Just a public service reminder for those with expiring BX certs.

I had a BXP3 expiring at end of year, but no use for it. Figuring that it doesn't hurt to ask, so I called AA about it. Found out that you can redeposit cert for $150 fee by mailing it back before expiration. The points will be redeposited into the account and are valid as new points. The fee for additional cert redeposit is $25.

For bigger value certs like the 3100 points BXP3, it could be a good value to pay the fee and have the points available for another 2-3 years. Call AA for the address and be sure to send it before expiration. They are supposed to contact you after receipt to pay the reinstatement fee.

Check your BE account for proper crediting.

Just looked at one ticket PHL-PHX-ABQ. Second flight posted, first didn't. Happened to both my and my wife's tickets.

Then saw to 6 other segments in November didn't post too.

I have had crediting issues all year also. Apparently, when you upgrade w/ Cash and Miles, the leg becomes a second ticket and is thusly ignored when the ticket is credited even if you have your BE number in the original reservation.

Is it true that BA and IB rewards are Anytime Awards and do not pull from the same bucket as would tickets using miles?

Have never done this before so just to confirm I understand. So I just received (literally an hour ago) the Business Extra Award Confirmation with my authorization number. Do I now have one year to call to book the flights or do I need to book the flights within a much shorter period of time? In order words, is this sort of a voucher I can use to redeem for any flights (within the route and booking code I selected)?

thank you

you have a year to purchase the ticket.

sweet, thank you!

And the travel date can be to the end of schedule correct? So in theory you could redeem now and have almost two years to actually travel?

I'm about to redeem some expiring points for a BX1A award that I've got no immediate plans to use.

Is it just me, or does do the folks at Business Extra seem to take great pride in being difficult?

Once my company's flights from November were posted in mid-December, I would have had 3,312 points -- enough to redeem a BX1B RT North America Business Class Voucher. *Yay!*

This was good because 968 of the points were set to expire on 12/31/15.

However, for some reason some of the November flights didn't post in mid-December as they were supposed to. I wrote to Business Extra and asked if they could make sure they would post by the time the others were set to expire since I wanted to redeem that particular voucher.

They wrote back,

"Thank you for your email. Aas [sic] stated in the previous email this is a manual process, which could possibly take some time from submission to complete. Retro Credit is worked first in first out so there is no guarantee that your credit will be in the account by 12/31/2015. This is why it is important members monitor the Business Extra account to request credit ASAP.

You will have to redeem the points before they expire 12/31/2015.

Kindest Regards,"

First of all, I was monitoring my account -- which is why I knew the points hadn't posted in the first place.

And secondly, why do they treat these points as if they are a precious natural resource?! They're made up!! They're not a tangible, physical item. The only reason they expire is because they say they expire. It's not like they're sitting in a vault somewhere slowly decaying.

I actually think that they've made great strides in improving retro credit processing. I like the fact that these requests can be tracked. I've also find turnaround time to have improved significantly. In the past, it used to take at least 6-8 weeks. Now it's down to 48-60 hours. It's no longer the crapshoot it once was pre-merger.

I recently booked 2 RT business class tix to NRT using RDMs only and the total fee for both was $100. Not sure if RMD awards and BE awards have the same fees.

I thought there was a trick to extend an award travel by upgrading say from w/i NA to NA to Carib for example, and this would then extend your new award for another year.

I just called to do this and was told I could do so, but I would also need to ticket the new award. So, this in essence would not extend the period, and I would need to actually ticket it.

I had called last year to check on this an the rep in fact told me they could do the ticket to a higher award (as long as you had points) and that it could extend it.

Anyone shed light on this? I am going to try HUCA.

Edit: HUCA same result. Told me I need to ticket the award, can't just change from one award to the higher award.

Edit: FYI, it looks like it does work after all. They want you to have a record locator to reinstate the pts to get a higher level award. I called the ticketing line, picked a higher award itinerary, then called Bus Ext with the locator, and they reinstated the pts, so I could pick the higher award. I did so and see the higher award doesn't expire for another year. So it doesn't appear I actually need to go thru with the ticket I have on hold now. So essentially I have another year extension. Had I known this I guess I could have gone from a BX1A to BX3A and then to BX2A or BX4A next year if I want to extend again. I didn't know they wouldn't force through the ticket somehow when I called, but I kind of thought this was the way it would work out. I think I am OK with the ticket I have on hold and will go with it anyway. Wanted to use the 3K for a BX2A award but tickets to Hawaii are ridiculous. They want us to fly from MSP to Phil or Miami and then to Lax to Haw, and same on the way back. Way too much air time, so doing Cent America instead with nice one stop flights.

BE website showing the following important message -- Anyone know what changes are coming?

"NOTICE: Upgrades & Admirals Club Day Pass Awards BXP1, BXP2, BXP3 and BXP7 may be delayed due to upcoming award changes. You may continue to redeem points for these awards and Business Extra will fulfill them as soon as they become available."

Maybe they'll become electronic?

That's my hope, but who knows. I requested a BXP1 cert today, so wonder what I'll get.