thanks,
When I read over the fare rules this morning I didnt see any exceptions for it either and assumed there might be a charge although IMO you arent really "changing" the PNR and if someone is willing to pay a higher fare bucket than whats currently being sold and burn miles for the exact same flights AS would be foolish to discourage it with a change fee

FWIW I just got off the phone with AS. It took them 20 minutes to upgrade 2 segments but in any case there wasnt a change fee. In better judgement I didnt even bring it up nor did they bring it up. I dont know if its because I called the gold desk and used my miles to upgrade someone or if merely upgauging to a higher fare catergory doesnt really constitue a "change" since date, time, location, and flights dont change at all and probably no new PNR generated. So it all worked out. Otherwise the person wouldve been better off keeping their original coach seats or paying up to F to get extra miles, BR access and my saved 15K miles because with a change fee tacked onto the up faring wouldve brought the cost within about $75 to $125 of paid F