SeAAttle

My employer reimburses for domestic coach class only. I am willing to pay for first class and then be reimbursed for coach. However, I need a full receipt for the reimbursement.

Is it possible to book coach class, print out the receipt and then cancel? Time limit?

Thanks

Dave Noble

You can purchase an economy class ticket and then once purchased, call back and pay to upgrade to business/1st class by paying the fare difference ; AA will not charge the change fee in this situation

No need to cancel and no risk of issue associated with an expense claim where making purchase, claiming, cancelling and keeping the funds

donotblink

Also you have 24 hours to cancel and get a full refund. If purchased 48 hours before departure.

DMPHL

Just purchase the economy ticket and keep that receipt. AA's been ticketing and sending receipts quite quickly recently.

Then, just call and pay the fare difference. No need to worry about canceling.

redtop43

I have a similar situation, and I can just go to the point of booking and print out the page, then cancel. My trips are for a professional committee that I volunteer for and the professional society knows what I do and they don't bust my chops over it. Anyway there are lots of workarounds to accomplish what you want.

Dave Noble

There is no need for any workaround. Just purchase the ticket in economy class and then call and pay the fare difference to upgrade to the desired cabin ; costs no more than buying the premium cabin ticket up front or via other 'workarounds'

fotoflyer88

Call and up-fare within 24hrs. Best way to keep things straight. If you need to use a corporate TA - it gets a bit tricker.

Dave Noble

doesn't need to be within 24 hours

ijgordon

There will also likely be an offer on the website to upgrade to first class. This may or may not be the same as the fare difference (e.g., once it was the fare difference between my nonrefundable coach fare and the fully refundable first class fare). That option will be easiest if the numbers work out.

Otherwise call in, but there's a chance things go haywire -- like they charge you the change fee anyway, make you go back-and-forth with customer relations three times before they agree to refund it asap (vs. after the trip), and then somehow separately they put in a refund for the whole ticket which you don't find out about until you go to use OLCI the day before the flight and it suggests you don't have a valid e-ticket and they try to make you pay again despite no evidence of the ticket refund, all the while keeping you on hold for 45 minutes on your last day of vacation while they figure out what the hell is going on and they tell you that the airport can help sort it out but you know at this all-regional carrier outstation that the one agent on duty will not have the technical ability to sort out a complicated ticketing problem. I mean that *could* happen.

Often1

Before you get to this point, have a chat with your travel people. Many employers are quite fine with reimbursing the allowable amount on an otherwise not allowed ticket, e.g., you purchase the F ticket and claim only the allowable Y amount and note that directly on the receipt. Cuts out the entire upfare process which, while it works, can take time on the phone.

There are risks here for the business, but some employers actually trust at least some of their employees.

Centurion

America West or US Air made this very easy long ago prior to American Airlines. They sold a Yup fare that was really a First Class Ticket that booked immediately into First Class and your receipt had the Y in the fare bucket letter receipt. They obviously created this fare for employees like the OP. Does anyone know why this was discontinued?

formeraa

Don't know why it was discontinued, but Northwest used to have Yup fares as well. I used to get them for business travel occasionally when it was booked at the last minute. It may have been a competitive tool for the smaller airlines at the time...I know I booked Northwest and UsAirways several times because of it.

fotoflyer88

Yes - but if theres a problem - say the AA agents say they "can't touch the ticket" - call the TA that booked it. Then you'll want to be within 24hrs to cancel, etc.

MSPeconomist

These were essentially full fare coach tickets that tended to be more expensive than necessary. Most employers wouldn't appreciate having an employee select such a ticket when cheaper coach fares were available on exactly the same flights.

Similarly, upfaring can convert a refundable ticket to one that isn't; doing this might violate the employer's travel policy.

danielonn

One idea just book First Class and have a print out of the fare difference between Y and F. The company will reimburse you the coach fare.