Jan 2, 2013, 4:01 am
Last edit by: Prospero
Glossary:
500 mile upgrades: earned by Gold and Platinum Elites, can be used to upgrade segments in 500 mile increments of North and Central America, Caribbean flights from Economy to the next class of service.. Read below.
e500: Occasional nickname used for 500 mile upgrades.
Electronic or 500 mile upgrades: non-expiring electronic instruments used for near Americas and Caribbean elite upgrades; please read below.
MTEU: Miles Toward Electronic Upgrades. The MTEU earning year zeroes February 28.
Stickers: Holdover name from when 500 mile upgrades were actual stickers applied to tickets when upgraded.
UDU: Unlimited Domestic Upgrades granted EXP and PRO members in lieu of earning or using 500 mile upgrades. (Consequently, they do not earn “stickers”.)
Related thread: End of Feb insufficient miles for 4 500 mile upgrade stickers (2017). (Requesting "stickers" for incremental MTEU threshold accomplishment.)
NOTE: CHANGES in effect as of 1 January 2017:
Upgrade priority:
Platinum Pro status holders join Executive Platinum members with complimentary "Unlimited Domestic Upgrades / UDU.
Companions:
ONE passenger traveling with you can “borrow” your status for upgrade purposes. They do not have to be on the same PNR. When this is done, you’ll not be upgraded unless sufficient upgrade seats become available to upgrade two (or more) people. This link often is broken when the flight control goes to the airport, and it can be reestablished there (e.g. at the gate). A good clue that the link has broken is if you’re #1 or 2 and your companion is significantly below that on the upgrade list, such as #11. Finally, because of IT flaws, the 500 mile upgrades for your traveling companion will by necessity come from your account, even if your companion has their own “stickers”. This has not been true for some time, if your companion has status, the system will try to pull the stickers from the companion's account. If there are not enough stickers, you will have to check-in at the airport to have stickers pulled from your account
For questions about whether to split or consolidate PNRs for itineraries involving multiple parties, please see this thread:
Companion upgrade issues including "link" / split PNR for status etc. (master thread)
Link to aa.com 500 mile upgrades (AKA "stickers") page.
Link to aa.com to "Upgrade your experience".
500 mile upgrades: earned by Gold and Platinum Elites, can be used to upgrade segments in 500 mile increments of North and Central America, Caribbean flights from Economy to the next class of service.. Read below.
e500: Occasional nickname used for 500 mile upgrades.
Electronic or 500 mile upgrades: non-expiring electronic instruments used for near Americas and Caribbean elite upgrades; please read below.
MTEU: Miles Toward Electronic Upgrades. The MTEU earning year zeroes February 28.
Stickers: Holdover name from when 500 mile upgrades were actual stickers applied to tickets when upgraded.
UDU: Unlimited Domestic Upgrades granted EXP and PRO members in lieu of earning or using 500 mile upgrades. (Consequently, they do not earn “stickers”.)
Related thread: End of Feb insufficient miles for 4 500 mile upgrade stickers (2017). (Requesting "stickers" for incremental MTEU threshold accomplishment.)
NOTE: CHANGES in effect as of 1 January 2017:
Upgrade priority:
- Elite tier
- Systemwide and Mileage award upgrades
- Business Extra and certain Agency upgrade certificates
- 500-mile / courtesy DODU / UDU upgrades on purchased tickets
- 500-mile upgrades on PRO, EXP award tickets
- Last 12 month rolling EAD spend
- Fare code
- Date if purchase
Platinum Pro status holders join Executive Platinum members with complimentary "Unlimited Domestic Upgrades / UDU.
- Usable to upgrade from Economy to next class of service (Not Business to First)
- Flights 500 miles or less: Unlimited, auto-requested complimentary upgrades*
- Flights over 500 miles: Complimentary "domestic" (North & Central America, Caribbean) upgrades
- Upgrade one companion traveling with you on the same flight with 500-mile upgrades*
Companions:
ONE passenger traveling with you can “borrow” your status for upgrade purposes. They do not have to be on the same PNR. When this is done, you’ll not be upgraded unless sufficient upgrade seats become available to upgrade two (or more) people. This link often is broken when the flight control goes to the airport, and it can be reestablished there (e.g. at the gate). A good clue that the link has broken is if you’re #1 or 2 and your companion is significantly below that on the upgrade list, such as #11. Finally, because of IT flaws, the 500 mile upgrades for your traveling companion will by necessity come from your account, even if your companion has their own “stickers”. This has not been true for some time, if your companion has status, the system will try to pull the stickers from the companion's account. If there are not enough stickers, you will have to check-in at the airport to have stickers pulled from your account
For questions about whether to split or consolidate PNRs for itineraries involving multiple parties, please see this thread:
Companion upgrade issues including "link" / split PNR for status etc. (master thread)
Link to aa.com 500 mile upgrades (AKA "stickers") page.
Link to aa.com to "Upgrade your experience".
AA "Sticker" / 500-mile & EXP "UDU" Complimentary Upgrade Policy / FAQ
Dec 19, 2019, 7:25 am
#331
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: MDE
Programs: AA-PLT, HH-GLD, PP
Posts: 1,511
Dec 19, 2019, 5:10 pm
#332
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Seattle
Programs: AAdvantage Plat+, FoundersCard, Amex Plat, TR Diamond, Marriott Gold, Wyndham Dia, HH Gold, Hertz 5*
Posts: 785
I am Platinum Pro and will be flying with no-status Mrs Huge in 5 days, both on revenue tix purchased together on one record: STT-MIA / MIA-SAN. Upgrades for her are already shown as requested online, and will cost 3x 500-mile stickers for STT-MIA and 5x stickers for MIA-SAN.
Mrs Huge has 20x 500-mile upgrade stickers in her account from a previous status challenge. I only have four, and I will drop to Gold next year and she will remain without status. If we both manage to get upgraded we would much prefer to spend her stickers rather than mine, and in fact I don't have enough to upgrade her on the second leg of our trip. Is there any way to make sure that her stickers are used if she can be upgraded? (Or will that happen automatically?)
Mrs Huge has 20x 500-mile upgrade stickers in her account from a previous status challenge. I only have four, and I will drop to Gold next year and she will remain without status. If we both manage to get upgraded we would much prefer to spend her stickers rather than mine, and in fact I don't have enough to upgrade her on the second leg of our trip. Is there any way to make sure that her stickers are used if she can be upgraded? (Or will that happen automatically?)
Thanks for any continuing advice...
Dec 19, 2019, 5:23 pm
#333
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,462
Well, I called AA and was told that we would definitely have to spend MY 500-mile upgrades to upgrade Mrs Huge. I just learned that we have been upgraded for the first segment (STT-MIA) which will cost 3 of my 4 stickers. I also just learned that we will be flying on "Oasis" retrofitted aircraft for the first segment (and probably for the second MIA-SAN as well). With all the complaints about Oasis first class seating, it's possible we might want to just reject the upgrade and move Mrs Huge (or maybe even both of us) back to Row 17 - 2nd exit row. I assume that's doable if we make that decision (I posted in the Oasis thread to get opinions there) but I don't know how or when to do it - should I call AA and tell them to shove their upgrade? Or should I wait until we're at the airport and tell them that if we can't spend Mrs Huge's stickers on the upgrade(s) we don't want them?
Thanks for any continuing advice...
Thanks for any continuing advice...
And Oasis F stinks (compared to non-Oasis F) but is still way more comfortable that Oasis Y, I certainly wouldn't reject an upgrade on an itinerary like STT-MIA-SAN on the basis of getting an Oasis vs. non-Oasis F cabin.
Dec 20, 2019, 7:48 am
#334
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Seattle
Programs: AAdvantage Plat+, FoundersCard, Amex Plat, TR Diamond, Marriott Gold, Wyndham Dia, HH Gold, Hertz 5*
Posts: 785
Whenever you are flying with a companion and they inherit your status, the stickers must come from your account. You might be able to get an airport agent to override this, but YMMV.
And Oasis F stinks (compared to non-Oasis F) but is still way more comfortable that Oasis Y, I certainly wouldn't reject an upgrade on an itinerary like STT-MIA-SAN on the basis of getting an Oasis vs. non-Oasis F cabin.
And Oasis F stinks (compared to non-Oasis F) but is still way more comfortable that Oasis Y, I certainly wouldn't reject an upgrade on an itinerary like STT-MIA-SAN on the basis of getting an Oasis vs. non-Oasis F cabin.
At what point will the 3 stickers be deducted from my account for the STT-MIA upgrade? At OLCI or at airport checkin?
Dec 20, 2019, 11:50 am
#335
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,462
Thanks for the guidance - assuming we don't get offered upgrades on our second leg we'll just take the upgrades we've got and try to get them to override where they take the upgrades from when we get to the airport (and probably fail).
At what point will the 3 stickers be deducted from my account for the STT-MIA upgrade? At OLCI or at airport checkin?
At what point will the 3 stickers be deducted from my account for the STT-MIA upgrade? At OLCI or at airport checkin?
Dec 24, 2019, 10:43 pm
#336
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Seattle
Programs: AAdvantage Plat+, FoundersCard, Amex Plat, TR Diamond, Marriott Gold, Wyndham Dia, HH Gold, Hertz 5*
Posts: 785
Well, I called AA and was told that we would definitely have to spend MY 500-mile upgrades to upgrade Mrs Huge. I just learned that we have been upgraded for the first segment (STT-MIA) which will cost 3 of my 4 stickers. I also just learned that we will be flying on "Oasis" retrofitted aircraft for the first segment (and probably for the second MIA-SAN as well). With all the complaints about Oasis first class seating, it's possible we might want to just reject the upgrade and move Mrs Huge (or maybe even both of us) back to Row 17 - 2nd exit row. I assume that's doable if we make that decision (I posted in the Oasis thread to get opinions there) but I don't know how or when to do it - should I call AA and tell them to shove their upgrade? Or should I wait until we're at the airport and tell them that if we can't spend Mrs Huge's stickers on the upgrade(s) we don't want them?
We got to STT and told the check-in agent that we wanted Mrs Huge's upgrade to be paid for out of her stickers (not really expecting it to work). She was very nice and helpful, just not super knowledgeable about upgrades - she called twice to the "help desk" and basically told them that something had gone wrong and that they needed to transfer 3 upgrades from Mrs Huge's account to mine, and they told her they would do it - no muss, no fuss. I was not all that confident that it would happen, but within an hour I could see on our accounts that it had been done (a few hours later the transfer had been reversed, but then in another couple hours it was un-reversed). So it's like a little Caribbean Christmas Miracle. I doubt we could repeat the process - it was a perfect storm of ignorance and helpfulness, and we benefited.
On the second leg I was upgraded but Mrs Huge was not, so the sticker issue did not come up, but we got another dumb-luck windfall. We got on the plane (I let her have my F seat because I'm a giver) and sat there for half an hour, not sure what the delay was. They announced that they needed two volunteers to get off the plane and fly the next (yesterday) morning and that they would pay us $675 each and give us a hotel room (Miami). Mrs Huge stood up and looked back at me and I gave her the thumbs up and she told the F attendant we would take it - someone else in F told her "you should get more than that" and the attendant said she probably could get us more. We got off the plane and listened as the attendant called whoever and told them she wanted to give us more money, got off the phone and said she was giving us $1200 each in vouchers (plus hotel room, plus $12 each in food credit for airport or hotel). We tried to get them to book one or both of us in F, but all they could do was put us on the upgrade list for MIA-DFW-SAN. We missed the upgrade for MIA-DFW (sad since it was lie-flat 777) but our bulkhead seats were quite nice, and then DFW-SAN again I got the last upgrade (and gave it away AGAIN) so we didn't have to spend any more stickers or try to weasel them out of Mrs Huge's stash.
All in all a pretty lucky outcome - now we just need to figure out how to spend $2400 in AA credit
Dec 25, 2019, 6:51 am
#337
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: PHL, NYC
Programs: AA PLT, DL SLV, UA SLV, MR LTT, HH DIA
Posts: 10,065
Does AA ever give cash/AMEX/VISA gift cards? Delta often gives AMEX gift cards as compensation for this sort of thing which is basically like cash since you can spend it almost anywhere.
Jan 10, 2020, 5:51 am
#338
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: AA EXP; 1W Emerald; HHonors Diamond; Marriott Gold; UA dirt
Posts: 7,816
Earning 500 mile stickers after status downgrade
Fast question. If downgrading from EXP or PRO to Plat or Gold owing to missing qualification, do miles flown in January (when you're still technically EXP or PRO) count towards sticker earnings for the rest of the year?
Jan 10, 2020, 6:43 am
#339
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2006
Programs: AAdvantage PP
Posts: 13,913
No miles towards stickers would start on February 1. In fact if you were a GLD or PLT on 2/1 the counter resets although some have had success calling in and getting prorated stickers based upon miles earned towards 5 mile certs..
Jan 27, 2020, 12:32 pm
#341
Join Date: Feb 2000
Posts: 6,545
does AA still clear EXP complimentary upgrades in advance or is it all pretty much now assigned at-the-gate?
wondering if there's any point in buying an AA ticket from Expedia on a Friday for a flight the following Monday showing I7 inventory.
Expedia allows cancellation until 1159PM Monday, so there's zero risk in waiting until a few hours before departure to cancel if the upgrade doesn't clear.
just wondering if it's a waste of time to even think AA clears the freebie upgrades prior to at-the-gate.
would book a backup flight in J cabin also from Expedia on a different airline if AA doesn't clear the freebie upgrade in advance.
wondering if there's any point in buying an AA ticket from Expedia on a Friday for a flight the following Monday showing I7 inventory.
Expedia allows cancellation until 1159PM Monday, so there's zero risk in waiting until a few hours before departure to cancel if the upgrade doesn't clear.
just wondering if it's a waste of time to even think AA clears the freebie upgrades prior to at-the-gate.
would book a backup flight in J cabin also from Expedia on a different airline if AA doesn't clear the freebie upgrade in advance.
Jan 27, 2020, 12:32 pm
#342
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Nottingham, UK
Programs: HHonors - Diamond, AA - EXP
Posts: 150
does AA still clear EXP complimentary upgrades in advance or is it all pretty much now assigned at-the-gate?
wondering if there's any point in buying an AA ticket from Expedia on a Friday for a flight the following Monday showing I7 inventory.
Expedia allows cancellation until 1159PM Monday, so there's zero risk in waiting until a few hours before departure to cancel if the upgrade doesn't clear.
just wondering if it's a waste of time to even think AA clears the freebie upgrades prior to at-the-gate.
would book a backup flight in J cabin also from Expedia on a different airline.
wondering if there's any point in buying an AA ticket from Expedia on a Friday for a flight the following Monday showing I7 inventory.
Expedia allows cancellation until 1159PM Monday, so there's zero risk in waiting until a few hours before departure to cancel if the upgrade doesn't clear.
just wondering if it's a waste of time to even think AA clears the freebie upgrades prior to at-the-gate.
would book a backup flight in J cabin also from Expedia on a different airline.
Jan 27, 2020, 12:44 pm
#343
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: BGI | MIA
Programs: AA Platinum Pro | Hyatt Globalist | HH Diamond | SPG Gold
Posts: 316
does AA still clear EXP complimentary upgrades in advance or is it all pretty much now assigned at-the-gate?
wondering if there's any point in buying an AA ticket from Expedia on a Friday for a flight the following Monday showing I7 inventory.
Expedia allows cancellation until 1159PM Monday, so there's zero risk in waiting until a few hours before departure to cancel if the upgrade doesn't clear.
just wondering if it's a waste of time to even think AA clears the freebie upgrades prior to at-the-gate.
would book a backup flight in J cabin also from Expedia on a different airline if AA doesn't clear the freebie upgrade in advance.
wondering if there's any point in buying an AA ticket from Expedia on a Friday for a flight the following Monday showing I7 inventory.
Expedia allows cancellation until 1159PM Monday, so there's zero risk in waiting until a few hours before departure to cancel if the upgrade doesn't clear.
just wondering if it's a waste of time to even think AA clears the freebie upgrades prior to at-the-gate.
would book a backup flight in J cabin also from Expedia on a different airline if AA doesn't clear the freebie upgrade in advance.
i honestly think it just depends on if AA thinks it can sell those F seats for full fare. If they think they can, they won’t upgrade early.
Feb 8, 2020, 5:04 am
#345
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: DSM
Programs: AA Platinum, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Platinum, Fairmont Platinum, United Silver, National Exec
Posts: 1,035
Can I transfer 500 mile e-certs?
I have a ton of 500 mile upgrade e-certificates in my account. I never use them. Is there any way I can transfer some of them to my wife's account?