You have to call. Put your reservation on Hold. Call and have it upfared to the desired class. Then complete your purchase online.

(I know, I know, I need to get this into the FAQ.)

Thread now merged into the existing thread on 'upfaring' - please see Page 1 for more info.
/Moderator

Thanks!

For now, I've added a link to this thread from the OP of the Challenge Help Desk thread for quicker reference.

I have tried changing my fare class from Q (deep discount economy) to any discount economy fare class so I gan get 1 EQP instead of 0.5 EQP.
The reservation is on hold, I have called twice, being transferred from CS desk, to meeting services, to web services and back. No success.

It is possible to upfare, but for a $400+ plus fare difference (there this is no change fee since the reservation is on hold and is not ticketed.

:(

AA.COM does not allow u to pick a higher fare coach bucket (AA does not want the xtra $)the way DL.COM does. U need to hold and than call AA and have them change it and ticket it.

I'm confused - you say "No success." but then "It is possible to upfare..." Obviously, you will always have to pay the fare difference when upfaring.

I have two PNRs already ticketed, but now I am trying to 'upfare.' Each flight may change a few more times before I actually depart due to the wonderful world of business, so going to a full refundable fare for each PNR. Currently I have a discount non-refundable fare.

I am going to try to talk to one or two operators and hopefully one will be able to waive the $150 change fee, per ticket, for me since I am going to be paying a little more to 'upfare' two separate journeys.

Think I have any hope or waste of time to try to get fee waived? Thanks!

This is exactly why AA does not waive the change fee- it would be a backdoor way to refunding an nonrefundable ticket.

Oh well, no use for me to take time doing it. I'll just cancel the tickets and rebook fresh with full-fares on a different airline. Little by little I am taking my status to another airline.

YESS! The rep talked to her 'help desk' and they were able to waive the change fees and 'upfare' me. And this was the first operator/rep I got! The return trip for one of the PNRs not available at fare code I was looking at and the available one was a lot more in price though.

I would ask at least. Recently I changed a non-refundable economy fare to a business fare. This situation may be a little different since it was international (US-NRT) and because I was changing class of travel, but I was told I would not be waived the ($250) change fee to go to a non-refundable business fare, but that it was policy to waive the fee when changing to a refundable fare (FWIW, I paid the $6000 inc fee upfare for non-refundable rather than the $8000 for a refundable fare).

If the policy does indeed extend to domestic same travel class, the kicker will be that the portion of the fare that was the original ticket will remain non-refundable ($150 fee plus voucher) in the case of cancellation. However, AFAIK, you will be able to change the flights/dates of travel without a fee once you upfare. This information has come from FT and you might be able to search for more information, or others with hands-on experience could chip in.

Edit: a little late (slow typing) given the post above, but I think the second paragraph may still be relevant

Thanks for sharing beerup. I think in future I will be booking at full fares for all work related travel just in case of changes such as this. And here I was trying to save the gov't money...

Well, this one seems to have worked out. Still, if you're going to take your business to "another airline" each time a particular airline doesn't do just what you want, you'll soon run out of airlines. All will fail somewhere along the way.

Btw, not defending AA here. Had they not done what you wanted to do, it would have been a stupid move on their part, IMO. Still...

Cheers.

Currently have a L/H fare NYC-CUN ticket for $808. There's now an I fare on that route for $951 all-in. Probably wouldn't have trouble clearing as an EXP but I'm traveling with someone who is already up front (on my miles). So I may consider paying $143 just to confirm it, get seats with her, etc. With a few bonus points, $143 sounds reasonable. But I'm not going to pay $293.

Any experiences with the EXP desk waiving the $150 fee when upfaring in this fashion?

At the end of the day, I'm almost certain to get the seat for free, so its almost certainly a free $143 to AA. But then again, airlines pricing often gives up revenue opportunities due to the nature of policies which have to be rigid?

Gah. Just tried this. Put a reservation on hold, called AA, got an upfare ($40 difference and I have a personal $100 voucher so I don't feel guilty).

Go online to buy: aa.com tells me there's a lower price now available and there's no choice but to buy it.

Ugh.