Originally Posted by
hyperspace
Apologies I'm a bit of a newbie on AA. I'm booked in J on a LAX-JFK. Don't have status with AA (i'm a BA bronze which makes me I believe OW emerald),
do they offer any discount upgrade maybe at checkin? either online, or at the counter? Before check-in time, is there any way to upgrade, besides clicking on "change flight" and recalculating the fare?
thank you
BA Bronze makes you OW ruby (bottom tier) not emerald (top tier).
I have never seen any reports of an online or kiosk offer for J to F on this route. That said, it is usually quite easy to upgrade from J to F with $175 + 15,000 miles (see mileage upgrades:
https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-p...with-miles.jsp). The $175 co-pay does not apply if you're actually in full "J" (as opposed to discounted business booked into I, D, or R; of course, if you're in full J, odds are that discounted first class -- "A" class -- will cost the same or less as your current ticket). You can use ExpertFlyer to search for "A" availability, which is also the inventory that needs to be available in order to upgrade from J to F. If you don't have the 15,000 miles, you can buy them for $477.50 from AA, so ~$650 for the upgrade.