Originally Posted by
FlyingEgghead
JonNYC, could you please clarify what part of it is incorrect? SWU (or miles+copay) can be used by anyone, is not a direct status benefit, and may be unrelated to status -- in a way that is not true of 500-mile upgrades. Is the waitlist position advantage the crucial factor in your assessment? In that case at least anything cleared from published C inventory should be okay.
I have encountered this issue and have been consistently allowed by AA to switch numbers after clearance of a waitlisted SWU to credit AS (but not for 500-mile upgrades). My biggest problem was getting the per-segment FF number to work, so I could credit the outbound as desired before clearing the return -- usually it required cleanup (moving credit from AA to AS) afterward.
The T&C state:
You cannot accrue partner airline miles with your partner frequent flyer number if you have already used your AAdvantage number to obtain AAdvantage program benefits such as First or Business Class upgrades, baggage fee waivers or complimentary access to Preferred/Main Cabin Extra seats...
While it's true that some have misread that as applying only to upgrades that were elite status-based, or whatever angle they might want to read that as; it's as stated above-- that technically you're not supposed to use an AAdv upgrade of any type but then try and accrue partner FF miles on the same flight.