Thanks for the replies, both of which here so far say YES…that a cash upgrade of a cash ticket in advance will also increase the miles earned. However, I have now spoken with an additional three agents on the Senator hotline, and all three said NO…that a cash upgrade purchased on the phone would NOT increase the status miles earned. In each case, I asked the agent if I could purchase the upgrade over the phone for my cash ticket, and each said that an upgrade could be purchased on the phone, but no increase in status miles would result from it. One said I would have to "recalculate"/rebook the flight (at an even higher price) to get the status miles that come with A/F.

So now a total of five agents have said the opposite of what forum members here are saying. That said, a look through my M&M account suggests that this forum is actually correct, and that those five agents on the Senator hotline are wrong. So confusing!

In the end, I didn’t purchase the upgrade because the terms were unclear…and when I called the last time, the amount to upgrade had more than doubled. So I’m out either way now.