AA2070

I have a reservation on a LHR-LAX in paid Prem Econ with a waitlisted upgrade to Business. My EF alert for C just fired and I see that my reservation is now in ticketing limbo. Is there a good reason why I can't call before it is reticketed and downgrade to the lowest available Economy fare (currently S and $800 less than I paid)?

AlwaysAisle

Likely you were ahead of upgrade list because you purchased Pre Econ. If you had S fare to begin with then probably you would not got this J seat when C inventory became available, likely went to somebody higher on upgrade list who purchased Pre Econ. From that prospective, likely answer will be no because if such is allowed then this will become a trick to be on the top of the upgrade list.

AA2070

Assume (however improbably) I'm the only one on the waitlist. What's to stop me then?

Finsup72

Incorrect. Upgrade priority is based on elite status and then EQD. Whether you purchased discount coach or full-fare premium economy has absolutely zero weight on upgrade priority (except in the .00001% case that two people have the same status and exact same rolling EQD).

JJeffrey

This is not how it works at all. Economy and Premium Economy upgrades to business all come from the same "pool" of space which is sorted by status and EQD. A $20k rolling EQD EXP who buys a $500 discount economy ticket will be ahead of a $15k EQD EXP that purchased a $2000 premium economy ticket.

*the only time fare class matters is in the unlikely event that 2 people are on the same upgrade list with the same status and exact same rolling EQD.

JJeffrey

Theoretically it should be possible. Keep in mind you'd have to pay the change fee associated with your PE fare. I would think you would need to call in, change your ticket to economy, then wait for it to re-ticket before calling back to grab the upgrade space. So there could be some risk that the C space disappears in that time. However it's also possible that a good agent could take care of everything in one swoop. Give AA a call and see what they say.

teemuflyer

I suppose technically this could be done, but there are several considerations, which some have already been mentioned.

1) By the time you are through the changes, the C inventory could be gone. Now you are stuck in Y instead of PE, unless you want to pay yet another change fare and fare difference to get back into PE
2) If the change is successful, then you will only earn the EQD and lowered EQM of the new ticket for that flight
3) Your rolling EQD qill be lower, affecting you future upgrade order and chances
4) If, at the end of the year, you have not yet met a tier qualification threshold, you might need to make a MR to meet this threshold, thus wiping our any savings you earned on the PE->Y downgraded ticket trip

AA2070

EXP agent was doubtful that this could be done, but checked with the tariff desk who didn't have a problem with it. They did charge a change fee - net result is a $600 voucher, booked in C and ticketed in S. I would guess that since the upgrade had already started processing it was already mine, but I don't know for sure. After all was said and done the agent said "Well it looks like you found a loophole."

I'm not concerned about EQM or spend; last year I nearly tripled both.

jcatman

That was one valuable telephone call. Congrats.

teemuflyer

Glad it worked out! Although the my caveats were not applicable to you, perhaps they will help someone else who doesn't have the same spend, EQM with something to consider

btonkid12345

Loophole? These phone agents become more arrogant every day.

They collected a change fee they love for a few clicks. And kept your cash and gave you a voucher that expires and that you might not use.

Big win for AA. Glad you are happy too.

JonNYC

Find something else to be frenetically furious about.

Nice work OP!!

ijgordon

Well I obviously wasn't on the call, but I could certainly see the agent saying "you found a loophole" in a jovial, congratulatory way (unsarcastically). Or they could have been bitter about it, who knows.

Of course the way to close this loophole is to only allow one-class upgrades...
Or charge more miles/co-pay for Y->J than PE->J, that never really made sense to me.

Mrp Alert

If the OP is exceeding 300k EQM & killing the EQD, he probably has a nice eagle rating. AA may be less generous to a more average member.

no1cub17

Wow this is awesome. Nice work OP!