brp

Yes, as noted. However, getting them reinstated to the account (whether it comes from yours or someone else's) can be problematic. I have a feeling that they don't do this often, and it seems to take a long time to happen. If these are for SWUs expiring 2/28/13, it may be tough to get them reinstated in time to use. It will take perseverance on the part of the gifter.

Cheers.

UA-NYC

Dealing with this as well, trying to figure out used vs. un-used SWUs

I sponsored a co-worker today, cleared right away...still showing the same amount of available ones. Maybe it will update tomorrow.

Hoping at some point we can do all this online & see a record of the transactions!

MARINFLL

Some good news here, 2 days after my upgrades cleared (for a March 2013 flight), they were deducted from my 2012 balance! I had 2 left and booked a flight in April to south America that cleared immediately to use the last 2 upgrades. Hopefully they'll come from the 2012 balance in 2 days. So, perhaps after your upgrades clear and are posted, it takes 48 hours to deduct from your balance.

The good news is that the computer handles the SWUs the same way as it always has, regardless of what the agents say. If they clear for flights after February, the computer pulls from your old 2012 SWU balance first!

milkchug

Anyone have the best possible/best bang for your buck on a SWU?

bdemaria

In terms of distance, PVG-ORD-DEL was hard to beat, but I would say anything that covers 3 continents is impressive.

bigbertnyc

I have 4 remaining eVIPs that expire on 2/28 that I wont be able to use. Is there anywhere to trade them with another EXP who has some for the coming year that may want to use mine in the short term? Is this against the rules?

bdemaria

There is a forum called "coupon connection" on Flyertalk (community section) - but it requires 180 days membership on FT + at least 180 posts.

FlyMeToTheLooneyBin

It's against AA rules, but that doesn't stop people from trading.

bigbertnyc

So to be clear - you can't trade with people you dont know but you could trade with a friend? I don't really understand the rules. Is there a place to make new EXP friends who might want to give me an upgrade if I give them one? This all seems a little silly. I'm not looking to sell them and that seems to be the primary thing AA is trying to prevent.

FWAAA

Trading, bartering, selling, swapping, dealing in SWUs for consideration are all against the rules. Doesn't stop some people from doing it.

AA's rules say you can give them away to whomever you please. Gifts, by definition, involve no consideration. No money, checks, free tickets, future-dated SWUs, free dinners, nothing.

milkchug

I thought booking an award fare is a pain, but having some issues trying to maximize my SWUs for an anniversary trip with my wife in Sept and would love any feedback on the best type of routing for this itinerary, or if there are better routes/suggestions for something similar.

My trip is approximately 2-2.5 weeks long and we are looking to hit Spain and Italy, with Italy being a majority of the trip in late September.

We are flying from LAX - and since I'm looking to maximize my SWU, trying to fly as much AA metal as possible, as well as flight options that give me the best chance of the upgrade.

One itinerary I was looking at went something like(not counting requisite domestic stopovers):
LAX-BCN (spends a few days there) , Take a non AA flight from BCN to ROM, Travel through Italy for a few days, and either go back to ROM or Milan for the flight back to LAX. (e.g. ROM-LAX)

Is there a much better way to do this without having to pay a lot for non AA flights or without a lot of stopovers, while still maximizing the SWUs?

Much appreciated.

startpacking

You can only use SWUs on AA metal, so obviously you'd want the long haul segments on AA.

Intra Europe flights can be very cheap if bought in advance, I would price flights from BCN to the Italian destination of your choice. I don't understand why you would want to fly to FCO or MXP and then backtrack to the city to leave on AA by doing so you waste your valuable vacation time. Why not do something like, BCN - FCO train to Milan, depart MXP.

clacko

delete

bdemaria

The best use of an SWU is on a flight where it will clear - thus I would approach this in a different fashion: What can be booked now that will clear? A quick review of EF shows that in mid Sept. there's ample onfirmable upgrade space on DFW-LHR, and in late Sept. lots on LHR-ORD. There's also some space on JFK-BCN right now, c. 9/13.

beachfan

I think you got the basics. A couple of comments specific to LAX:

Unless you go through JFK, I think it's hard to get a decent trans con with good seats up front. Unfortunately, the connection through MIA (with LAX-MIA on the 777) doesn't work. If you wanted to overnight in MIA, that would be best from a purely SWU perspective.

On the return, it looks like you need to depart from Milan and go through JFK to stay on all AA metal.

If you are willing to pay more, and have Avios points, I would see about flying LAX-LHR nonstop on the 777 and connect on a BA Biz class award open jaw (LHR-BCN//FCO-LHR) which is 18000 Avios per person plus I think 50 pounds each.

The real cost is that will incur LHR airport tax on the return. But the advantage of it is that you can return from many places in Italy (17 airports, some seasonal). If you want to see Milan (which I like, for a couple days), then it doesn't help. But if you want to depart from Venice or Naples or Pisa, etc, then it's a real help.

There are many detractors of LHR but I'm not one of them. The Galleries lounge is very nice, and the airport (in my opinion) has worked out many of the bugs.