Originally Posted by hokieflyer
While you cannot technically upgrade a T fare using miles, it depends on the gate agent/situation. I was traveling with my wife (who was on a T fare) ATL-SJU and asked at the gate if there was any way to upgrade her, knowing that technically there wasn't. I was offered an upgrade for 5,000 miles. He wouldn't let me use a PMU or companion upgrade, but I thought 5,000 miles was a bargain. (It was a B/E configuration too.) The plane was oversold in the back, so I suspect the agent was just using common sense (go figure), freeing up a seat in the back and making a bunch of people happy at once. So it doesn't hurt to ask.
Did he score the miles for himself? - This is very odd as there is no code for such an upgrade and thus the system should not have been able to accept the miles. That he could give your wife an Operational upgrade upgrade is clear - and I suspect that is what happened, I just don't understand how you could pay him any miles.