milohoss

So I have some business extra points to cash in and the "one segment upgrades" look like a great option.... untill you look at the fare class restrictions. All of my upcoming flights are in restricted fare classes. My gut tells me that unless I'm paying ludicrous fares I'll never be able to use these. Anyone beg to differ? Curious what other rewards people feel are actually usable and a good value.... rock on.

donotblink

you can get some good deals upgrading to Hawaii JFK/LAX or SFO (where you can go J/F)

Antarius

You can also upfare certain segments or trips by calling aa.com.

JJeffrey

The fare restrictions are what they are, it's been this way for years. But it's a stretch to say these awards are "useless" or that the only way you can use one is by paying "ludicrous" fares. How much extra a BE upgrade eligible fare is will entirely depend on the cities and market, etc., in some cases it won't be much extra at all while in other cases it very well may be ludicrous.

The last time I used BE points for an upgrade I booked a cheapo PE fare to MXP for around $800, when the cheapest economy was $750, so essentially $50 more.

You just have to be cognizant that you have a BE upgrade to use and plan accordingly.

As to what other awards people feel are usable, well any BE flight award uses the same general availability as if you were using AA miles for sAAver space, so naturally that's going to vary. I've had no problem using BE points for int'l business class awards to Europe and SYD but again I know what to look for.

And I'm sure this will get merged but here's your thread:

Business Extra ("ExtrAA") Program (master thread)

platbrownguy

The G & V fares are often just tens of dollars more than N/O/Q/S. But I wouldn't buy the higher fare unless there is confirmable "C" space available to upgrade into; that is the big restriction.

Also it doesn't sound like this is for you, but buying discount J (an "I fare") and upgrading to F (if you can find "A" upgrade space) on an A321T or 77W route is an excellent use of these upgrades.

fly747first

They are actually a great value if you know how to optimize these upgrades since you aren't PP or CK and otherwise wouldn't get complimentary upgrades.

Consider:

DFW HNL/OGG (Y to J only since AA doesn't sell 4-cabin F on these markets)

CLT HNL and ORD HNL (seasonal)

MIA LAX (either Y to J or J to F depending on the aircraft since only the 77Ws have true F)

JFK LAX/SFO (either Y to J or J to F; J to F is considered a great upgrade for many)

If you are flexible, there are fairly low "G" and "V" fares as others already mentioned to which you can apply this type of upgrade instrument

Yes, but you would need multiple certificates since these upgrades are limited to a single segment

milohoss

What's upfaring? meaning I call them up and pay the fare difference to go up to whatever the eligable fare class is?

JJeffrey

You got it.

To really excel at this game, it helps to have ExpertFlyer, so for any given city pair and date you can look up all the fares filed so you know what specifically to ask for when you call.

platbrownguy

On top of that, use ITA Matrix and search for fares other than B N O Q S to see what the cheapest eligible fare is for your flight. There are ample resources online to help use Matrix.

FlyerBeek

I've always gotten good use of them on JFK-LAX/SFO A321T J and F upgrades. Never found the required fare classes too restrictive. BXP1s are also good on government (GSA) contract fares (typically G or Y class) that cannot be upgraded using SWUs.

-FlyerBeek

mvoight

Well, there are other things you can use points for, and it costs you nothing more to get them. If you are meeting AA's planned $5000 per year minimum spending (soon for newly created accounts, and Jan 1, 2023 for existing accounts), and with the ability to extend points for another year, you should be able to have enough for other redeemable options like the 2000 points for a domestic roundtrip. I have had zero issues using the domestic upgrade on not very high fares, like a $100 fare from DFW to LAX on a 789. (Economy to Business)

futuramadramallama

Are regular consumers allowed to upfare into G, or is that restricted for government usage?

donotblink

G is also a standard fare class—it’s the associated fare basis code (that starts with G) that is specific to government fares that user was referring to.

futuramadramallama

Ah so you should just upfare into the lowest available class? E.g. No need to do V, if G is available (because G is a standard fare class)?

donotblink

yes, I believe the order is Y, H, K, M, L, G, V, S, N, Q and O followed by B for basic.