FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - [2016 NEWBIE LOUNGE] Ask Your "Newbie" AA Questions Here (flame free)
Old May 24, 2016, 2:22 pm
  #1510  
JDiver
Moderator: American AAdvantage
 
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
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Originally Posted by PGAdam
Let me start by saying my goal is to upgrade my long-haul flights from and to Europe (in that order of priority). By upgrade, I would love Business Class(Club World) but would also be glad with MCE(WTP).

Now, here's the situation.
Flights were booked during the sale a few weeks ago, all on AA.com.
DFW-EWR-LHR
1st leg on AA, 2nd on BA
Return
PRG-LHR-MIA-DFW
1st 3 legs on BA, final leg on AA

I was hoping to upgrade using AA miles. Upon some research here, I saw on the AA award page that I could upgrade to World Traveler Plus for 12.5K AA miles. Another page stated that since I had Booking Code O, they were not eligible for upgrade. So, I called AA and they said that I could be upgraded, but there are no seats available. Even though the flight is virtually empty, there are apparently no award/upgrade seats available in WTP. There are plenty in Economy and Club World for all flights. AA suggested I call BA to find out if upgrade/award seats would be made available. Calling BA just led to more confusion.
Not that it's important, the only segment that is not Booking Code O is the PRG-LHR flight, which is Code S.
Other item of note, I've checked on the AA site several times since booking and have not seen any WTP seats for either the full flights (DFW-LHR for example), nor the individual segments (EWR-LHR).

My questions:
Is it possible to upgrade to Club World or WTP for either or both transatlantic flights using AA miles? If so, is it 12.5K per person or 25K?
Is it possible that BA will open up some WTP award/upgrade seats for use with AA miles?
Is it possible to do a 2 class upgrade from economy to Club World using miles?
The language on this page is not yet clear to me given my novice travel habits.
Finally, where did I go wrong? How could I have booked or planned this better? I'm still learning when it comes to frequent travel and I appreciate any feedback or advice.

Thanks!
WTP is an entirely separate class of service (not like AA MCE, a part of Economy but with extended seat pitch). You can use AA miles to upgrade from WT to WTP, or from WTP to CW, but you can not upgrade two classes of service.

Please see the thread you've been referred to, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...solidated.html, as there are substantive restrictions. (E.g. You must have purchased a full fare to upgrade using AAdvantage miles). Please be sure to read the wikipost.

You can inquire about counter ($$) upgrades when at the airport, as well.

Book it better? Discounted WTP or CW seats bought from BA would probably cost you considerably less than full fare offerings on aa.com. And BA occasionally has great sales.
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