FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - LAX-SYD AA 73 / 72 Upgrade & Waitlist Discussion
Old Jun 5, 2016 | 11:35 am
  #152  
teemuflyer
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Join Date: Nov 2009
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Originally Posted by beeftrash
ok so you are saying to book in AA and apply what? What 350 credit and what 25kAA miles copay? Can you explain to me as a new person to all this? I think that i can get most of the flight money back but i did pay $200 for better Qantas seats back and paid around 250 for AA seat selection.

I am open for anything. Could i just wait till the day of and possibly pay $500 or so per ticket to upgrade? I am new to all this.

Thanks again

edit: I did buy all of this with my AMEX plat so i think i can get 100% of my money back if i really wanted.
AA offers the option to upgrade from economy to business using $s + AA miles if the flight is operated and marketed (AA flight number) by AA. On this particular route, it comes to $350 and 25,000 AA miles for the flight (these requirements vary by region/distance flown).

However, this is not a guaranteed upgrade. It requires that AA releases what they call "C" inventory. The priority on who gets the 1st dibs depends on your Frequent Flyer tier level on AA, and then the date of request.

AA Elites, in descending order, get their upgrade requests processed first, then non-AA elites. Thus it requires that all AA Elites that requested upgrades have been upgraded before they would make it available to you. If they run out of inventory (i.e. all seats in business are taken by boarding time) then you miss out. The $'s and miles will then be refunded.
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