LAXGreg

I have a question. I booked online through my corporate booking tool and called to unfair with my credit card. I have done this many times in the past but now I am being told by the corporate agent that it is against their policy and they cannot unfair the ticket. Has anyone else run into this?

ryanbriar

If you are working with AA, I’ve had this happen where they can’t take over the reservation.

I’ve also run into this with my corporate plan. I’ve usually pushed back and said I’d use a different card with the same card issuer / make it clear that I’d pay the fare difference out of pocket. If that doesn’t work or would result in an out-of-policy note etc., I call back.

la2clt

You can call your corporate travel agency and pay them the fare difference. That should work.

Segments

Unless we are discussing a corporate policy that prohibits self paid upgrades. Some employers are known to include restrictions on even self paid upgrades due to image concerns. (social justice or stewardship of public/client funds)

Commie

I am new to flying with AA, always with Star Alliance/Air Canada, but the city that I need to fly for work is not very covered by AC/United, so I have no status with AA to priority board or upgrade, etc...
I've been booking the Main+ for my tickets, but the upgrade price to Business is not all that much more(less than $100). However, perception being everything, I don't want to submit an expense export with a business flight, the client is more than fine with Main+, but I don't want the perception having a business class fare. even though, the service level for these flights are not the fancy 'business' service (2 hour flights to middle of nowhere Alabama). I am more than happy to pay the difference for the upgrade, just to get the priority boarding and lounge access.

So my question is, when I first purchase the ticket, I get the Main+ and the receipts are fine. Can I then pay to upgrade after the issuing of the receipt? I see there is an option to upgrade at the time of booking. Then do I have to wait till check-in? I sometimes see the seats available for upgrade at check-in, and I do that. But most times all seats are filled.

FAA1996

I do this all the time. Book in Y, print receipt from website, and then I call in to upfare to J. I believe you may be able to do it online yourself so you don't have to call in.

Antarius

There are a few types of upgrades

1. Upgrade offers - after you book, you'll likely get an offer if the flight isn't full
2. Upfare- you pay the fare difference between the two classes

Either way, book the flight in Y, get receipt. Then access your booking and try to upgrade. If it lets you, great. If not, call AA and they'll do it for you.

this is very common. So should be easy to get AA to sort it

JJeffrey

You can definitely just call AA after you book the economy ticket and pay the fare difference to business.

Sometimes the offers at booking (and after you book) to buy-up to business class are less than the actual fare difference, if this is the case then the only way you can get that price is buying the upgrade at booking or online after booking.

Another option would be to utilize the free 24 hour cancellation period for expense reporting purposes. Buy the economy ticket, get the receipt, then cancel it for a full refund within 24 hours. Then just rebook again but pay the extra for business class. Use the original economy class receipt for expense reimbursement.

JJeffrey

Dupe.

Commie

thanks all, I see that upgrade option now on the AA website. lol
I had received an email from them that upgrades were available, but when I click on the link, I couldn't find where/how to upgrade. Turns out I didn't scroll down the page far enough to see the upgrade options.

salut0

Is it possible to book an economy fare and ticket it, and then call back to pay the difference without a change fee between that fare and the domestic first class fare? Want to have two separate transactions on the credit card because travel policy will only cover economy but am considering paying extra for the BA tier points that first class would earn.

Are there any restrictions on doing this? Does the "new" ticket book into the correct first class paid bucket and not some sort of upgraded bucket?

Also, can you do this for the difference between basic economy and first class or only for the difference between main cabin and first class?

Route is NYC-WAS, if that makes a difference...

Antarius

There are no change fees on domestic flights. So, yes, you can do exactly what you proposed.

For BE, I believe you will need to cancel and rebook.

If you book Y and upfare to discount J, paying the fare difference, then it will be reticketed in whatever fare bucket you pay to upfare to.

USFlyerUS

If you have to book the economy ticket with your corporate travel agent, AA will charge a $50 fee to 'take over' the ticket and do the change you request. However, your CTA should be able to do the upfare too, but I've found finding a CTA who understands what you are trying to do (i.e., that you're paying the difference out of pocket and not trying to violate policy) can be a challenge.

Geordie405

I did exactly this a few weeks ago for a work trip from LAS - LAX and return. I booked the economy ticket via our Expedia portal. Once it was issued I went into the reservation on aa.com (primarily to just add the day of travel contact information and send the flight details to my calendar) and I was offered an upgrade to First for $150 round trip. I clicked on the link and paid the $150 with my personal credit card and was reticketed into J class. There's an option on aa.com to send you the itinerary and it will show the fare class you're booked into. That confirmed it was J and, once flown, both flights credited to my BAEC as 40 tier points. I have, however, had issues with AA taking over tickets booked via an OTA (in my case, it was Citi / ThankYou points) where AA refused and I had to do everything via the OTA (which was an absolute nightmare). One other option that I have used with our portal is that it allows me to specify two different charge codes for the ticket - so I assign the value of the coach ticket one GL code and the upgrade differential to my personal charge code. I then reimburse the personal charge either via a cheque or payroll deduction.

VegasGambler

I think he's looking for an upfare rather than an upgrade