The market I'm looking at actually doesn't have AA as an option. My choices are UA, CO, DL, and US. I was thinking of buyin on UA because of the e+ since upgrading these fares won't happen unless there's an oversell. Honestly, knowing about the AA restrictions through site59, I likely wouldn't book them anyway. Too risky as you said.

According to the FAQ's at gotoday,, the tickets generally do not earn miles. However, student universe also has that same disclaimer for UA and US, and I've earned miles with both these carriers despite these warnings. I've also earned miles with both carriers on previous fares purchased with STA travel. Student tickets are usually wholesale, so I'd think the same rules would apply.

That being said, I just wanted to open up the question here to get others' experiences.