ARCHIVE: AA "instant upgrade" (-UP, YUP) fare discount First (master thd)
 

I saw on their website that you can buy an instant upgrade ticket for 600 dollars one way to San Fransico while a first class ticket is around 1600 dollars. When you buy the instant upgrade ticket do you get upgraded to the next class of service say business class or first class if only two classes? What am I missing.

"Instant upgrade" tickets are KUP or YUP fares that book into discounted premium cabin inventory. If the flight in question is marketed with three classes of service, you will be in Business Class. If the flight is marketed with two classes, you will be in First Class. So, yes, it's an instant upgrade to the next class of service.


This thread belongs in the AA forum.

And, here it is...

You get upgraded as Espen36 says, and you earn 1.5 Elite Qualifying Points per mile, etc. as if you were on a Business or First fare. Often, you will notice, these are cheaper than unrestricted coach / economy fares.

But they don't go to San Fransico, nor should you cal lit "Frisco" - tehy do go to San Francisco / SFO. (Glad I am not the only one whu makes typoes. ;))

The other difference is that if something goes wrong and you are put on a different flight in coach, they don't owe you anything. And some agents get confused about whether it is a paid first class ticket (it is) vs. a coach ticket with a free upgrade. It matters when determining the order of upgrades on your rerouted flight.

They usually book into "I" for biz (on rare occasions "D"), or A or P on 2 class flts. Although the underlying fare is usually a Y or K basis.

For reaccommodations, I've always suspected that "I" was accommodated in premium cabins above others ticketed using upgrade instruments booked into C, A, X, or R rebooking priority. Perhaps someone with more first hand experience can confirm that.

I have never purchased an "Instant Upgrade" ticket but I do have "first-hand" experience by way of listening to conversations between AAngels and passengers with such tickets.

When one of the SFO-JFK flights was cancelled and passengers were rebooked, one irritated passenger inquired as to why he was booked in coach though he had booked a Business Class ticket while others had been booked in F/J on other flights. The AAngel informed him that because he had an "Instant Upgrade" ticket, he received lower priority for the limited First Class seats than did those who had purchased the non-instant upgrade premium class tickets. She said that they would try to accommodate him in First Class and he would have priority above elites requesting upgrades but he was not guaranteed anything.

Because IRROPs are not always so "irregular", I would never purchase an "I" fare. When you use miles+copay to upgrade, you are entitled to a refund (of miles/copay)if you are not accommodated. When you use stickers, your stickers are refunded. I would feel uncomfortable paying 4x the price of a coach ticket only to sit in coach and be entitled to nothing more.

Instant upgrade fares are also sometimes eligible for promotions such as the current TRNSN 12500 miles for one way travel in business class between SFO and JFK. Regular economy tickets are not eligible for this promo.

Thanks to the other posters for pointing out that Y-up fares are not guaranteed for class of service during irregular ops. I'd be pretty disappointed if that happened to me and there was no financial recourse.

Well, it kinda works that way. On an "instant upgrade" fare SAT-DFW-SMF, weather happened in DFW, the EXP agent messed up big time and did not book me on the next flight in an F seat, so when I showed up to pick up my boarding pass at the Admirals Club some time later, no cigar.

My choices were to wait until the next day (no hotel voucher - weather, remember?) or take Y seats to SFO. So, one can usually wait for the next F seats to be available, which might be some time in the future, or take Y seats on the next available flight. No guarantees, that's right. OTOH, under more normal conditions, they can work out quite well.

Do instant upgrade tickets always book into I class? I got a deal from SFO-JFK-MIA-MGA that booked into I class for business. However when I went to purchase the actual tickets there was three columns: Instant Upgrade, Business Special, and Business Flexible. I purchased Business Special, so I guess I would still have higher priority than a Y-up fare?

Yes. "Business Special" means that you're actually purchasing an I fare.

"Instant Upgrade" means you're purchasing a YUP fare that instantly books into I inventory, but it's still a Y fare.

So, to play it safe, buy the "Business Special" if you're worried about maintaining the upgrade in the event of IRROPS.

Maybe I've just gotten lucky, but I purchase Y-up tickets often and have never had an issue being re-accommodated in F in cases of irrops on AA. I can't imagine myself paying for full F when Y-up is available...

On DL, they usually make a comment about how "it's not really a first class ticket."

If I purchased a ticket that booked directly into "I" or "A" or "P" class, and then got involuntarily downgraded, and AA refused to refund me the difference to the lowest available coach fare on that flight, you can bet there would be a lawsuit. I might even make it a class action, because I'm sure they've tried to screw other people this way.

Think of it this way: I can buy a "Q" fare and confirm a seat in economy for $200 (one-way), or I can buy an "I" fare and confirm a seat in business class for $1000. I choose the $1000 "I" fare. If something happens and I end up flying in coach, I will be arguing for an $800 refund. What jury will refuse? The argument is pretty straightforward in the absence of any explicit language in the fare rules or contract of carriage indicating otherwise.

I'd point out that there are $2,200 one-way -UP fares on JFK-SFO that book into D inventory (fare basis YA0UPDMR). If you think AA can get away with providing coach service at that fare with no fare differential refund, you're sorely mistaken.

Good luck with your law suit.
On the day you are potentially downgraded the lowest coach fare available is probably higher than your UP fare.

Think of it this way. If you read the rules and conditions (the same rules you agree to by buying the ticket) of the *UP fares, it clearly spells out you may be accomodated in the Y cabin.

Where? Do tell.

Even if it did, there's a difference between being "accommodated in the Y cabin" and being "accommodated in the Y cabin without any appropriate refund".

If you're on an F fare basis, you can be accommodated in the Y cabin if there are no seats left. But you will get an appropriate refund.