Originally Posted by pitz

Again, you don't seem to understand the concept of a ticket being booked in business class, and individual segments being drawn out of the respective inventories. The fare rules as applicable to AP rewards only require that one segment of an business class ticket to be confirmed in business class (ie: "I" inventory for an AP reward). All other segments can be confirmed in "X" inventory at the time of booking, but the overall ticket is still a business class booking.

But by all means, feel free to seek additional/explicit clarification, or go try it out for yourself. The rep's post was with respect to upgrade priority. The scenario being discussed is *not* an upgrade and thus does not fall under the upgrade rules and priority thereof. The definition of an upgrade is when someone wants to travel in a class of service they haven't paid for. As another posted pointed out, the reservation system treats the an AP business class reward ticket as a non-refundable paid-J reservation with or without all of the segments confirmed in J.