EXP and CK now eligible for domestic upgrade (UDU) on award ticket
 

Reports have been read of Executive Platinum members (and ConciergeKey members, who also have EP status) who have been offered and been able to successfully request and receive upgrades whilst flying on "domestic" award tickets. (Not applicable to Platinum Pro.)

The conditions have been the same as required for Unlimited Domestic Upgrades / UDU for EP (or 500 mile e-upgrade "stickers" for members using those). Link to 500 mile upgrade rules on aa.com.

"Upgrades on Award tickets link

Executive Platinum members will be able to use their complimentary 500-mile upgrade benefits on AAdvantage® award tickets for travel on American from Main Cabin to the next class."

NOTE: JonNYC states below this policy has not yet been implemented on AA. These are upgrades that have recently been granted somehow without being enabled by policy.

Very interesting, mostly because this benefit which I think is 'nice' but also going to be rather infrequently used given I'd guess most EXPs if they were to redeem would have the miles to do so for F, is under the same heading as the change I really want: Upgrade prioritization

Any idea if that both those changes are under "Later in 2017" means that the prioritization has also changed or if its just for award upgrades?

Seems to be good for domestic itineraries. Not for international - a UA Global Services benefit.

I've "known" this for a while now... ;)

What's the point if they can't earn the 500 mile upgrades?

I'm a little confused.

My guess is that oaken is under the incorrect impression the "500 milers" would somehow have to be paid for, rather than the usual free EXP upgrade.

Knew this was coming. Nice to see it implemented. Anyone know if this will eventually extend to SWUs on int'l awards....or if it already is in place and I didn't know? :)
@ryan182: IMO, biggest waste of RDM is premium domestic, so while I have the miles to do it, I don't. Would not be surprised to find I'm not alone there.

From casual observations the SWU prioritization to rolling EQD spend after status tier hasn't been implemented - yet. Perhaps AA will announce it, but it seems the day of announcements far in advance is in our past.

The EP UDU upgrades on "domestic" (North and Central America, Caribbean iirc) has been in place for at least a few days from what I'm seeing reported, but as there was no report or thread here, I thought I'd start this one.

How do you request upgrade in this situation? I'm EXP and have award ticket to MSY in Y in June. There is no "upgrade" link to click for this itinerary (at least on the AA app). Do you have to call in to request an upgrade? I have 14 "left over" 500-mile stickers to use.

No I mean I'm confused on the whole thread; are eligible people seeing the checkbox, etc., available to them for domestic award tickets? And/or able to do it with EP agents on the phone?

In other words; are we just seeing people report this:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/27807902-post1220.html
Which has been "possible" for a long time (albeit not officially allowed) and has been reported with some frequency.

(note this rather bizarre incident from January as well: )



OR is the claim that the "switch has been flicked" officially?

I've upgraded domestic award tickets twice recently, both times by requesting the upgrade at the airport (as detailed below). No idea whether this is new policy or whether I just got lucky.

Case 1: Traveling LGA-MEM in T inventory with a companion. Flight was showing F7 with no one on the upgrade list at boarding time. Went up to the GA and said that I know I'm not supposed to be able to upgrade an award ticket, but since the F cabin is empty and no one is on the upgrade list, would it be possible to upgrade. The only thing the agent asked was how I wanted to upgrade my companion (stickers, I said), and it was done.

Case 2: Traveling MIA-BOS-LGA on a Y inventory award ticket. (I needed to fly this route and was able to force this into a single 20,000-mile award ticket rather than pay $1,000 for it.) I was traveling with a companion MIA-BOS and didn't even inquire about an upgrade (no way would it have cleared for two people in any event), but at the AC in BOS I asked and was added to the upgrade list for BOS-LGA and cleared easily.

And, to help clarify-- not in recent days, but rather week(s) ago? Thanks, trying to figure this all out.

Does anyone know if this type of upgrade will apply to the domestic segments of an international award ticket?