I am OW Emerald (AA PP) and I am traveling with my wife who is AS MVP (OW Ruby), and I am booked under an AS Companion Fare for travel this coming week. I know there are still kinks to be worked out between AS/AA, but it seems like things are going well so far. It is nice to be able to combine on our two common airlines under one umbrella.

I know that upgrades to F are officially noted on the AA website as currently only for the AA status member, and later this will extend to a companion. The same restriction (later this year for companion) is noted on the AA website for access to Premium Class, but we were able to select seats in Premium Class (after booking as stated on the AA website) even though our fares were booked in K (MVP should not be able to select Premium Class seats with this fare) and MVP should not be able to upgrade a companion to Premium Class. This leads me to believe that the feature is in operation for AA elites.

I got an Expert Flyer notification that 2 U fares were available a couple days ago, and we waited until after 120 hours and before 72 hours before departure to see if we would be upgraded into F (when according to AA we should be upgraded after 100K and 75K and before Gold). When it was closing in on the 72 hour mark and 2 U fares still showing up, we called AS and inquired if we were on the list. They said no because I was traveling on a companion fare. According to the Alaska Companion Fare FAQ: "When traveling on a companion fare, you are eligible for all upgrades we offer. You can upgrade using miles, elite + companion upgrades, guest upgrades, or paid upgrades that may be offered at check-in." I am guessing they maybe don't extend this ability to upgrade to OW elites? We wanted to go ahead and lock in the seats for the transcontinental flight so we used her miles.

My question is: will AA elites be considered for the upgrade window between 100K/75K and Gold when traveling on a companion fare, either should they now or later? I wanted to see if anyone had any data points to confirm if they have the same experience or not or if they are able to confirm this is how it should work. We have our return flight in a couple weeks (booked round trip on Companion Fare), so I wanted to check to see if anyone knows what we should expect. I'll give AS a call to see if I can get clarity as well as I didn't think to clarify with the agent at the time.