sassamanlaw

I'm trying to figure out who to contact at American to see about upgrading an injured service member. He is stationed in Italy and coming home for the Christmas holidays and we booked him in coach for the trip. Subsequently, he had a parachute jump go wrong and severely injured his leg. This would pose a real problem in coach. We are trying to upgrade using points but inventory control has not released any seats. Who can I contact to see if we can get seats released early?

Thanks.

Science Goy

Used to be you could ask for issues like this to be referred to Revenue Management, but I believe that's no longer the case. Your best bet would be to put him on the waitlist, and maybe ask the Twitter team via DM if they'd be willing to make an exception given the specific circumstances. They might also be willing to assign him a coach seat with extra legroom (MCE or bulkhead) at no charge. Good luck.

Often1

Twitter or a web form are the only good ways to indirectly contact Revenue Management. Be very careful in how you word your request and make this about comfort not medical necessity. If the latter and no space opens up, AA may well refuse transport on medical "fit to fly" grounds.

I would definitely pursue the MCE or bulkhead approach if that will be helpful to his situation.

Centurion

If this was domestic you would have people like me who would just give up our seat immediately on the flight. I have done this multiple times and end of with First Class service in economy without a word said by anyone. But over the water other things come into play. Are they flying in uniform? Are they on Gov air fare? Are they flying on Gov Orders? You could hope someone on flyertalk has a System Wide Upgrade that expires soon who will DM you and then apply it to the flight. T

javabytes

Sorry to hear about the parachuting injury. I know a little something about knee/leg injuries, having undergone six procedures in the last three years for various fractures and ligament tears. I've flown when my leg was locked in a brace that required it to be kept completely straight. Contrary to what others have suggested, the bulkhead is NOT usually the way to go because while it prevents someone from reclining into you, it does not truly provide legroom - you cannot typically extend your legs fully because the wall restricts your feet. The best option in the back of the plane is an MCE seat, and to put all belongings in the overhead bin leaving all the space under the seat open for leg extension.

Per OP, they have the necessary points to upgrade. Availability is the problem, and SWUs pull from the same inventory that mileage upgrades do, so an SWU doesn't change much of anything.

mvoight

I thought, a while back, someone mentioned SWUs had a higher priority than Miles+Cash.. Is that not the case?

erik123

The friend (not OP) should ask for a non-bulkhead MCE seat via phone or twitter asap. The plane will likely be packed so best move quickly.

JonNYC

“Someone mentioned [in the forum]” is very, very seldom a good way to determine such things.

javabytes is correct here. -And- the recipient would presumably be low/no status.

wetrat0

I would suggest the OP go ahead and buy a MCE seat now. That way, the friend will be guaranteed a seat with extra room to stretch out his legs, and not have to rely on the generosity of a gate agent, twitter agent, etc., who may be in a grinchlike mood. If the waitlisted upgrade goes through, you can request a refund of the MCE charge!

Often1

This.

If the MCE seats are gone by the time an upgrade fails, the passenger is really stuck.

flyau98

If he is willing to fly in uniform (assuming that is allowed from the country he is stationed in), they will likely upgrade him at check in.

If he flies in civilian clothes, he is going to have to have luck on his side.

javabytes

Droundtheworld

TWA884

American Airlines disability assistance coordinators can be contacted via this webpage.

sassamanlaw

FCO to PHL #719 on December 21st. The return is booked for Business class.