Upgrading with AAdvantage miles on Oneworld?
 

As a newbie, I'm hoping someone can advise me on how upgrades are supposed to work with alliance partners. I fly to Chile a couple of times a year and on occasion one of the legs will be with LAN. A few weeks ago, I had this happen:

Goal: Upgrade seats on an SCL-MIA LAN flight (AA7660).

Step 1: I call AA (from whom I purchased the ticket) and inquire about an upgrade.

Result: AA agent: "That segment is operated by our One World Alliance partner LAN Airlines, so you will have to call them to get an upgrade."

Step 2: I call LAN Airlines and inquire about an upgrade.

Result: LAN agent: "We do not sell upgrades over the phone. You must go to a LAN office."

Step 3: I visit a LAN office and inquire about an upgrade.

Result: LAN agent: "Since you purchased the ticket from AA, only AA can sell an upgrade."

Step 4: On the day of departure, I go to the LAN ticket counter and inquire about an upgrade.

Result: LAN agent (after 30 minutes of searching): "We can upgrade you for $8000 per ticket." Given that a round-trip SCL-MIA business-class ticket on LAN normally sells for $3000, this seems a bit too high. We fly home using our original coach tickets.

What would have been the correct method to obtain an upgrade?

You can only use AA miles or certificates to upgrade AA operated flights. You can't use your AA upgrade instruments on partner airline operated flights.

Oh, okay. That's simple enough. This is probably a crazy idea, but perhaps the airlines that comprise the One World Alliance should tell their agents about that policy. NO ONE I talked to said I couldn't upgrade - they just said I needed someone else to do it. In any event, I shall henceforth avoid all alliance partners except when there is no other choice.

Well you can "upgrade" your ticket to a full business ticket which is what they were offering but certainly not what you were expecting.

E

That won't be much of an issue in the future when all the other airlines leave OW :D

:D:D:D

Sadly enough, you are right on. Also, while you are at it, read about how many (or how few) miles you earn on alliance partners. (BA gives you very little and none on TATL flights). That is probably the next shocker for you.

This is for BA.. Each airline has their own:

Class of Service

Purchased Fares**
Booked In:

Mileage Accrual Percentage

Elite Qualifying Points
Per Mile Earned

First Class

A, F

100% + 50% bonus

1.50

Business Class

C, D, I, R, J***

100% + 25% bonus

1.50

World Traveller Plus

E, T, W

100% + 10%

1.50

Full Fare Economy Class

B, Y

100%

1.50

Economy Class

H

100%

1.00

Discount Economy Class

K, L, M, N, O

25%

1.00

Discount Economy Class

G, Q, S, V

25%

.50

i guess we really are spoiled in the US where ALL flights get 100% minimum EQM/RDM on pretty much every carrier...and upgrades are handed out like they're candy so much that we've been conditioned to pay in coach but fly in first...

I wish we had a bit more reciprocity in terms of mileage earning like some other alliances... I was talking to a friend and he was telling me about all of his options for earning full EQM on Continental, US Airways.... But as I am looking forward to my first class award seat on Cathay... I won't complain about the One World Alliance yet!

You named American carriers for the US and CO mileage earning,and are comparing with AA and Cathay as partners, when only one of these is an American carrier. The true apples to apples comparison would be AA and AS to US and CO, as you generally earn full AA EQMs when flying AS.

OW Alliance upgrades
 

Given all the comments; keep in mind that:
ST partners ignore systematically other ST carrier status and often even solicit signup of other ST elite members. They never, as far as I cn see, will give comp miles on another program in the alliance.

*A often does not even recognize the existence of newer alliance partners and often does not even have their destinations in their systems.

I need to update my FT profile because I am highest elite on all three. OW is at least as good as the others, IMHO. None of them are really alliances as we want them to be, but all get the MQM OK, just not the passenger recognition, upgrades, etc.

well, if you're sticking with OneWorld, flying cheap fares and want upgrades, then that is the only solution. As hinted at, Star Alliance (eg, CO, US) is pretty good for earning full miles on cheap fares, but mileage upgrades, while possible on *A partners, require purchase of very expensive tickets. I believe DL/NW allow discount fare mileage upgrades on KLM, but that's the only example I can think of.

well, also keep in mind that in star alliance, if you fly on a codeshare, it's the operating carrier that determines how many miles you get, so even if it has a UA flight number, if it's operated by some stingy carrier, you'll not only miss your elite bonus, but you won't even get full miles in many cases. At least in oneworld, if the flight number says AA, it'll earn like any other AA flight. And while *A does theoretically have upgrade awards on partner carriers, they're freaking EXPENSIVE!!! And they charge by the segment, which means, if you have more than one segment on another carrier on the same day, you have to claim TWO upgrade awards. To me, it's really just a benefit on paper. I'll take AA anyday over that. I do wish though that AA would work out a way to treat all flights with their code on it as their own. Like QF allocates a few F/J and Y tickets to AA and AA can do whatever it wants with them...including letting people upgrade/claim awards with them...

It sucks. Was looking at a flight to Europe this summer. To earn full points, I would have to fly BA premium economy which is about $300 more than the AA fare.

To get AA points on CX, you will need to buy H class fares - about $300-400 more than their discounted fares.

It does cost more to earn points in AAdvantage when you are flying on OW partners.

Know about the policies of the partners? AA can't even get the GA's to understand how Priority AAccess works.