I was turned away from upfaring by AA because my ticket was issued by our corporate travel agent (AMEX). I've been able to upfare before and also make changes directly with AA - this was the first time that I was denied. I did HUACA and got the same response.

Does anybody know if AA has recently tightened up on the policy of not touching reservations done by a 3rd party? Also, I see something about a $50 fee mentioned. Is it an option to pay them another $50 to take over the ticket?

I did call AMEX to try to get them to do it, but by the time I got to them, the discount first had disappeared. I had been hoping to get them to do the change and then call AA to get the change fee waived, but it never got that far.

You should receive the new (first) EQMs. Sometimes, depending on how the ticket is reissued, this does not happen automatically. I fill out the online form once they post incorrectly, explaining the situation, and it quickly gets rectified. This happens about 20% of the time I upfare.

Yes, this fee is correct when originally booked by a third party through meeting services - they've referred to it as a fee to "bring the reservation in house."

I've had a couple agents recently reluctant to do this, saying "you should do through the original issuer" but after explaining that's not an option, I'm batting 100 for them to proceed and charge the $50 fee. On rare occasion, they don't charge it, and I don't ask why not.

Yes, this fee is correct when originally booked by a third party through meeting services - they've referred to it as a fee to "bring the reservation in house."

I've had a couple agents recently reluctant to do this, saying "you should do through the original issuer" but after explaining that's not an option, I'm batting 100 for them to proceed and charge the $50 fee. On rare occasion, they don't charge it, and I don't ask why not.

booked economy want to pay for upgrade (to merge)
 

I booked a flight HNL-LGA on 2/7 return on 2/21 economy at $766. I'm on the waitlist to use miles to upgrade to first. Looking at the same flights today, first class is $1819 r/t. If I were to pay for first class, what would it cost me in terms of cancelling the first reservation and rebooking it? Would AA just charge me for the difference? Or are there cancellation fees involved?

If you pay up (upfare) to First, AA normally will not require change fees, etc. of you and will give you full credit for the $766 you've already paid. ^

See <removed circular link post merge>, where we will merge your query. /Moderator

ok great thank you

Just got off the phone with AA, because it was a non-refundable ticket I did have to pay for the change fee. But it was still worth it to me rather than waiting it out.

Did you change anything (flight, etc)? If you have exact same flights but just an F fare now that change fee was wrong. If they charged it and you changed nothing you need to call them back and have it refunded. Make it clear you were upfaring to F and no change fee should have applied. It does NOT matter if the fare was nonrefundable.

Yes, all the flights are the same even the locator number. I will call them back. Thanks for that!

Newer agents may be clueless. Push for a supervisor but make it clear an UPFARE does not have a change fee.

ok you're right, there should have been no fee. BUT I was told to request a refund after the trip is completed. when I asked why? She said because they would have to reissue the ticket all over again. Does that sound right to you?
I asked for this in writing. She said it will be in my file and I can request the refund online.

Thanks again for this. I would never known!

It shouldn't be your problem that AA needs to reissue the ticket because the first agent, an AA employee, made an error.

I agree, but as long as I get refunded I don't care when it happens. How much of a pain in the :mad: do you think a refund will be?

Thanks again guys...I used your words exactly! haha

I'd get this done NOW.

The old "you can get a refund after travel" saw has no teeth, and can be a genuine hassle to secure.

OP - Do not wait. Can you imagine calling/writing AA some time from now and telling some anonymous person that another anonymous person told you that you could get the fee back afterwards?

Yes, the agent will need to reissue the ticket. But, so what? That is not your problem. Frankly, it is not even the agent's problem. The agent works a shift. If the agent spends an hour of a 10-hour shift fixing your booking, so be it.

As others note, call back. Now. If you do not get to yes, ask for a supervisor. Be polite but firm. This is an UPFARE, not a change and you should not have been charged.

Furthermore, reissuing the ticket really is not a big deal.