Is that true? I thought one could use it on a full Y fare.

Upgrades are only available for those with elite status. That said, you basically need Platinum Pro to have a hope of an upgrade, or to even have a shot at one EP. Unless someone is flying from Cowhide, AR to Bumble Eff, OH.

Does anyone know if there's been a change in policy for when 500-mile upgrades are deducted from your account? From past experience it's always been at departure. However, today I was upgraded for a flight tomorrow, and 2 upgrades seem to have already been deducted. It doesn't yet show in the "redeemed" section when I view the details, but my total number of upgrades available has decreased by 2.

When you upgrade with 500mile upgrades, what fare class do you end up in and how do you earn miles?

recent trip from JFK to MIA booked in V.

EQM: 1090
Award miles, base: 620
Award miles bonus: 372

I understand the EQM , but how was the bonus award miles calculated? V fares get only 50% so where does the 620 come from? And how do they calculate the 372? I have platinum status so I’m not sure where the 40% bonus is coming from.

But back to my main question, I booked my flight through chase, which uses Expedia. When the upgrade cleared two days before, chase sent an email saying that the Fare code was now R. Shouldn’t I be expecting more award miles from the 500-mile upgrade?

Yes when your upgrade clears AA will automatically deduct stickers. Now how you get them back if you didn't take that flight I'm not sure-is it automatic or would you need to call Customer Service. On the flip side stickers earned are posting with miles instead of the usual 24 hour lag.

I had a weird experience the other day which seems to indicate that they pull stickers when checking in, even if the upgrade hasn't occurred. I was traveling with my non-status wife on a domestic itinerary. After checking in and seeing that the upgrades might clear, I noticed that I only had 2 stickers left and the trip needed 3, so I purchased one more since I know they take time to process and become available. Turns out her upgrade didn't clear and this morning I now see 6 stickers in my account which leads me to believe they removed the stickers for her upgrade when checking in and then when the upgrade didn't occur, they redeposited them. Activity log on aa.com doesn't show the removal/redeposit, but I'm nearly 100% certain it occurred otherwise I wouldn't have purchased a sticker.

Kinda sounds like a credit card authorization at a hotel. A hold is put on for the required amount but not actually charged unless needed. If not needed, the hold's released and you get your money back.

Makes sense. AA "authorizes" the stickers so they know the upgrade will be covered if given. However, it appears as there's no "pending" status for the authorization to actually track it.

Good to know so folks can be aware of how many stickers they have ahead of time. I don't know if I would have noticed this as I typically travel by myself and would only know if i had the stickers to cover the request at booking. I wouldn't check again until after the trip to make sure everything was deducted correctly.

One issue I can see is if you request more upgrades than you have stickers on a trip. Will you run into trouble if the first leg doesn't clear but the second one does? Or will AA ask you to cover the missing stickers before upgrading?

Hello,

I'm a very new PP. I don't understand if I do the following can I upgrade my family member as a companion.

1. I am flying on a Main Cabin ticket BNA->DFW->LAS
2. I plan to purchase the same itinerary for family member as a Milesaaver award ticket.
3. I have plenty of stickers in my account, my family member has no elite status.

Can I link her trip to mine and upgrade her? I think if I had bought myself an award ticket I can't be upgraded, but I don't understand this situation with a companion award ticket.

Thanks

No, only EXP/CK can upgrade award tickets.

The only way to do this is to book a normal paid ticket for the family member. Then you can call AA and request an upgrade for them as your companion, based on your PP status and using your stickers.

One thing I've noticed as my last day of PLT. When you check in and have requested an upgrade AA will deduct those stickers from your account whether you clear or not. If you don't clear after flight the stickers show back in your account.

A favorable thing happened to me over the weekend when I had 3 flights. Flight one got me the 12.5K miles needed for 4 earned stickers while Flight two put me over the threshold for PP. By the next day I had the 4 stickers deposited, my status update as well as the status changed on my reservations and all future flights auto upgraded.

500-mile upgrades as a non-elite member
 

I have 20 500-mile upgrades in my account but am no longer an elite member due to a lapse in travel.

I just booked a non-Basic Economy ticket, but don't see an option online to request an upgrade using my 500-mile upgrades.
Is that expected?

Also, are 500-mile upgrades requestable via the AA app?

Thanks!

You cannot use 500 mi upgrades unless you have status, which is why you don't see any option to upgrade with them.

They never expire, so they will just sit in your account indefinitely. If you ever get status again then you can use them.

Ah, I have been elite for so long that I didn't know that. Thank you.
At least I'll earn Gold soon so I'll be able to use these for my future trips.

Will I be able to request them in the app? Not sure if the app has been enhanced to allow it.

Yes you can request in the app, very simple to do.

I just now learned the option for non elites to upgrade B and Y fares ended 3 1/2 years ago.
Thankfully, I have lifetime status

Like the 121 I have earned and literally can never use, more useless since they got rid of the process where they would give you miles for them if they could see you only fly on J or F where they are not required or to places where they are not valid.

Maybe I will start asking gate agents to randomly upgrade people with my 500 milers.

From my experience you cannot gift them to anyone. They are in limbo until you regain status.
it is also my understanding that they cannot be gifted like miles.

You can use them for companion upgrades (if you have status). If I fly with non-status colleagues I will add them to the upgrade list using my 500 mile stickers.

Well, considering B is now the fare code for basic economy on AA flights...that part of it shouldn't be surprising

If I am traveling with a non-status companion and sponsoring an upgrade for them on a sub-500 mile flight, is this complimentary for the companion like it would be for me, or will it cost me 1 500-mile sticker?

It will cost you one sticker, upgrades are not free for companions.

Need advice on a flight tomorrow. Companion is platinum, I am gold. On different PNRs. We called AA several months ago and set this up to link the PNRs and have the companion use her 500 mile upgrades for me. AAgent said she knew how to do this.

We are now a T-24 hours. My companion has been upgraded, but I have not. Would this happen if our PNRs were properly linked for a companion upgrade? Or if there is only one seat released, does the sponsoring companion get upgraded on her own rather than waiting until two seats open?

That's all in how the request is set up, but it can get tricky when both pax have a different status. The agent can set up the request so that either you both get upgraded or none, or that separate is ok if only one seat opens up. Looks like it was the latter in this case.

I second that. If upgrade was setup to split PNR in case there is only 1 seat - Plat will be upgraded first even tho they are companions since upgrade is prioritized by status.

why would this guy clear already?
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...32b4c5da8d.png

Many out of the ordinary reasons. Did you ask the gate agent?

i was just on the plane watching it

Maybe first four people were together and didn’t want to be split ?

Do jump seat assignments show on the app? I know you can usually see from the gate display.

Here’s a guess. #5 was #1 when they decided to begin clearing the list. If it was a rolling delay (which it doesn’t look like it was) that might have happened at T-30 from original departure. It is also possible it happened early because Y was oversold by 1 and they needed to make room in Y to accommodate people without seat assignments so they processed an upgrade early. Then, due to the flight being delayed maybe some higher status folks who arrived early for flight 504 decided to switch to the earlier flight and then got asked to be put on the upgrade list but after #5 already had been processed.

no the other 4 cleared right after. I guess she just did it backwards?

Probably a silly question: I'm PLT - travelling with a non-status companion who has 4 stickers from her days as elite. If we both clear, will they pull her stickers from her account, or from mine?

thx.

They should pull stickers from her account. If she doesn’t have enough stickers they will pull it from your account

Was it a 2 cabin aircraft or 3 cabin aircraft? I've seen that with 3 cabin aircraft.

2 cabin (Eagle).

I had problems getting them to pull her stickers - does anyone know the magic word, or coding, to get this done? It will save me $120 on our return...

thx.