^That's good to know....I personally haven't had any problems with my flights and all of them post on time. However, I haven't make ever changes to my flights, so maybe they have a glitch in their software as this shouldn't be happening....will keep my eyes on the BE account from now on! ^

Are BE PlanAAhead awards flexible similar to MileSAAver awards?

For example, would I be able to change the dates of my flights without penalty and/or add a leg to my itinerary (JFK-SFO is available, but not DCA-JFK...so book JFK-SFO and wait to see if DCA-JFK opens up)?

Thanks!

Not on Plannaaahead economy.
I wanted to change flights on a recent LAX-MIA routing and I was told it would cost $150. 24 hours in advance I paid $75 for a confirmed flight change in order to get exit row aisle on the 777. I could have probably gotten on as standby, but wanted a good seat.

I recently had occasion to use some BXP1 upgrades on JFK-LAX-HNL-(AA*/HA)-OGG-LAX-JFK and wanted to share some important notes:

1) Avoid using upgrade certs on itineraries that include codeshare flights operated by another carrier.

The AA codeshare segment operated by HA seemed to cause all sorts of problems with our itinerary. First, it took us 20 minutes and 2 agents working together at the JFK Flagship counter to check in for our outbound because of something about the way the reservation was coded behind the scenes.

Second, we were almost denied boarding to our HA flight. Fortunately, I noticed that our AA-issued boarding pass said "Not Valid without Flight Coupon" (which we were not given at JFK) and decided I should check at the desk in OGG - agent did lots and lots of typing and tried to call AA, saying something about HA being "unable to take control". Eventually, the HA supervisor just told us to board and said they would audit the ticket later. We lost our seats, were the last to board, had the gate agent come aboard to check our tickets again, and had to submit a retro credit request for the 250 AA miles. Not a great way to spend your 3rd segment of the day, but we were on our way to OGG at least.

2) In the event of OSO, cleared BXP1 upgrades cannot be transferred directly to rebooked flights unless upgrade inventory is available.

Unlike eVIPs/SWUs and Award Upgrades that get reticketed as soon as the upgrade clears, BXP1 upgrades to not get reticketed until you show up at the airport (or ticket office) and surrender the physical certificates. So, if your flight is cancelled (which happened on our return), you will be protected in Coach (not F/J as may happen with the other upgrade instruments) and the agents have no discretion about transferring your already-cleared upgrade to another flight unless the appropriate inventory (A,C) is available.

With all that said, we arrived at OGG to check in for our rebooked OGG-DFW-EWR itinerary with much trepidation because we'd left our hotel with A2 inventory showing for OGG-DFW but were unable to clear by phone because we'd already checked in (unchecking us would apparently boot us from our DFW-EWR coach seats due to the long waitlist) and expected confusion over the certs at this small station. Nothing could have been further from the truth - the counter agents were familiar with the certs and 10 minutes later, we walked away with our F boarding passes (with the lie-flat seats much appreciated for our long redeye). ^

Anybody know if the EXP desk (or any other number open 24/7) can process BusinessExtrAA upgrade requests?

AA only has three planes with lie-flat business class seats and you weren't on any of these planes/flights. But useful case study otherwise.

Its a nit. The 763 goes most of the way and significantly more flat than most aircraft the average person is used to.

I have enough points for BX3A PlanAAhead Award, must use them before the end of the calendar year. Wife and I are thinking about a leisure trip, using miles (Saaver award) for the second ticket. Looking at SAN / LAX - NAS for Feb / Mar 2013, have been able to find a few Saaver award itineraries that work, currently holding 2 seats. Upon calling customer service to redeem, it appears that the available inventory for PlanAAhead Awards is SUBSTANTIALLY less than Saaver, agent was unable to access my Aadvantage account, claimed to know nothing about the program.

Does anyone have experience / success with such an approach? Any guidance? We are somewhat flexible in regard to the dates, location; selected NAS as it would allow the use of Hhonors Points for the hotel, do some scuba diving.

UPDATE False alarm: BE PlanAAhead do indeed book out of the T bucket, I was holding the only 2 available seats, BE agent was unable to book from that record. When I released the holds, agent was able to book the BE award, I quickly booked the second with miles.

Just redeemed my first BE points for an AC daypass for the head of our little nonprofit. The DW will be in ORD for 3 hours so I figured that is a good use of 300 points.

Just wanted to check a couple of things:

1) Can you wait-list BXP3 international upgrades like you can SWUs or miles & copay upgrades? An agent I just spoke to just said 'no' but a post on this thread back on 22 Sep suggests otherwise - is this a hang up and call back situation?

2) I have SWUs that I can use but I also have BE points that need to be used. As I usually seem to book into codes that aren't upgradable using a BXP3 the SWUs are the way I upgrade, I've never used BE points for anything....but now I have a 'N' fare booking and I'm wondering if I should use BE points. The reason for my doubt is that the flight is DFW-LHR and I'm on a 777-200 (so no MCE) and all exit rows have gone...if SWUs trump BXP3s I'd rather not take the risk that I'll be stuck in coach for that length of flight.

Any insights as to what you guys would do would be gratefully appreciated.

I have a BXP1 that's going to expire at the end of the month. I assume I have to use (as opposed to just book and apply) it by then for it not to expire, right? If that's the case, I basically lose it (not looking to pay $150 to re-deposit), right?

BXP1s are collected during check-in. You could try going to an airport agent before it expires and see if they will take and use the cert before it expires.

Anyone get June points over the weekend? Just need to know if I need to email BE again to get my points. If not, they prob should come in next weekend.

I haven't yet...it seems this month's is taking a while to post! they owe me for 3 trips!

I was just wondering how far in advance you'd need to call to get a couple of roundtrip tickets using the PlanAAhead awards...I call 2 days ago (before redeeming the points) to see if there was availability to travel to Colombia in December (5 months from now) and the agent told me that there was none....that with the points I have my only option was in APRIL 2014 Is 9 months normal? It seems they only want you to use the AAnytime awards at more than twice the cost! It's insane! Has anyone experience something like this? I would expect 2-3 months to be planning ahead but 9 months? common!