Acid

Are flight award change fees for BE award same as AAdvantage? And also are they waived to EXP's? Also do we get the extra award availability for EXP's when using BE award.

bchips

Anybody know if we can use a BXP1 and credit the flight to another airline? BA, AS, or whomever? If so, do you need to wait till the gate to switch FF numbers or can it be done in advance?

flymonthly

You don't have to put in your AAdvantage # when you book the flight, just put in your FF # from the other airline. I've done it a few times and Meeting Services doesn't seem to care.

FleyeSkyHigh

According to meeting services two class domestic BXP1 upgrades now require C inventory (as opposed to A in the past which fortunately was in plentiful supply as it served two purposes - discounted first as well as 2-class first upgrade). Is it just me or does it seem like the value of the BXP1 upgrades has been decimated. I have checked numerous flights on many routes and suffice to say finding any C is a rarity.

For those that are not familiar, on Nov 12th AA recoded First Class from F to J for all two class domestic flights.

Hence First Class Upgrades now require "C" inventory (previously it was "A")
Discounted First Class now requires "D" inventory (which also was previously "A")

In addition, F goes to J and P becomes to I

dyrewolf31

Any recent wisdom on waitlisting BXP1 vs. using 500 mile upgrades? In terms of waitlist priority, that is.

FleyeSkyHigh

Yes. For any chance of the upgrade clearing before the 500 mile window then use BXP1 (which should clear if rev mgmt makes C available). That said, it looks like American is now all set to follow Delta by significantly handicapping all upgrade mechanisms and thereby focusing on an incremental (at lower cost) pricing model for selling all first class seats.

As far as the airport waitlist goes, it is my understanding the BXP1 upgrades will still be akin to mileage/SWU upgrades and are prioritized higher than all 50 mile upgrades.

mvoight

If this is true, why can't the agents see the availability and book it when you call them, without needing to book a Saver award online first? When calling them to book in the past, the availability they show always seemed to be different from what I can see for Saver awards

dyrewolf31

Thanks! I will give Meeting Services a call

FleyeSkyHigh

I don't think this is true any longer. Domestic 2-class saver awards book out of U inventory where upgrades require C. However, anecdotally I have noticed that U and C inventory seem closely correlated. For example, if I book a U seat BOTH U and C decrease by qty=1.

As far as agents go, Meeting Services still uses a combination (or actually BOTH) of the old and new systems (nice web front end vs old mainframe interface) as all their initial ticketing is done on the new system but the old system lets them add things like upgrades, ect, without re-issuing It's really quite a mess and with the new coding changes it's even worse for us and them.

chicagoflyer1976

This is terrible - makes BXP1s basically worthless. For me, they were a great backup to flights that were almost full in F, and I could generally snag a seat with a BXP1, when I would have little chance of getting in through the complimentary upgrade.

riposte

I have two BX3A (US to Caribbean, economy, plan ahead) Business Extra Awards that expire on 12/6.

Doesn't look like I will be able to use them (partially due to lack of award availability, and partially due to Zika). Does anyone know if I can use them for domestic travel? If not, can anyone here make use of them?

mizzou miles

You have several options. Yes, you can use them for domestic travel.

You can also credit them back to your account for a fee.

or

You can also request a HIGHER award to replace these (say a AAnytime award as an example) and pay no fees.

Good luck.

chicago747

I booked a simple ORD-LAX-ORD flight for $120r/t for me and a companion. A few days later I called and wanted to use a BXP1 awards for the ORD-LAX outbound. I paid $97 to upgrade to a higher economy fare class, to meet BXP1 requirements, and meeting services applied the upgrade.
On AA.com I saw we were seating in first & ticket showed as pending. The next day it still showed as pending so I tweeted AA, they said their was an issue. I called meeting services and they got the ticket reissued and i thought everything was good.

I looked today & there was no tab to print my itinerary/receipt....which shows the ticket numbers. I tweeted AA and they said i was booked on the flights, including the upgrade. But when I called AA they said there was still issues with the ticket and they sent me back to meeting services. The agent then proceeded to say there was an issue and proceeded to reissue the ticket, but put me in coach. I said hold on and she said there is no upgrade inventory. I responded that i was in FIRST when I called in and I wanted to be put back in FIRST (my tone was totally calm...as i know people wonder these things

She was able to get me back in FIRST after about a 20 minute hold, but I still can't print my receipt. Although multiple agents assure me the tickets are fine....this just feels like a situation where I get to the airport and I get bumped to coach. I've never used an BXP1 before so not sure if this is normal. Anyone ever have an experience like this? If so, was there a specific way to get the tickets issued correctly?

Thanks for any thought!

dll

In my experience, the way it normally works is that a re-issue never happens. They book you in the upgrade bucket (A), then issue you a manual boarding pass at the airport when you check in. You generally aren't able to check in online with a BXP1. They staple it to your boarding pass and you surrender it at the departure gate (sometimes they forget to lift the upgrade certificate but I'm an honest sort and always correct them.)

If you are in need of a receipt you should be able to get it from the refunds site using the ticket number.

Herb687

Do BXP1 upgrades now book into a different inventory than 500-mile "sticker" upgrades?

If A became C for D48 travel, what did X become?