JJeffrey

Correct, you would call AA and cancel just yourself. It's possible that some of your benefits may "stick" to the reservation after you cancel (especially seating and maybe boarding) but they would not get priority check in or any free bags.

Correct.

You can upgrade yourself plus one companion using complimentary 500-mi upgrades (as a PLT Pro). You would need to burn stickers for the companion if it cleared. In order to do this you will need to split the PNR into 2+3, so whoever the other 3 pax are on the separate PNR would definitely not get complimentary bags, if that's a concern.

No advantage to booking now unless you are trying to lock in a good fare. You earn based on your status at the time of the flight, when the flight takes place.

Correct, no point in transferring wife/kid miles to you unless you just happen to be short X miles for an award and that's the only way. At 5 miles per dollar, the no status pax would earn 3,000 miles for this trip, and it costs $45 to transfer 3k miles. Not sure what you mean in terms of no point in "signing up for status".

Raralith

Thanks for the info! Specifically on the upgrade:

1. If I went down the +1 companion using 500-mile upgrade path, and I end up not being able to go, will the upgrade still go through for the +1 companion? I was thinking my oldest can sit in F (12 years old) while my wife and 2 younger (youngest is toddler) will sit in a row of MCE by themselves.
2. Silly question but can I do +4 companions if I'm willing to burn through 40x 500-mile upgrades and there are seats come T-72?
3. If I am able to go and upgrades happen, can I ask GA or FA that my wife take my place in F so she can sit up with the toddler while I'm in MCE with the older two?

JJeffrey

1) No, you need to be flying with them in order for them to leverage your upgrade benefits.
2) No.
3) Sure, just tell the FA when you board that you're giving your F seat to your wife.

wrp96

The ability to use them on full Y tickets went away several years ago.

matinicus rock

Hi AA Gurus,

I've got a call into customer service, but I just noticed this from my AAccount page. 351 dollars to qualify for Platinum Pro. Is this something I need to do before the end of February? No way I can fly in the next week. Any workarounds? Think I can just pay AA the $351??? Help! Thanks!!

JJeffrey

Assuming you're calling the normal reservations number that will be a complete waste of time, don't even bother. You must take $351 EQD worth of flights before the end of February, no other way around it. You can't just pay AA the $351, although sometimes they will have a buy-up offer, which will typically be way more than the $351.

If you're willing to just give AA the $$, why not just do a quick out and back one day over the next week? From LAX you have lots of options, LAS, SFO, PHX, etc.

matinicus rock

Thanks JJeffrey - They offered me a buy-up of $600 - I was a sucker so took it. Never had that high status before plus lots of travel this upcoming year. Figured it was worth it. Couldn't make the time to do a mileage run.

JJeffrey

A $600 buy-up to PLT Pro if you were $351 short isn't bad at all actually. Especially if you can't fly anywhere in the next week and have lots of travel planned this year. Basically just $200 more than if you were to fly somewhere. There are some especially egregious examples of this floating around where you might be $200 short but AA wants $2,000 for the buy up, for example.

WhereAmIHeading

I have three award tickets (PIT-PDX) on web special for this summer where the DFW layover was changed from 40 minutes to almost 5 hours due to updated schedules. "Web Special Awards" typically don't allow changes but with the AA schedule change (and new flight), do I have any chance of rebooking these at earlier in the day without point penalty? Getting into PDX at 12:15am is not ideal. (FWIW, It's a 3 hour 50 minute change into PDX)

wrp96

yes with that big of a schedule change, even on a web special they should be willing to change. Do the research of what you want before calling up. Also with DFW under the gun for bad weather the next few days, I would suggest waiting to call.

physioprof

Hello, AA experts! Using the AA app I wanted to book a fully refundable first class domestic ticket, but only option on the app was "flexible". So I booked a "flexible first" domestic R fare. Is this fully refundable without fees at any time prior to flight time? Thanks!

JJeffrey

Impossible to tell by just knowing the booking code, you need to look at the detailed fare rules when you book. I've never booked anything through the app so have no idea if these are visible booking that way.

When booking at aa.com, there will be a "detailed fare rules" link on the very last page before clicking purchase.

bcpoinciana

Booked an award in J - MNL-NRT-BOS. Goal is to get to MIA from BOS. BOS flight arrives 6:30 pm. What’s the latest flight to MIA I should look for to add without additional miles? Can it be the following morning? I understand it has to be a saaver award to add to this itinerary, is there a way to be certain a flight is saaver?

JJeffrey

On an int'l itinerary like this you have up to 24 hrs to connect, so you can take any BOS-MIA flight that departs that evening or the next day before 6:30pm.

And technically speaking the MCT for a JL-AA connection like this at BOS is 1:40, so to be legal (and to to be able to add it to the same award) the BOS-MIA flight would need to depart at 8:10pm or later.

For sAAver space, economy would be 12.5k miles and Business would be 25k. Any other amount is a web special which cannot be combined with your JL award, as you mentioned.

bcpoinciana

Thank so much. Is the 12.5k/25k a cap? Im seeing flights at 10k and 12k - guessing those are some sort of promotional priced fares, but can I add those?