Originally Posted by
enpremiere
They actually can put tickets on hold under specific circumstances (i.e. one weekend this year the system to actually issue BX awards was offline for maintenance) but that's not what was being suggested; these are two separate actions:
1). Put on hold yourself via aa.com
2). THEN call in to Meeting Services with the PNR to complete the purchase and apply the upgrade (thereby ensuring that the you can truly confirm the space before purchasing the ticket)
Why would you do this? Just book online and apply the upgrade online. If, for some reason, the upgrade disappears between those two steps you always have 24 hour free cancellation.