Originally Posted by
trekker954
this made me wonder. I've called the EXPLA desk with a friend's locator number and asked them to apply one of my evip upgrades. I was not flying. I know I was charged something like $2.50 for the taxi I guess. I don't recall being charged a telephone fee. Should I assume the fee is only if I'm doing the whole booking on the phone, not just asking to apply the evip upgrade?
This also has me thinking, if I do lose my explat status for the upcoming year, (anticipate 75K) but have until Feb to use my two evip upgrades I still have. Can I still call the explat desk to apply these to a flight in February. FYI, although it was announced last year that AA wouldn't allow you to apply expiring evips to flight later than their expiration wasn't true. I applied my expiring evips to an October 2013 Barcelona flight which cleared immediately. That was the key....the evips had to clear right away. Probably helped that I maintained my xplat status.
I have spent SWUs on friends/family when I'm not flying with them and never charged a fee (as late as a week ago). These have been domestic and international trips. I'm presuming they told you about the fee before the charge. Maybe your receipt will give you a better description of the charge.
As for using your SWUs, keep in mind you EXP status runs until the end of Feb, so should be no issue with your Feb flights. There are some EXP agents that know some of the nuances of the system and if the SWU clears before they expire, then you are good to go. Some may interpret the rules much more strictly and not allow you to even attempt to use them for flights past their expiration date.