Originally Posted by
shootermcgav1n
Ok great thanks for that. After playing with it a bit more last night on AA's website it did look to me that only AA metal and operated flights had the Systemwide Upgrade button available, which was promising. However, the only option I could select was the Choice/economy fare, so I don't know if that meant an upgrade TO Business was available at that time or not. Either way it does help give me some idea to get things started.
As for being able to apply a SWU after the expiration date, I guess it's a YMMV situation if I call to try to confirm it from the get go? I know for a fact that I will be flying next year and the outbound and return will straddle the expiration (depart last wk of Jan, return first week of Feb).
@akcae is correct, so typically, I will do a search on the individual leg, to figure out which one have the "available" upgrades.
And YES, SWU only work on AA-metal.
@akcae 's way is good to "hold" a booking, but if your booking include some leg that is not AA, you wouldn't be able to "hold" (you would have to purchase for that booking to stick); then it is best to just call EXP line.