Flying for Fun

I am well aware of that. I also noted that AA sells a lot of AA Marketed, BA operated flights in Main that are y-up into PE with a P booking class for a minimal upfare that earn 100% in Mileage Plan.

I recently flew JNB-LHR-PHX in BA/AA PE. The underlying fare class was O which earns 25% but the y-up booked into P and earned 100%. They y-up was a sub $200 fare difference to move into PE from the Main cabin.

The itinerary was sub $1K which I thought to be reasonable for a 10,891 one-way journey that earned 27,228 RDM or an ~$540 rebate.

Rather than booking the one-way, I discovered that I could return to Europe in March, also in PE, to LHR and Main beyond on BA metal for a mere $87 more so that is what I did.

Even if AA had C space availability on their own metal, I wouldn't buy Main and earn 25% EQM just so I could use a SWU to move into J and I am certainly not going to hunt & peck for hours to find and adapt to what little C space availability there is.

I was able to use one of my AA SWUs to upgrade both BA segments on the $87 add-on for the PE return to Europe in March. It will generate another 5771 EQM & 14,428 RDM or ~$290 rebate.

Since upgrades on BA metal use the same inventory as BA awards sans the vig, availability is abundant. That provides additional utility and value to an otherwise lackluster AA only offering.

My PE itinerary JNB-LHR-PHX and now J PHX-LHR-XXX was $1047 and will earn 16,662 EQM and a $830 rebate in miles.

I had already booked XXX-LHR-PHX in March and YLW-SEA-LHR-MXP (open jaw) for late June on AA all in J on y-up fares for $1504. AA sold me the BA prime flight numbers on the outbound. Since they are BA Marketed, they will earn the 100% additional RDM bonus as per the BA charts. Of course, if A space on AA or Z award space on BA becomes available, I can use my other AA SWU to upgrade into F.

James

NoLaGent

<vociferous round of applause, kudos!>

winelvr

Flying DFW-LHR tomorrow. Booked tickets through cruiseline. Last month I thought, I should see about applying one of my SWUs to my ticket there (booked on AA there but BA return). There were no upgradeable seats into first at the time so the agent told me if an upgrade comes up, I will receive and email to call them to confirm. So I've impatiently been waiting for the email. I've constantly been watching EF. For a while, all seats were full in first then 4 seats opened up but no upgrades. No email. Woke up this morning and looked at EF to find first class now full. *sigh* Then I just happened to look at my booking and I was upgraded!! Didn't have to call to confirm or anything. I'm happy to see the process of using the SWUs was pretty easy!

Now if I have an opportunity to use the other one I have will be interesting since it has the same code. I hope it goes as smoothly.ve

ual744777sta

There have been cases when the upgrade goes through you should call and have them reissue the ticket especially if the itinerary has segments operated by another airline. Some uninformed agents have refused to honor the upgrade for Alaska members in the past.

Erasmus

I believe you, but YMMV. Indeed, I too thought I had succeeded---had the ticket issue confirmation in my grubby little hands (email inbox) and everything....

And then AA called me. Some sharp eye audited the ticket and noticed I had used an AS-issued SWU and put me back in WT+. (I didn't accept that, obviously, and rerouted back to AA metal, but a less convenient routing.)

So, the "rules" are that AS SWUs cannot be used for BA. Whether or not you get an agent to issue and ticket it is one thing, whether the ticket will stay that way until you are able to fly it seems to be another. Why AA has decided this is where they need to spend their resources right now is beyond me.

Flying for Fun

Before we make claims on rules, let's look at this objectively so everyone understands what the "new" rules are that just recently came into effect.

Firstly, was your reaccommodation to BA metal prior to September 12th? If so, then the agent who reaccommodated you did so in error as the new benefit went live on that date.

Was your original revenue ticket booked into Main? If so, you can’t use the AA SWU to upgrade into J on the BA metal flight skipping WT+. Upgrades are revenue Main to WT+, revenue WT+ to J.

If the reaccommodation was since September 12th, was there U inventory availability on the BA flight you were reaccommodated to? If there wasn't U space available, then you can't use an AA SWU (either granted to AA Elites or granted to AS Elites) to upgrade and it can't be waitlisted. If that is the case, you were rightfully moved back. If you purchased a PE/WT+ fare then there was no U award space available.

If you were originally booked in revenue Main, then the AA SWU would only upgrade you to WT+ on BA metal. In that case, with PE inventory available, the AA SWU was utilized to upgrade you into WT+ and counters your claim that the SWUs granted to AS Elites cannot be used on BA flights.

If you were reaccommodated after September 12th, your revenue ticket is PE/WT+ and there is U space availability on you BA TATL flight then I would call AA at the number in the email and request that it be applied but I suspect the lack of U space on your particular BA flight is the limiter if you were in revenue PE/WT+. If you were in revenue Main, the AA SWU will only upgrade you to WT+, not into J on the BA metal flight.

You can easily check for BA U availability as it is the same inventory that is used for BA J awards. If you have a BAEC account, use book with Avios for the single segment TATL flight, if there are award(s) available in J, an AA SWU can be used to upgrade into that inventory from PE/WT+ but not from Y to J. If there is WT+ award availability, you can upgrade to WT+ on a Main cabin fare. BA will also show you how many seats are available for awards.

Alternatively, you can use the award search on AS for the single BA TATL segment. If there is award availability, there will be a redemption amount listed. If no amount listed, no award availability. To determine the number of award seats available, keep increasing the passenger count by one and resubmitting the search. When there is no longer an award amount listed, availability will be one less than the passenger count you just searched for.

Until we know all the mechanics of your scenario and determine why/where you lost the upgrade or were ineligible for it, we shouldn't make blanket statements on rules.

James

Erasmus

Thanks for the tutorial. As a long time EXP and 100K who has booked many an SWU (both AA and AS issued) I am well familiar with the rules--both the old ones, and the changes effective 9/12 that allow BA metal for AA-issued SWUs---but NOT AS. I will admit to having been as skeptical as anyone that AA could possibly have implemented automation or be willing to train their agents to track the provenance of SWUs to ensure they were not from an AS account "shell". I am just reporting on my personal experience.

This was not a “reaccommodation”. This was me buying a WT+ fare on a(n AA-marketed trans-Atlantic) BA flight with U space (confirmed both on ba.com and by the AA agent as I was purchasing the ticket). I had the ticket issued into W by AA, then upgraded to U and reissued. All good. Seats and everything.

Then the audit, downgrade and subsequent reroute to AA metal to stay in Business.

As I said, I believe you succeeded in buying (but it sounds like not yet *flying*) such a ticket. Others should just be aware at least some AA ticket agents believe in and enforce the “rule”.

ANC RED-EYE

I have an upcoming flight for which I checked EF and found an inventory of 4 C seats in the awards and upgrades section, searching for the individual leg. I called the number provided, gave my PNR and indicated the leg I wanted to apply the upgrade to. She indicated that the flight (and in fact no flight in my PNR) had any upgrades available. Am I misunderstanding something here, or did I not get a good agent? Also, this is for DFW - ANC - not sure if things work differently for domestic than for international? (I know, perhaps not the best use of them, but as I forecast travel, I'm not confident I'll have a better use, so was thinking that confirming now is better than hoping for something better later and ending up wasting it).

ETA - decided to have her do nothing; she volunteered to waitlist it. Just told her I would look for other opportunities (and what I really meant was that I'd HUCA). It was an unnecessarily long call; not sure why it takes them so long to verify if space is available, but the second agent did confirm that space was available and applied the cert. So, I guess the first agent was just clueless? Seems like not an ideal person to have answering that number.

Arsene Wenger

Admittedly these aren't the easiest to use as you have to do a fair bit of hunting on EF, but I was able to use one of my SWUs with the ex-Europe fares found here on FT and received confirmed upgrades into first on AA's 77W and 321T back to LAX thanks to some wonderfully helpful EXP phone agents. It is in no way maximized for EQM/RDM earning as I'm a novice, but I'm pretty excited for trip.

NWplatinum

It's getting to the end of the year and I have two of these I probably won't use.

Visconti

Similar situation, but, I'd imagine it would be possible to use them to upgrade to TCON J or F, at the very least?

PDXPremier

I am having a tough time finding a use for mine as well so I think I'll just a book a cheap domestic AA trip for 2023 and attach them to that. Even if you get complementary AA domestic upgrades as an AS 75K/100K, it is my understanding the SWUs have a higher priority so they basically just improve your odds.

ItsAnAdam

Wait, we're allowed to do this? (or even if we're not there's a way to apply them domestically?) If so I'm totally booking a trip to NYC to use them on an A321T route

PDXPremier

Yes, you should be allowed to use them like a regular AA SWU....I rarely book revenue tickets overseas since I use miles for that so SWUs don't really work for my travel patterns.

Flying for Fun

Generally, that is my strategy too. However, there have been so many excellent J fares, especially ex-EU that are hard to say no to when they earn so much in Mileage Plan. I have 15 paid J segments in 2023, mostly in Q1.

Two SWUs at 100K are certainly more valuable than just one at 75K if you aren’t concerned about the Mileage Plan earnings.

At least with 2, you can fly flat in both directions, 1 means you are flying a lie-up in one direction. One-way may be fine but one-way fares tend to be expensive. They can be applied to, up to 3 segments and a A321T transcon or LAX-MIA Flagship would give you Flagship Lounge access. If you are already flying J, you can apply the SWU to upgrade to First and would have Flagship First Dining, just not in LAX since AA hasn't reopened FFD in LAX. Also available on arrival if the lounge is still open.

James