Originally Posted by
ashbjr
Hello all, new to the AA boards. I am Qatar Plat, OWE and am flying NRT-ORD-NRT in Economy (seats are booked in M, K) soon and am wondering, as a non AAdvantage Member, am I completely out of the running for an upgrade, or if I could still make a request as OWE. I have only ever flown AA domestically in the US and I have been told that I show up as AA Exec Plat, but I know its not exactly the same and that I wouldn't have SWU. Any insights on what I'd be eligible for or what I could do in terms of a Y- J upgrade would be great. As a non-AA OWE, if seats remain (although I doubt it for ORD-NRT), where would I fall in the pecking order for an op-up? (or are the chances basically nil?) And finally, I would assume I wouldn't be able to use QR miles right? Thanks in advance!
On long haul flights, AA doesn't offer any type of free elite op-up to business (except in the very rare instances where coach is oversold and they need to move a few folks from Y to J, but the chances of this are so slim that it's not even worth discussing).
Without a SWU, the only way you can request an upgrade is with AA miles and copay, 25k + $350 each way. You're correct that you can't use QR miles to upgrade on AA.
The only other possible option is a LFBU kiosk upgrade, which are basically upgrade offers for cash if there are still business seats open on the day of departure (after all upgrade requests have cleared). If space is open, these are typically offered when you check in online or at an airport kiosk, although in the past at NRT I have seen signs offering this in the Admirals Club as well.