FolsomMike

Newbie here...a few weeks ago, I made my first request to use miles to upgrade from PE to Bus for a DFW-LON flight next summer. I was put on a list but told it was unlikely to happen. Last night I was checking my reservation on line and saw an opportunity to upgrade my seats for free. I quickly reserved two seats but fourteen hours later, I see no change in my advantage miles and I’ve received no email. Could my request still be processing or did I somehow score a free upgrade unrelated to my original request?

SEA737

What did this look like exactly? That should help ppl get a better sense of what may have happened

FolsomMike

On the seat chart, it gave me the choice to change my seats to Business for $0. Under the upgrade tab on my reservation, it still shows as ‘Requested’. I did just check another website which shows four seats available for upgrade for my flight.

SEA737

So it just gave you the seat map for business class instead of the premium economy one? (Just to be sure. If it showed both at the same time, that would be news to me) In any case, if you see that there are upgrades available it would make sense you got upgraded. As for being able to select seats while not being charged for it yet, it seems like that it's just some parts of the system are running more slowly than others. It happened to me recently that I purchased a flight on a partner with miles, and it showed as confirmed but it took longer for the miles to be deducted. I'd expect the miles to be deducted in the next day or so, but if that doesn't happen please do report back!

dantheflyingman

The upgrade instrument (in this case, miles + $) won't be removed from your account until you check-in (or even until you fly the segment).

Safe to say the miles will be debited from your account and the copay will be taken.

SEA737

I've done miles+$$ a few times and it was deducted at the time that my upgrade confirmed (even 1 month in advance), not at the time I checked-in/flew.

jcain

I think that's what's supposed to happen but it doesn't always work, in my experience. I've seen the miles + copay charged a week or so after the upgrade cleared a couple times. I've also had to call at check-in to get them to push the charge through, since the system wouldn't let me check in without collecting the upgrade fee.

oldvolvo

I've also had this happen where I could select the upgrade seats before I was charged but eventually you will be charged. You may have to call AA to reconfirm your credit card information. However, it is always a nice surprise when you can unexpectedly select your seats for the upgrade!

JJeffrey

I would definitely just call AA and say "it looks like my upgrade may have cleared, can you check?"

platbrownguy

Alternatively, if you don't or don't want to do this, make sure you check in/arrive early for the flight, in case it hasn't reticketed or whatever.

sdsearch

Yes, but doesn't it always say something like "Ticket pending" when you view flight online, when it's the middle of this kind of upgrade which requires reticketing?

If so, that would seem to be a big clue as to whether that's what going on.

FolsomMike

Still no email or change to my account. I may call AA in a few days but you know what they say about gift horses..

enpremiere

It's not likely a gift horse so for peace of mind, calling will ensure that it retickets properly and doesn't get stuck in purgatory.

sdsearch

Are saying that when you go online to check that flight, that it still says "Ticketed" with the original date of purchase?

If not (if it says "Ticket pending"), isn't that a change to your account?

I had a manually requested miles + copay upgrade recently, right after which I was able to select business class seats. But it took one full week for the miles to be pulled, and half a week after the they still hadn't billed my credit card company, so I called again and the agent on that second call worked for close to half an hour offline to straighten out whatever was wrong, and finally about a day after that my credit card was charged, and soon after it finally changed from "Ticket pending" to "Ticketed". And it wasn't until after that that I got the email with the reticketed info.

So the point is if it says "Ticket pending" and you can select seats in the upgraded class but nothing else is happening, it may be an upgrade that's stuck in limbo for some reason.

FolsomMike

Denouement...Still seeing no changes to my account (and after noticing that ticket had not changed to pending), I called AA this morning. The agent said that my ticket was “in the process” but noticed that the change had gone in under the wrong class (which I had noticed) and that I should be charged for more miles and $350 pp. She processed it all and I’ve been reticketed with the deduction of miles and charge to my credit card. Still wondering about the ‘gift horse’ aspect, I asked her nicely if I wouldn’t have been charged for the upgrade if I hadn’t called and she said that it would have been noticed before my ticket was reissued. Guess I’ll never know.