IIrc, no and no earning on fuel surcharge component of the fare either.

I have 39.656 Business Extra points but it is impossible ti use them for PlanAhead awards smh.

Thanks for the info.

Was wondering when October's flights would post.

This has happened to me too. I don't believe it is a fat finger mistake, I believe it is an IT problem. If you read up thread this is very common.

I am trying to use a BX1B certificate (Plan Ahead Business) for travel on US airways between Mexico and the US.

I talked to a meeting services agent, and he indicated that the inventory available for Business Extra awards is more limited than the inventory available for AA MileSaaver awards. In fact, while I could reserve a seats using the regular AAdvantage program, and Expert Flyer had O4 for one of the segments and O8 for the other, none of these were available for BX1B redemptions.

Does anyone know if the agent was correct, or if it was just a case of poor agent training? I tried calling back, but got the same agent.

As I understand it, BX1Bs come out of same U or Z inventory as regular biz class or first plan aahead awards.

here's what the BE webpage says for this award:
BX1B PlanAAhead� Award - Continental U.S., Canada and Mexico (Business / First 2 class cabin flights)
Award Code:

BX1B
Point Value:

3200
Description

Continental U.S. (including Alaska), Canada and Mexico
Terms and Conditions

PlanAAhead Award Travel within and between the Continental U.S. (including Alaska*), Canada and Mexico in First Class/Business Class**

*American Airlines service to Alaska is seasonal.
**Valid for First Class on flights with two-cabin service and for Business Class on flights with three-cabin service.
Valid to/from Mexico or Canada for Business Class.

PlanAAhead Awards are valid for one-way or round-trip travel, are subject to special limitations on seat availability and may be subject to travel embargo dates.

Once redeemed via BusinessExtra.com, a confirmation email with the Electronic Authorization Number is sent to the Travel Manager. The Electronic Authorization includes the Award Code along with an eight character alpha-numeric code. (IE. BX1A/0A1B2C3D) This number should be provided to American Airlines Reservations when you are ready to ticket your award reservation.

To make reservations for award travel: Calling from within United States or Canada, please contact American Airlines Meeting Services at 1-800-433-1790, 7 days a week, from 6:00AM to 12:00midnight, CT. If calling from outside the U.S. or Canada, please contact your local American Airlines Reservations Office.

All travel awards must be ticketed 5 days after the reservation is made or 14 days prior to departure whichever date comes first. If the reservation is made less than 14 days prior to departure, the reservation can be held for 48 hours for ticketing. All ticketing must be done through AA reservations prior to arrival at the airport. Airport agents are unable to issue tickets against Business Extra awards.

Award ticket must be issued by midnight one year from the original award redemption date. Tickets issued against Business Extra flight awards are then valid for one year from the ticket issue date.

Award tickets are non-transferable and a non-refundable change fee will apply to reservation changes after the ticket is issued.

All taxes and fees, assessed at the time of ticketing are the responsibility of the passenger. Award cannot be used in conjunction with any corporate program, promotion, coupon, discount, or special offer of American. Void where prohibited by law.

Award travel valid ONLY on American Airlines, American Eagle�, US Airways and US Airways Express℠ flights.

Award is not redeemable for cash and is void if sold for cash or other consideration.

A ticket issued against this award is nontransferable. Open tickets may not be issued.

Awards are valid only for tickets issued on American Airlines ticket stock. Award is not applicable to the purchase of a Miscellaneous Charge Order (MCO) or Prepaid Ticket (PTA).

Award has no value except when redeemed in accordance with these terms and conditions.

Travel is valid as specified above to American Airlines, American Eagle, US Airways and US Airways Express destinations served both at the time of award redemption and ticket usage.

Rules as written herein cannot be changed by any statement or representation of any unauthorized person, including employees of American Airlines or issuing organization.
"

So ... tell all your friends and relatives to use your BE number on AA/US. No harm to them, but you get the benefits.

I don't know for sure if there is more or less with BusinessExtra
I suspect there is less, based on the small number of awards I have used.
I do know the inventory doesn't match. I have found BE inventory when AAdvantage showed no awards. Usually it was the other way around.
j

This is my understanding as well for awards on AA metal. For awards on US metal, the corresponding codes are I and O for business and first plan aahead awards.

After exploring further, it seems that the regular AAdvantage engine in some cases allows bookings of awards AAA-BBB-CCC where there is award availability on AAA-BBB and BBB-CCC even if there may not be availability on AAA-CCC. The meeting services desk is enforcing the married segment rule in these cases and not offering the award on AAA-CCC.

Additionally, it looks like the agents are poorly trained in looking for the correct inventory ex-MEX (they are looking for I instead of O, because they think the MEX-XXX segment must be flown in business on US, but US still markets those flights as First).

just tried to book LGA-LAX round trip using business extra (BX1A) award for Jan 22 / Jan 26. There are 4 pages of mile saver awards available for this date. Agent told me no availability direct or through ORD / DFW. She suggested to use mile saver awards which show availability on almost every flight on Jan 22 and Jan 26 but not a single BX1A award seat.

I have some points expiring this year. I don't have any specific travel needs at the moment. What do people consider to be the best value in terms of using points? I know need is a big part of this, but curious how people view this. Thanks.

I personally like the domestic upgrades for 650 points each (BXP1). Yes, you have to upfare a bit, but it's nice to be able to confirm friends and family in C on the JFK-SFO/LAX routes even when I'm not flying without wasting a systemwide upgrade.

The latest batch I got expired 12/31/2015, but it's possible that they are up to 6/30/2016 by now. Wait until late December maybe, and get them then.

I supposed Admirals Club membership or Gold for a friend/family member might be nice too, but Gold isn't all that much better than a credit card at this point, and Admirals Club is only ~$400/year whereas an upgrade on a premium route has a high value to me (and requires only a fraction of the points).

Do tickets purchased on aa.com omn US get BE credit?

Has anyone's BE points for October posted? There's a little marker saying that they should post by the 13th, but no luck...

I just checked and mine haven't posted, either.