Correct. You need to have bought it as an AA codeshare from AA. Same deal for US flights (which is annoying since the US site is cheaper about 40% of the time).

I don't think AS counts, even as an AA codeshare purchased through AA. At least I've never gotten BE points for those flights and I fly them all the time.

You're right. I stand corrected.

Rather impressed -- and surprised -- by my recent award "order". Last Friday I decided to use some December expiring points/miles for a couple of Admiral Club passes. Since this was my first time to order them through the BE program, I was disappointed when upon ordering them that these were not electronically delivered and immediately available (though I don't need them until next month). So I provided mailing details and prepared to await the snail mail delivery of upwards of two weeks (to reach Canada).

Yesterday I was pleasantly surprised to receive a FedEx envelope containing the passes!

Was also pleased last year to discover that when I had to make a change to a BE award, the agent acknowledged my ExecPlat status and didn't charge me the normal change fee that I had expected to pay. This program is a nice little "slush fund".

Has anyone else ever had that experience? My experience has always been exactly the opposite -- agent recognizes my status (or I mention it) but I get zero extra benefit for it. Combine that with the brutal booking codes for basic redemptions -- inventories that have such poor availability -- and I have struggled to figure out how to use Businessextra points.

I wrote to AA and found that the merger will be complete around Oct. Until then only:

The merger is not complete yet and ticket numbers that can accrue points begin with 001/125/075.

Once again, another USAir business class flight that won't earn points. I thought that buying it from AA would make it count.

Follow-up. My USAir tickets are 037 stock. Yet according to Business Extra (businessextra.com/howToEarnAndRedeem.htm):

"As a Business Extra member, your company earns Business Extra points each time you fly on American, US Airways or on one of our partnering airlines. Starting May 20, 2015, we've expanded your earning ability to include any flight on British Airways and Iberia—even when purchased direct from each carrier. You can also earn points for tickets marketed by American Airlines on Finnair, Japan Airlines, and Qantas1. Companies earn one point for every $5 spent on eligible itineraries. And your travelers keep earning their personal frequent flyer miles—it's a win-win."

Did you buy it on AA.com? I made all of my US purchases on AA.com (including itineraries that do not contain a single AA flight) and have earned BE points without issue.

Has anyone attempted to book a BE travel award lately? EF shows US awards for next year essentially zeroed out, wondering if this is simply an artifact of current system maintenance, BE agents might have access to the flights.

I believe they're getting ready to migrate all US flights over to to AA flight numbers only.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...d-end-oct.html

Been a while since I booked award travel using BE points, was pleasantly surprised by my experience today.

Several thousand points expire at the end of the calendar year, I have been waiting flights to CUN for May 2016, using BX1A awards, found T inventory that almost works, quickly put the flights on hold. To my pleasant surprise, the agent was willing to book the flight using the record locator of the itinerary on hold, pulling points from my account - only needed a credit card for taxes and fees. As the flights are on hold for 5 days, I decided to wait, check around for something better.

Is this now SOP? My understanding (and stated in the wiki) that T inventory does not necessarily qualify for BX1A. Am I just lucky, or has AA FINALLY simplified BE flight award redemption?

Business Extra reward gets most "bang for your buck"
 

Hi!

In a few months, I'll have earned 3000 Business Extra points most of which expire at the end of December. I need to redeem them for rewards and was wondering your thoughts on which awards get the most bang for your buck?

I was debating between getting a years' Admirals Club membership (3000 points) or two BXP2s (Int'l One-Way Upgrade on Full Fare, 1200 points).

From reading various posts, it seems the BXP2s are difficult to redeem, require full-fare original tickets (J, Y or B), and generally tough to deal with, so I guess I'm leaning towards a simple Admirals Club membership but I'm not sure. It seems like the value of a BXP2 could beat a $400 AC membership.

What are your thoughts on this? What do you think gets the most value from Business Extra points? Has anyone used a BXP2 before? Thanks!

I redeemed a BXP3, and while it does take some more work (phoning Conference Services, bringing the paper certificate to the airport at check-in), it's hardly onerous.

Unless your travel patterns have you regularly purchasing int'l full fare tickets, then I would certainly not mess with the BXP2s. These Y & B fares can be 2-3x the price of the normal discounted coach rate, and of course there's no guarantee your upgrade(s) would clear.

From a pure bang for the buck perspective, 3,000 points will get you a roundtrip sAAver award in Y to Hawaii, easily worth $800-$1200 depending on when and where you're coming from.

From an ease of use perspective, the one segment NA upgrades (BXP1) at 650 points generally have lots of availability.

"From a pure bang for the buck perspective, 3,000 points will get you a roundtrip sAAver award in Y to Hawaii, easily worth $800-$1200 depending on when and where you're coming from."

Thanks for the reply. Do you mean a BX2A? Is that 3000 points for RT? That is a pretty great deal!