Upgrade Offer - No Loyalty Points?
May 18, 2022, 12:55 pm
#1
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2001
Location: South Bend, IN
Programs: AA EXP 3 MM; Marriott Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium Elite
Posts: 18,562
Upgrade Offer - No Loyalty Points?
Making a quick day trip from ORD to DCA next week. Just booked my flight this morning. When I check my reservation, I'm being offered a chance to buy up to First Class for $365 each way (it appears one can upgrade either or both segments). The terms of the offer note that Loyalty Points would be awarded only on the original fare (so the buy-up amount is not LP eligible).
The joke is that the upgrade offer is almost to the Dollar what it would cost to change the ticket to a proper First Class ticket which, if I did this, I'd get LPs for the full amount of the fare.
What a dumb offer!
The joke is that the upgrade offer is almost to the Dollar what it would cost to change the ticket to a proper First Class ticket which, if I did this, I'd get LPs for the full amount of the fare.
What a dumb offer!
May 18, 2022, 12:58 pm
#2
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: AA Executive Platinum/Million Miler, Marriott Titanium Elite-Lifetime, Hilton Gold
Posts: 3,212
AA really needs to fix this. Every $ spent should get LPs, including for baggage, upgrades, MCE, wifi, etc. If my cat's $2.00 toy at chewy.com can get LPs, it seems ridiculous things like this purchased directly with AA don't.
May 18, 2022, 1:32 pm
#3
Join Date: Feb 2022
Programs: AAdvantage
Posts: 949
Been discussed here on FT at length but fully agree. Not giving LPs on something you as an elite, particularly an EXP/PP might get for free is pretty dumb in my opinion. I get it AA is trying to encourage flyers to spend more money and those occasional flyers probably don't care about LPs. But if LPs were offered I'd "upfare" more.
May 18, 2022, 3:37 pm
#5
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: DCA/IAD/SFO/SJC/JFK/NRT/LHR/BOS/etc
Programs: AA (EXP, 3 MM), Hyatt Globalist, Taj InnerCircle Silver, MLife Noir, former LHW-Aurelian
Posts: 365
May 18, 2022, 4:21 pm
#6
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: PHL, NYC
Programs: AA PLT, DL SLV, UA SLV, MR LTT, HH DIA
Posts: 10,069
Making a quick day trip from ORD to DCA next week. Just booked my flight this morning. When I check my reservation, I'm being offered a chance to buy up to First Class for $365 each way (it appears one can upgrade either or both segments). The terms of the offer note that Loyalty Points would be awarded only on the original fare (so the buy-up amount is not LP eligible).
The joke is that the upgrade offer is almost to the Dollar what it would cost to change the ticket to a proper First Class ticket which, if I did this, I'd get LPs for the full amount of the fare.
What a dumb offer!
The joke is that the upgrade offer is almost to the Dollar what it would cost to change the ticket to a proper First Class ticket which, if I did this, I'd get LPs for the full amount of the fare.
What a dumb offer!
Usually the offers to upgrade are lower than the going rate to up-fare, but there are plenty of stories of bizarre upgrade offers. IT gremlins hard at work....
May 18, 2022, 5:00 pm
#7
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: NYC
Programs: AA, Marriott
Posts: 210
I'm not too knowledgeable about the topic but I had always thought that if you called in and said you wanted to "upfare", you were more or less buying a new ticket in a new fare class, getting a refund for what you paid and paying in full for the new ticket. Pre-LP you'd earn EQDs at that new fare class, so I would have assumed in the new world you'd earn more LPs in this situation too, and they'd just calculate how much you paid in total.
These in-app offers, in contrast, are like those TOD offers which pre-LP didn't change the EQDs you earned and were kind of equivalent to paying up to lock in an "upgrade". So these don't change your LP earning.
But I could be wrong and neither changes your LP earning. Haven't bit on either since they switched to LPs.
These in-app offers, in contrast, are like those TOD offers which pre-LP didn't change the EQDs you earned and were kind of equivalent to paying up to lock in an "upgrade". So these don't change your LP earning.
But I could be wrong and neither changes your LP earning. Haven't bit on either since they switched to LPs.
May 18, 2022, 6:18 pm
#8
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 517
If the offer is basically what an F fare would cost, then you can do a change flight option and select First class. Then you'll be re-ticketed in F and get the loyalty points.
Usually the offers to upgrade are lower than the going rate to up-fare, but there are plenty of stories of bizarre upgrade offers. IT gremlins hard at work....
Usually the offers to upgrade are lower than the going rate to up-fare, but there are plenty of stories of bizarre upgrade offers. IT gremlins hard at work....
May 18, 2022, 7:30 pm
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 10,904
I'm not too knowledgeable about the topic but I had always thought that if you called in and said you wanted to "upfare", you were more or less buying a new ticket in a new fare class, getting a refund for what you paid and paying in full for the new ticket. Pre-LP you'd earn EQDs at that new fare class, so I would have assumed in the new world you'd earn more LPs in this situation too, and they'd just calculate how much you paid in total.
These in-app offers, in contrast, are like those TOD offers which pre-LP didn't change the EQDs you earned and were kind of equivalent to paying up to lock in an "upgrade". So these don't change your LP earning.
But I could be wrong and neither changes your LP earning. Haven't bit on either since they switched to LPs.
These in-app offers, in contrast, are like those TOD offers which pre-LP didn't change the EQDs you earned and were kind of equivalent to paying up to lock in an "upgrade". So these don't change your LP earning.
But I could be wrong and neither changes your LP earning. Haven't bit on either since they switched to LPs.
On the other hand if you pay a fee to upgrade then your fare stays the same, and AA does not currently give out LPs or RDMs for fees. I don't understand the newfound outrage about this; last year you did not get EQDs or RMDs for fees either. People are acting like this is something new, but it's the way it's always been.
Jun 10, 2022, 12:03 pm
#14
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: NYC
Programs: AA Executive Platinum, DL Silver, IHG Diamond Elite, Marriot Gold, HHonors Gold
Posts: 73
I used an upgrade offer for $800 from LHR to JFK but the posted 6064 LPs (LHR-JFK posted in J) do not make any sense to me. I have Platinum Status and the original ticket was a round trip ticket ZRH-LHR-JFK which I paid $1,151 for ($783 fare + $191+ $177 taxes). If I divide the 6064 by 8 this would make $758 of total possible $974. Let's assume the upgrade does not generate any LP I don't understand why I'd get 6064 LPs unless the inbound flight is super cheap ($216) which I doubt.
Jun 10, 2022, 12:50 pm
#15
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
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Posts: 30,539
If the offer is basically what an F fare would cost, then you can do a change flight option and select First class. Then you'll be re-ticketed in F and get the loyalty points.
Usually the offers to upgrade are lower than the going rate to up-fare, but there are plenty of stories of bizarre upgrade offers. IT gremlins hard at work....
Usually the offers to upgrade are lower than the going rate to up-fare, but there are plenty of stories of bizarre upgrade offers. IT gremlins hard at work....
Don't take me wrong, I think it would be a lot better of AA to offer full benefits with those pro-active upgrades, but sadly, like a number of other airlines, they don't and in this case, from what they say, it seems that the OP would have a much nicer alternative at exactly the same price so not sure why one should make things complicated if they can be fixed in an easy way.