Originally Posted by
chrisremo
I just called Business Extra to try and redeem two BXP1 certificates for two passengers (including myself) flying SFO-JFK in February. The agent said there was availability and booked us into First. On my AA account, the flight shows us as being in First, and I am able to select seats in that cabin.
Two questions:
1. Does this seem correct? I would have expected to be booked into Business on a three-class plane. Is there any risk here?
2. Do I need to fill out all the information on the front of the certificate before arriving at the gate, or will the gate agent do that? (And if there's a risk the upgrade won't clear, should I risk filling out the certificate in ink?)
Interesting resolution to this:
A couple weeks later, I got a call from AA saying there'd been a schedule change to my flight. I called back, they said there was no change, and I was still booked into First on the same flight. I said, "So you're sure there's nothing I need to know?" and they put me on hold for a while.
When they came back, they said "Everything looks fine sir, you're booked into Business. What row would you like?"
So I think what happened was something got flagged in their system indicating we were booked into the wrong cabin, they realized it mid-call, and quietly rebooked us into Business without mentioning that was happening. I'm entirely fine with it, since that's what the BXP1 entitles us to, not First.
The interesting part is that, according to ExpertFlyer, there wasn't actually any upgrade availability before the call. I think they forced Business upgrade availability mid-call, which is why I was on hold for so long, because they didn't want to have to come back and tell me that I'd been put back into Economy, after two separate phone calls in which I was assured I'd be flying First.