No David, not for Plat it didn't.

Right. It's a system glitch. When Plat, I was twice offered the opportunity to request upgrades on award tickets.

Can AAgent Manually Upgrade using 500 Mile Upgrades?
 

Sorry if I missed this somewhere else.

I am traveling with my wife tomorrow. I am Plat, she is Gold. We are in the same record and cleared the first segment on 500 mile upgrades a the 48 hour window but the second did not. This morning I checked EF and saw that there was 1 seat available in C so I called AA figuring I would ask to agent to confirm availability and then split the record so I could be upgraded (read: Wife sits in F) and hopefully a second seat would open at he 24 hour mark for Golds. The agent confirmed availability and split the record as requested, then told me that she could not process the upgrade since 500 mile upgrades could only be processed "automatically by the system" so hopefully it would clear in a few minutes. I had never heard of this. Perhaps I should have HUCA, but I didn't. When I checked about an hour later, no upgrade and C availability was gone. The record was properly split and we are both on waitlisted for an upgrade).

Is the inability of the agent to process the upgrade something new or did I screw myself by not calling back? Not the end of he world, but I would like to know what is supposed to happen. As it stands now, Mrs. JeffD is no longer Plat for upgrade purposes so if I had known this was going to happen I probably would have left it alone. Did I miss something or is this the way it's supposed to work?

I have done it by phone.

Sorry. This was in reply to the question, how does one request that miles for an upgrade come from someone else's account. I have done it by phone to upgrade using my wife's miles.

I think you missed the point of my question. To me, what you have stated is the obvious. What I am inquiring about is the ability of the agent to immediately confirm a 500 mile upgrade if they show it available (which in this case, the agent confirmed it was) and the passenger is in the appropriate upgrade window. The agent told me she could not, and only the auto-upgrade system could upgrade using stickers. I had never been told that before so my question is whether or not that statement s true.

This was not a case of only one seat being available in J for sale (i.e. J1) and waiting for the gate agent to process an upgrade if the seat remained empty. The seat had already been released for upgrade (C1) within the 48 hours upgrade window If true, then there are multiple reasons why I didn't get the upgrade. If the agent was misinformed I want to know to avoid this problem in the future.

Domestic 500-mi upgrades need R space, not C. C is the inventory used for miles/copay or SWU upgrades and has nothing to do with your request for 500-mi upgrades.

It's very typical for AA to have C space but no R until right before departure. The AAgent was correct, if the flight was R1, then the system should have automatically processed your upgrade as soon as you split the PNR and went back on the upgrade list as a solo passenger. But in this case there was no R inventory to begin with, hence nothing for the system or AAgent to process.

I haven't followed what the latest update is on this, but I have a BA marketed AA operated flight. Is it possible to request to be added to the upgrade list either (1) over the phone (2) as the airport?

I do not think it has changed. Flight needs to be AA marketed and Operated to be upgrade eligible

to add, it likely was some confusion that caused this. To my knowledge AA does not release or post R inventory, only C.

so my guess is the Agent thought you were referring to instantly upgrading using SWU/miles+Copay which would have been possible as it was C1 (but likely R0).

You are correct. Miles and copay, and also for award flights. My wife flies far more than I do, and we push for her to remain EXPLAT because sometimes we both reap the benefits. So our strategy is for her to fly on paid tickets while I fly on awards with all the miles she has earned. I have been satisfied with my lifetime PLAT (2 MM), although now I might fly more on paid tickets to reach PLATPRO. Make sense?

HI there a quick question. I'm Explat this year but won't qualify for next year. When I was platinum, i would earn 500 mile upgrades to use, But as EP, I don't earn them because upgrades are free. What happens when I go back to platinum and don't have any upgrades in my account because they have expired.....

thanks

any 500 mile upgrades you earned prior to being EXP stay in your account. They do not expire.

they are available for use once you drop to PLT or lower. And you will start earning them again too