upgrade via BA because their milage program is different. Is that inconsistent with your experience or am I going about this the wrong way?