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Companion upgrade issues
For general questions about 500 mile upgrades and upgrade protocols, please see this thread:Sticker / 500-mile Electronic Upgrades Protocols (as of 2009, consolidated)

For specific questions about the new upgrade priority and policy, see Upgrade Priority Changes to Status, Rolling 365 Day EQD Spend May 20 2017

Upgrade Priority Change to Status, Rolling 365 Day EQD Began 20 May 2017
Upgrade priority is now based on Status held first, then by rolling Elite Qualifying Dollar spend over the last 365 days within upgrade types; see below for new upgrade priority listing and companion policies.

As of May 20 2017 upgrade prioritization is:

Elite status

1. Concierge Key
2. Executive Platinum
3. Platinum Pro
4. Platinum
5. Gold

Upgrade type

1. Miles and copay award upgrades and systemwide upgrades (SWU)
2. Business Extra and some other instruments
3. 500 mile upgrades on purchased tickets
4. 500 mile upgrades on upgrade eligible awards)

Elite qualifying dollars in the past 12 months

• Booking class
• Time of request"
• Through passengers no longer receive priority over originating passengers

No- or lower status companion and effect on upgrade position (Also read Linking and Plitting PNRs below)

WAIT LIST, SAME PNR: Prior to upgrade request going to airport list

• 500 mile / UDU: lower status passenger "borrows" higher status, but breaks at airport; must be re-established.
• SWU, Miles & Copay, Business Extra: lower status passenger "borrows" higher status. (BX is unsure, stated as least of priorities, likely to up D-24 only)
• Award travel (only available on 500 mile upgrade flights): lower status passenger "borrows" higher status

WAIT LIST, SEPARATE PNR: Prior to upgrade request going to airport list

• 500 mile / UDU: lower status passenger "borrows" higher status IF PNRs "linked"
• SWU, Miles & Copay, Business Extra: lower status passenger DOES NOT "borrow" higher status under any circumstance
• Award travel (only available on 500 mile upgrade flights): lower status passenger "borrows" higher status IF PNRs "linked"

AIRPORT LIST, SAME PNR:

• 500 mile / UDU: lower status passenger "borrows" higher status
• SWU, Miles & Copay, Business Extra: lower status passenger "borrows" higher status. (BX is unsure, but is least of priorities, likely to up D-24 only)
• Award travel (only available on 500 mile upgrade flights): lower status passenger "borrows" higher status

AIRPORT LIST, SEPARATE PNR:

• 500 mile / UDU: lower status passenger "borrows" higher status IF PNRs "linked" by edit
• SWU, Miles & Copay, Business Extra: lower status passenger DOES NOT "borrow" higher status under any circumstance
• Award travel (only available on 500 mile upgrade flights): lower status passenger "borrows" higher status IF PNRs "linked"

NOTES:

1. Traveling companion 500 mile upgrades (even for those pax using UDU) "stickers" must pull from higher status passenger's account. 500 mile upgrades are not needed for those with AAdvantage status if the segment to be upgraded is under 500 miles in distance.
2. Lower status passenger previously "borrowing" higher status may require human processing at the airport to re-establish "borrowed status" linkage

Splitting and "Linking" of PNRs
Splitting PNRs: If two people on one PNR request an upgrade, they will not get upgraded (even if they hold higher priority than others on the upgrade list) unless two or more seats become available. Some choose to split their PNR at the airport so the first available single seat will go to one of them. But please note the Companion retains the "borrowed" status only on 500 mile upgrades and the newly split PNRs must be "linked".

Linking PNRs: PNRs can not be recombined nor actually strictly linked as we usually think of it. The "linking" is actually a "TCP note" ("To Complete Party" note) placed as an annotation in the OSI (Other Supplemental Information) field to each PNR. For the note to be useful, an agent must open the PNR and read it.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...solidated.html.

hillrider Googled and found some public info at http://hualin58.blogspot.com/2011/05...ay-delete.html


Older posts relating to policies in effect prior to 20 May 2017 may be read here: ARCHIVE: Companion upgrade issues including "link" / split PNR, etc. (<20 May 2017)

Updated 9 June 2017 by JDiver