Originally Posted by
Gig103
The agent was unfortunately correct.
I'll propose something but an expert like JDriver would have to confirm it -- book all four on one reservation, choose MCE. Then call in to upfare you and your wife - no change fee to upgrade your ticket to F, just fare difference. They'll have to split the reservation. At that point, as long as there is no operational change that would cause a seatmap change, your daughter and her friend would keep their MCE seats.
You might also consider ticketing you + friend in coach, then swapping with your daughter when you get on board. She'd get the 2x EQM but if you are lifetime plat, maybe that's okay for you.
I thought about the second idea, which I could do, but my wife/daughter both have zero AA miles because they don't fly paid anywhere..........this is one of those rare exceptions where we are paying for a ticket because $$ are cheap, but miles are high. I could still do it, but it would cost me earned miles. Not sure what the miles difference would be earned on a $350 coach ticket PHX-OCG vs an $800 First Ticket.
Thanks much for the help