no1cub17

So just want to clarify - the "enhanced" trade-in offers only apply to PURCHASED 500 mile upgrades, not "earned" the old fashioned way (12.5K EQM per four or whatever) - is that correct?

jcatman

May 27. Telephoned AAdvantage Customer Service and requested alternative exchange options for purchased unused 500-mile upgrade stickers.

June 8. Received email with exchange options for the 500-mile upgrades which AA's internal records indicate I had purchased.

June 8. Responded to email, selecting AAdvantage bonus miles offered per upgrade.

June 10. Correct number of 500-mile upgrades deducted from my online wallet. Correct amount of award miles added to available award miles in my online account. The complimentary 500-mile upgrades are still in my online wallet and have not been converted to Loyalty Points.

Correct.

marlee1421

Called Aaadvantage customer service to find out number of purchased v. earned 500 mile upgrade certs. Agent had a response almost immediately that sounded accurate. Asked about options for conversations and received the stock answer they would be converted to 250 LP each later in the year. Pressed the issue and was asked to wait while supervisor was consulted. A few minutes later came back to say options for purchased e-certs was either 250 LP or refund back to original form of purchase. Affer advising agent that others had been given the option of 5000 FF miles, she again consulted her supervisor and was told that was not an option. Seems like different people at AA have different info to dispense.

JJeffrey

"Welcome to the party pal!"

FlyFreakquently

Genuinely curious as to why AA agents seem to have such discrepancies with their info, particularly amongst the so-called "elite agents." You'd think there'd be standardized training and company-wide memos whenever something new comes out, such as the 500-mile conversion option.

njvandy

I got this exact same response. Agent put me on hold for 10 minutes to "speak to a supervisor". When she came back she said "I guess I can file the form for you and we'll see what they offer you". About 2 weeks later I got an email offering me the same menu as everyone else.

nk15

It sounds like the line is trying to discourage/trick you from getting anything else than the LPs, or at least try a couple of times...

VegasGambler

Yeah, I'm sure that the EXP agents sit up at night worrying that people are getting too many miles for their 500 mile upgrades.

This is a really niche request. Most people who have 500 mile upgrades don't know that they are going away or what they are getting for them. It's not surprising that many agents don't know exactly what's offered, especially since it's unpublished.

nk15

I was not referring to the individual agents, but rather if there is a corporate memo to supervisors/agents or something, for example "re-iterate that upgrades are non refundable and will be converted to 250 LPs, and if the customer insists, bla bla bla."

Which I guess is not different from the stated policy and them doing occasional exemptions, with or without memos....

VegasGambler

It seems unlikely.

Remember that agents probably field several hundred calls to accept a 5-10 minute schedule change for every 1 call they field about 500 mile upgrades.

On the good side, it's been a whole week since I've had to call in to accept a schedule change, and I have 6 trips booked. That has to be a record.

strongkv

Called the Gold service desk today and was told that they (the customer service reps) have still not been told a date for the conversion or the full details, but that customers will be offered either loyalty points OR MILES. Not clear if she meant all customers or just those with any kind of status. I had initially complained that conversion of my 47 500-mile upgrades (all earned, none purchased as far as I can remember) to loyalty points is of no value to me, since I have permanent Gold status, and I'm now retired with no business travel and very little chance that I could reach Platinum this year. Seems like she was well aware of this type of complaint, so maybe they have been taking customer feedback into account before finalizing the conversion.

javabytes

Seems unlikely. Why would they refund you a bunch of miles for something you didn’t pay for? You had earned a limited number of upgrades, now they’re effectively giving you more already with this change.

My spouse was targeted for a promotion and got 20 500 milers along with Platinum status. Didn’t end up using any of them. It would be absurd to offer the option of nearly an entire free business class ticket to Europe to someone like this.

tbone14

I was gold and platinum for a few years when I first started flying, before achieving EXP regularly. I have never paid for any e500 stickers. I emailed AA, stating that LP did nothing for me as I was currently EXP and would hit EXP again this year. I then asked for similar offers as those with paid upgrades. AA replied a few weeks later, and did offer 5K miles as a conciliatory offer. Better than nothing.

chix

Which would you pick?

FlyingEgghead

The amount they're worth is debatable, but the upgrades should be worth something because they were part of the inducement to fly as GLD and PLT; saving them up was supposed to give you the option to upgrade without competing with everyone else. It's not the case that "they’re effectively giving you more already", since upgrades are zero-sum, and free upgrades for all elites will push some down the priority list.