I was trying to redeem them on the 31st, but they were already gone, maybe time difference. Emailed them, they said they will post them back to my account in 10-15 days. Was nice of them.

I have some Business ExtrAA points saved up, and had some questions about award redemptions.

1. All flight awards are valid for round-trips, right? I'm pretty sure this is correct, but want to make sure I'm not misinterpreting "valid for one-way or round-trip travel."

2. Can planAAhead Economy award flights be upgraded with the BXP1 upgrade? ie. I want to book a flight that has C/A availability only in 1 direction, can I book a BX1A award and upgrade the segment with availability with the BXP1? My guess is no, since I think the BX1A award books into non-upgradable T.

3. Same question as 2, but booked as an AAnytime Economy ticket (into Y)? Goal being getting the ticket for 5000 + 650 * # of segments vs 8000 for the AAnytime J or 12000 for the AAnytime F ticket.

4. I have noticed a random person recently began appearing in my Business ExtrAA flight history, and I seem to be getting credit for their flights. Is this a glitch, or did they get the BX number wrong? Do I take the points and let it slide?

Thanks for an informative thread.

It be nicer if they would give you until midnight in your timezone :)
On the other hand, I simply forgot to use them.... I would have blown them on something not needed. Now, I can take my time, and use them and my other points for better awards.

1. Yes, only roundtrip awards, but you aren't forced to fly roundtrip
2. You can't use a BE upgrade award on to upgrade an AAdvantage award
2. You can't use a BE upgrade award on to upgrade an AAdvantae award
4. Someone probably confused another account number. The honest thing to do would be to contact BE and let them know. I am sure you would contact BE if you were missing miles. What you choose to do depends on you.

An update. First they told me 10-15 business days. After 3 weeks they told me the wait period didn't start until Jan 14, as that is when the reinstatement offer ended. Sometime within the last day or so, I got my points back. So, it took over 4 weeks from my request date.

Business ExtrAA Award Flight Rules
 

A few more questions about the award flight rules. From what I have read it seems the rules regarding Business ExtrAA award flights are different than for normal AAdvantage award flights, but I can't find any specifics.

I am thinking about using a flight award for an upcoming trip, but I may have to change my return date depending on some other factors. Does anyone know how changes are handled, or whether they are even allowed? What is the change fee? If I rebook for some far off date (but within a year) and there is a schedule change, do half the points get re-deposited?

Booking - I noticed Business ExtrAA still uses planAAhead instead of MileSAAver. Is there any difference in availability between what comes up searching for award flights on aa.com and the Business ExtrAA awards? Can I plan out a flight on aa.com, selecting a planAAhead or AAnytime award as appropriate, then place it on hold and give the PNR to the Meeting Services desk to complete the booking?


I'm planning on calling Meeting Services on Monday morning to ask about all of this, but if anyone can answer the above questions it would help my planning significantly.
Thanks!

When I called for an award to MEX once, I was given a list of flights that did not include the one I had waned and found in a search of Mileagesaver awards at aa.com. The availability showed up before, after, and during our call, so it's not like it wasn't there. After much discussion, I finally got them to book the desired flights. The flights book into the same bookiing class as aadvantage awards, so I don't understand why they had difficulty in booking the flights I wanted. I look forward to seeing an update after you call on Monday. It would be really great if we could hold the equivalent aadvantage award online, then call meeting services for ticketing with BE points.

Now that one can add their BE number to their aa.com profile, I've been noticing that it will be there for a while and then disappears. I've gone back and put it in several times, and it will be there for a while, then disappear. Has anyone else noticed this?

On the BE website, the way they describe this new functionality, it makes it sound as if all flights booked on aa.com will automatically receive BE credit if the BE number is saved in the profile. I'm always so nervous that the number drops out of reservations once made, too.

Called the Meeting Services desk tonight and the agent was able to answer most of my questions.

Change fee: No change fee on AAnytime awards. $150 change fee on PlanAAhead awards.

Schedule change: Rebooked at no charge. Responsible for any additional taxes on new itinerary.

Points redeposited in event of schedule change? - Agent didn't know, and advised me to contact Business ExtrAA customer service in the morning. (Number is 1-800-457-7072. It's on the website, but it took me awhile to find it.)

Award availability: No restrictions on AAnytime awards, if you can purchase the seat you can get it with the award. Agent was unfamiliar with the AAdvantage award rules, but confirmed that BE planAAhead awards and AAdvantage MileSAAver awards come out of the same inventory. I'll ask customer service again tomorrow.

Booking: Can use the award flight finder to search for availability, but agents cannot book using PNR, as they use an entirely separate reservation system.

I'll confirm all of this with Business ExtrAA customer service tomorrow. I also forgot to ask about the routing rules, although I have a feeling these can only be used for simple RTs. I wish that redeem for AA miles option was still available.

The above is true. Award inventory is essentially the same (Z, U, T, etc classes). But beware that you cannot use non-AA metal. No partners, no codeshares. And routing regulations can be cumbersome. For example, a "North American" BE ticket to Europe is not valid, for example, from Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, which is usually under North America for ADV purposes. So call before you want to use your points and make sure you get the redemption right. All in all, the program is a pain to use but you are getting something free for nothing (except your time). YMMV.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry9630/5.0.0.975 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

Are change fees waived for EXP?

Spoke with Business ExtrAA customer service today. They confirmed what Meeting Services said about Change Fees and booking. They further clarified that in the event of a schedule change or WX cancellation that points can be redeposited, and that they will refund half the points if you have already used half of a RT ticket.

The customer service rep also stated that AAnytime awards have no restrictions as long as seats are available, while planAAhead availability is not always the same as milesAAver availability. I asked for clarification and they transferred me to meeting services, who said it depends on the flight.

Similar to mvoight's experience, when I was checking availability for my planAAhead flight, some of the flights they had available were different than what shows as available online. Interestingly, one of the flights they offered (on a planAAhead coach award) showed T/0 on EF, while another one they said wasn't available showed T/7. I hope I would have been able to get that T/7 flight if I needed to. On one hand it is nice to have the expanded availability, but it makes planning more difficult when you have to call and check on every flight. If anyone has received a better explanation from an agent on how availability is determined, please post.

I didn't see the question about EXP until after I called. A quick call to meeting services could probably confirm that.

I paid $150 to redeposit and award. I was told there was no exemption for EXP... However, this was shortly after AA had announced it for AAdvantage awards, so maybe it exists now.. Much about this program isn't documented. On the other hand, the redeposit was for an award I got on the last day before the points would have expired. I then waited until the award was almost 1 year old before booking... so those points would have been long gone.

This does seem a bit illogical. I would love to hear an official explanation for that behavior, especially since the BE award will also book into the same class.

American Business Services Said Upgrade was Confirmed but wasn’t
 

Hello.

I think I’ll just have to use this as a learning experience to always double check the upgrade but here is what happened.

I’m a member of American’s Business Extra program. I had a one segment upgrade that I was using for my friend that expired on 12/31/10. He was on a M class ticket and I check on EF that A inventory was available for the upgrade for a flight on 12/27. I called the Meeting Services desk to request the upgrade 2 weeks before the flight. I was told it was available and confirmed. The agent said was giving seat 5B.

After the call, I didn’t double check his reservation online to confirm the upgrade. This was my mistake and something I usually always do.

The day before his flight, I did check his reservation online to find he was not upgraded. I called back in at that time and no upgrades were available so he was wait listed. It never cleared. The agent at that time say something was done to the reservation on Dec 13th (when I had called to get the upgrade) but she couldn’t tell me anything more than that.

I have written Customer Service who said to call Business Extraa. Going all the way to a supervisor with Business Extraa, they said it was a “miss communication” and no upgrade was every done. So the certificate is expired and they will not re-issue it.

Has anyone else had similar issues with American Meeting Services (Business Extraa)?

Not sure it’s worth any more of my effort … but any other suggestions on what to do?

Thanks.