UPGRADES: “Waitlisted” “Cleared” “Confirmed” “Pulled” “ …Scammed?
Jan 31, 2008, 6:05 pm
#31
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Jan 31, 2008, 6:21 pm
#32
Join Date: Jul 2005
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Jan 31, 2008, 6:24 pm
#33
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 161
I am Plat who purchased a VIP upgrade from someone (X) on Ebay. I was waitlisted for the upgrade and contacted X when availability opened up. I called the ExPlat desk and “confirmed” that X had applied the upgrade, and it had “cleared.” Also noted that I was in "C" when I looked at my reservation on the AA Web Site. I then purchased two additional upgrades from the same person. Same thing happened, I was waitlisted, and subsequently cleared. A week later I received a call from AA that the X’s account has been frozen, and my upgrades are being revoked. Long story short, even though AA tells you that an upgrade has cleared and is confirmed, it then goes in a queue, and might not get “pulled” from a ExPlat account for 5 to 10 days later, and if at the time AA tries to pull the upgrade, and X has 0 remaining, or if there is a problem with that person’s account, you are out of luck.
In this case my original upgrade did get "pulled" and is still valid, and I am still waiting to get the other upgrades resolved with X. Coincidentally, X’s Ebay account has been suspended as well, so I think it is likely that I may have been scammed.
Safeflyer
PS: No need for the "you deserve it" replies, for trying to purchase the upgrades. I fully accept responsibility, and I’m not crying about it, I just thought the situation was interesting.
Actualy, I am , but it could be worse.
PPS: This was a very confusing situation for me, and required several calls to the ExPlat desk. There was a noticeable difference in “friendliness” and understanding, depending on which agent answered the phone. I guess that’s true to a degree everywhere, but the disparity between some folks at the desk was stark.
In this case my original upgrade did get "pulled" and is still valid, and I am still waiting to get the other upgrades resolved with X. Coincidentally, X’s Ebay account has been suspended as well, so I think it is likely that I may have been scammed.
Safeflyer
PS: No need for the "you deserve it" replies, for trying to purchase the upgrades. I fully accept responsibility, and I’m not crying about it, I just thought the situation was interesting.
Actualy, I am , but it could be worse.PPS: This was a very confusing situation for me, and required several calls to the ExPlat desk. There was a noticeable difference in “friendliness” and understanding, depending on which agent answered the phone. I guess that’s true to a degree everywhere, but the disparity between some folks at the desk was stark.
You BOTH deserve what you got.
Jan 31, 2008, 6:25 pm
#34
Join Date: Aug 2001
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Occasionally AA will let elites overdraw their account by slight amounts. Say an EXP has 89,400 miles and needs a 90K ticket. AA can see the account already has 4 trips planned/paid for in the next 6 weeks so lets the customer redeem the award knowing that the miles will soon be in the account.
Feb 1, 2008, 4:27 am
#35
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Feb 1, 2008, 6:44 am
#36
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Update: X reports that his account did inadvertently go into a negative balance and he is trying to resolve the issue. ...
This was reiterated to me by a different agent this morning:
An upgrade can be processed and a ticket reissued with or without an attached certificate number by an agent; however, there must by an upgrade certificate number in the reservation for the upgrade to be deducted from X’s account and this has to be “settled” somehow. The upgrade might not get deducted from X’s account until sometime in the future, as much as 5-7 days later, so at that time, when the system looks for an upgrade certificate number to apply, if there is one available, then there is no issue; however, if there is not one available, or if X’s account is frozen for some reason, AA will cancel the upgrade, unless the traveler can apply an upgrade certificate number from another person’s account or use miles + co-pay instead of the VIP certificate. This sometimes happens even after the traveler has flown, in which case AA must re-coup the upgrade through a future VIP certificate, or a mile +co-pay, after the flight.
BRP, Do you still think the above is incorrect? I am not sure what to believe anymore, but this has been quite a learning experience.
This was reiterated to me by a different agent this morning:
An upgrade can be processed and a ticket reissued with or without an attached certificate number by an agent; however, there must by an upgrade certificate number in the reservation for the upgrade to be deducted from X’s account and this has to be “settled” somehow. The upgrade might not get deducted from X’s account until sometime in the future, as much as 5-7 days later, so at that time, when the system looks for an upgrade certificate number to apply, if there is one available, then there is no issue; however, if there is not one available, or if X’s account is frozen for some reason, AA will cancel the upgrade, unless the traveler can apply an upgrade certificate number from another person’s account or use miles + co-pay instead of the VIP certificate. This sometimes happens even after the traveler has flown, in which case AA must re-coup the upgrade through a future VIP certificate, or a mile +co-pay, after the flight.
BRP, Do you still think the above is incorrect? I am not sure what to believe anymore, but this has been quite a learning experience.
Feb 1, 2008, 6:50 am
#37
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Whether the mileage account balance was negative or not is not relevant. X clearly and knowingly violated the AA rules by selling the eVIPs on eBay. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.
Feb 1, 2008, 6:56 am
#38
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Feb 1, 2008, 7:00 am
#39
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Out of curiosity, I just typed in AAdvantage on eBay - and it is remarkable the # of people selling miles and at least one selling eVIPs. I really can't believe people risk it.
Feb 1, 2008, 8:02 am
#40
Join Date: Mar 2004
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This was reiterated to me by a different agent this morning:
An upgrade can be processed and a ticket reissued with or without an attached certificate number by an agent; however, there must by an upgrade certificate number in the reservation for the upgrade to be deducted from X’s account and this has to be “settled” somehow.
An upgrade can be processed and a ticket reissued with or without an attached certificate number by an agent; however, there must by an upgrade certificate number in the reservation for the upgrade to be deducted from X’s account and this has to be “settled” somehow.
I've never heard of that either. I really don't think you are getting the whole story, neither from the seller nor from AA.
Feb 1, 2008, 8:38 am
#41
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It is possible that, even though the number is tied, the eVIP is not "pulled" (whatever that means in this context) until later. Since it has to be valid (one assumes) when the number is tied, and can't be used elsewhere, the only thing I can see happening is what happened to you (and X) where the account goes invalid and a previously good eVIP just disappears.
So, this is an odd scenario, and the events could be accurate. They just wouldn't matter in all "normal" cases.
Cheers.
Feb 1, 2008, 9:06 am
#42
Join Date: Mar 2004
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Well, I certainly can't say that I know for a fact that this is the case, but I've been told on a number of occasions that the eVIP number (each individual eVIP has its own number) is attached to the reservation even for waitlisting. This, effectively, ties up the eVIP so that it can't, for example, also be tied to another reservation.
Conversely, never have I been told that (when an eVIP has cleared) they'll wait to pull/assign a number later.
Feb 1, 2008, 9:10 am
#43
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Cheers.
Feb 1, 2008, 9:21 am
#44
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I don't think that the number is assigned later, even in this case. What may be happening is that the number is assigned immediately, but that there are additional steps to actually "pulling" the eVIP. I always thought of this as the same action, but they could be different, and it would only matter if the assigned, numbered eVIP somehow went away in the interim.
I have never heard of an eVIP being processed (whatever that means) without a number attached from the very beginning. I would be most interested to know if that is indeed possible because this is the first and only time I recall such a claim.
Feb 1, 2008, 9:28 am
#45
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It's up to you, of course, but if you're concerned about the health of your relationship with AA then it might be best to limit your future dealings with X to attempts to get your money back, in other words to cooperate with AA's attempts to "resolve the issue" rather than with X's.
The best you can hope for is your money back, although I wouldn't hold my breath. The upgrades are not going to happen.