Nov 21, 2012, 10:53 am

FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides

Last edit by: Prospero

American Airlines Business Extra® Program (master thread)

Historical Notes

October 5th, 2021: New award types introduced: BXL1 for Platinum status and BXP0 to convert Business Extra points to AA miles at a 1:6 rate. New requirement introduced to redeem: Starting January 1, 2023, current members will be required to have three unique travelers and maintain $5,000 in qualifying Business Extra flight activity during the previous 12-month period to redeem points.This policy will go into effect immediately for new members who join the program on October 4, 2021 or later.
Feb 2018 - BXP1, BXP2, BXP3 Upgrade Certificates can be redeemed electronically, without the need to redeem or submit paper certificates. [URL="https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29470237-post1150.html"[/url]
Dec 2015 - Unannounced more-restrictive changes to BXP upgrade certificates implemented. [URL="http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-airlines-aadvantage/898180-business-extra-program-master-thread-consolidated.html#post25942133"[/url]
Nov 2015 - Europe AA Business Extra closed and migrated to AA-BA-IB On Business [URL="http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-airlines-aadvantage-combined-airline-program/1715008-aa-ba-ib-europe-business-programme-nov-30-2015-ex-business-extra-europe.html"[/url]
Oct 2014 - Business Extra Awards may be redeemed for flights on US Airways
Sep 2013 - Business ExtrAA brand changed to simply Business Extra
Sep 2012 - Upgrade Awards are no longer restricted to use within 30 days of travel [url=http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/19345217-post394.html[/url]

Key Information

Promotion Codes - For a current list of Business ExtrAA promotions, see: Business ExtrAA Bonus Offers (consolidated)
Point Expiration - Business Extra points expire on a rolling basis, two years after the year in which they are earned, on December 31 at midnight U.S. Central Time. Their validity can not be extended.
Award Redemption - All awards must be redeemed via the Business Extra website. Flight Awards are delivered electronically via email with an Electronic Authorization Number. Upgrade Awards and Admirals Club Day Passes are delivered in paper certificate form via regular mail. Redemption sweeps occur twice per week and expedited delivery is available if you provide your FedEx/UPS account number via email. Gold Status and Admirals Club Membership awards are processed and active in the member's account after approximately one week, with other membership materials delivered in the mail within 4 weeks.

Note: BE awards must be booked on nonstop flights if they are available between your origin and destination.
Award Inventory Codes - Per Meeting Services, Business Extra Awards book into the following inventory (although there are conflicting reports from mvoight and InsipidMonkey on whether or not this information is accurate for PlanAAhead Awards, for which availability may be significantly less than MileSAAver Award and/or T inventory availability):Award Type Books Into
PlanAAhead - Economy T
PlanAAhead - Business* U
PlanAAhead - First† Z

AAnytime - Economy Y
AAnytime - Business* J
AAnytime - First† F

Upgrade to Business* C
Upgrade to First† A

* = First class cabin on 2-class flights
† = First class cabin on 3-class flights
Flight Award Reservations - Award Tickets must be booked through AA Meeting Services at 1-800-433-1790 (U.S. and Canada; others contact your local reservations office), and you will need to provide the Reservations Agent with the Electronic Authorization Number from your award certificate. As of Oct 2012, flight awards can be booked without a telephone booking service charge.
Flight Award Expiration - As published on the Business Extra website, Award Tickets must be booked within one year of redeeming the certificate, and are then valid for one year from booking:

Quote:

Award ticket must be issued by midnight one year from the original award redemption date. Tickets issued against Business Extra flight awards are then valid for one year from the ticket issue date.
Upgrade Award Reservations - Upgrade Awards may be applied once a reservation is Ticketed by calling AA Meeting Services or using the Business Extra website. Once requested online you will receive an email with a confirmation number and serial numbers for each upgrade certificate requested.

Upgrade Awards carry fare restrictions (excludes B, N, O, Q or S fares). Take careful note of your fare when making a reservation. It is possible to "Upfare" a reservation from the lowest available fare to an BXP-upgrade-eligible fare by placing it on Hold at AA.com, calling AA to request the desired higher fare basis code, then completing the purchase online.

You can specify ITA searches that exclude the ineligible fares as follows:jfk:: aa /f ~bc = b & ~bc = n & ~bc = o & ~bc = q & ~bc = s

(Or you can place everything after the slash directly in the second advanced control box.)

These filters can also be concatenated with other commands, such as maximum duration, separated with a semicolon:jfk:: aa /maxdur 800 ; f ~bc = b & ~bc = n & ~bc = o & ~bc = q & ~bc = s
Upgrade Award Expiration - Electronic BXP Upgrade Awards are valid for 1 year from redemption. Previously, paper Upgrade Awards were valid thru Jun 30 or Dec 31 of the following year, with the exact date depending on the batch of certificates available at the time of redemption.
Returning Unused Awards - Points redeemed for awards but not yet applied to a ticket can be returned for no charge by using the 'returns' option in your account options. Points will be reinstated with an expiration date 2 calendar years from reinstatement (i.e., expiring on December 31 two calendar years from reinstatement). For awards already applied to a ticket, you must call Business ExtrAA customer services at 800-457-7072, or email [email protected]. Customers outside the US should use the email.
Business Extra Account Credit - A Business Extra number can be added to an existing reservation (for example, booked by a third-party travel agent) by calling AA Meeting Services.

A Business Extra number can be added to an existing BA reservation as follows:
1. Go to www.britishairways.com
2. Select 'Manage My Booking' tab
3. Follow the instructions to pull up your reservation
4. Select the link towards bottom listed under 'Quick Links' 'Add On Business or Business Extra number'
5. Add your Business Extra number and check the box to give your consent.
Retroactive credit for completed travel can be requested via the Business Extra website.
Contact Business Extra

Web home page: https://www.businessextra.com

Booking and Ticketing (Meeting Services desk)
www.aa.com
1-800-433-1790 5:00 a.m. - 12:00 midnight (CT) 7 days a week

Business Extra Customer Service
1-800-457-7072 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (CT) Monday - Friday
Fax: 1-817-931-9029
E-mail: [email protected]

Link to aa.com BE contact web form
http://www.aa.com/contactAA/viewEmai...businessExtrAA

Link to BE web contact form

Note: older posts have been archived to ARCHIVE: Business Extra Program master thread (consolidated)

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

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Jul 29, 2022 | 2:37 pm

#1651

Phasers

Join Date: Mar 2010

Programs: AA EXP, AA LT Gold, SPG Plat 75

Posts: 892

Quote:

Originally Posted by ymx

Just got off the phone with the Meeting Service Desk about this. They said my Platinum Complimentary Upgrade trumped the BXP1 certificate. And that the BXP1 upgrade falls at the end of the list below the complimentary upgrades. She basically said the BXP1 have no value to me as platinum and I could get the certificates refunded back to my Business Extra account.

This doesn’t seem right based on njvandy’s earlier response and the thread that addresses upgrade priorities.

Can anyone tell me what is true?

BXP1 can clear in advance, as a SWU would.

It's only if you get within the complimentary upgrade window where the priority matters.

Jul 29, 2022 | 2:59 pm

#1652

ymx

Join Date: Apr 2015

Location: BDL, BOS

Programs: Marriott Lifetime Titanium, AA EXP, IHG Diamond Ambassador, Hyatt Explorist

Posts: 670

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phasers

BXP1 can clear in advance, as a SWU would.

It's only if you get within the complimentary upgrade window where the priority matters.

So the agent was wrong? If the BXP1 doesn't clear early, it WILL put me in front of other elites with the same status for complimentary window upgrades?

Jul 29, 2022 | 5:35 pm

#1653

Antarius

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Aug 2012

Location: KHOU/KIAH

Programs: AA EXP | Marriott LT Plat | Hyatt Explorist

Posts: 13,278

Quote:

Originally Posted by ymx

So the agent was wrong? If the BXP1 doesn't clear early, it WILL put me in front of other elites with the same status for complimentary window upgrades?

The agent was wrong. Within the status tier, SWU/miles+copay/BXP (C inventory) trumps complimentary upgrades (R).

Jul 30, 2022 | 1:47 am

#1654

Markie

Moderator: Hyatt Gold Passport & Star Alliance

Join Date: May 1998

Location: London, UK

Programs: UA-1K 3MM/HY- LT Globalist/BA-GGLfL

Posts: 12,761

For me, who credits AA flights to BA, the BXP1 is the only instrument I can use for an upgrade.

Aug 1, 2022 | 2:47 pm

#1655

ymx

Join Date: Apr 2015

Location: BDL, BOS

Programs: Marriott Lifetime Titanium, AA EXP, IHG Diamond Ambassador, Hyatt Explorist

Posts: 670

For a retroactive Flight Credit Request, does the passenger on the ticket need to be an AAdvantage member?

Aug 1, 2022 | 4:21 pm

#1656

Phasers

Join Date: Mar 2010

Programs: AA EXP, AA LT Gold, SPG Plat 75

Posts: 892

Quote:

Originally Posted by ymx

For a retroactive Flight Credit Request, does the passenger on the ticket need to be an AAdvantage member?

No they do not.

Aug 3, 2022 | 8:54 am

#1657

DLmedalliongold

Join Date: Nov 2004

Location: Dallas, TX

Programs: DL PM MM, AA Platinum Pro, Marriott Lifetime Titanium, Hilton Gold

Posts: 1,097

I have a question on Business Extra Upgrades for International Business Class. I am booked DFW-MIA-SCL and SCL-MIA-DFW. The DFW-MIA and MIA-DFW is booked in M, the MIA-SCL and SCL-MIA is booked in W.

I had my assistant cash in two BXP3 awards and call American to apply them to my reservation. A few questions - how do I tell they've been applied and I am waitlisted for Business?
Should I call AA directly to see if they are applied correctly?
What priority do I have for the upgrade, and on the domestic portion will my Plat Pro status be ahead of BXP3?
Anyone have experience for upgrade inventory on these flights recently?

There are 8 seats still open on my outbound and 12 seats open on the return, about three weeks out. This is on the small cabin 787-8 with only 20 seats I think.

Aug 3, 2022 | 10:05 am

#1658

Antarius

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Aug 2012

Location: KHOU/KIAH

Programs: AA EXP | Marriott LT Plat | Hyatt Explorist

Posts: 13,278

Quote:

Originally Posted by DLmedalliongold

Can't hurt. There's no real good way online as the reservation web page is often wrong or shows nonsense with regards to upgrades.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DLmedalliongold

What priority do I have for the upgrade, and on the domestic portion will my Plat Pro status be ahead of BXP3?

Your status is the primary driver, even for the BXP3. You will be behind CK and EXP and ahead of PPros on complimentary upgrades. for other PPros using BXP/SWU/miles+copay, you will be prioritized by rolling LP count.

DLmedalliongold likes this.

Aug 6, 2022 | 8:56 am

#1659

98pct

Join Date: Nov 2015

Posts: 30

Quote:

Originally Posted by ymx

Is there any way to determine online if the upgrade I was granted utilized my BXP1 award, or if was a complimentary upgrade, in which case my BXP1 would still be available for future use?

If you go into business extra dashboard and find the transaction where you redeemed the points, (just need to know what date you acquired the bxp1 certificate)
you can click on more details and it will tell you status of each certificate (used/expired/available) that was acquired.

or i suppose you could call, but the normal EXP reps don't really know about or understand BXP1

Aug 6, 2022 | 6:34 pm

#1660

Centurion

Join Date: May 2002

Location: Arizona

Posts: 5,900

Gifting Business Extra Elite Status

Does anyone know how long it takes once you gift someone elite status with Business extra?

Aug 6, 2022 | 11:13 pm

#1661

upgraded

Join Date: Dec 2000

Location: Chicago area

Programs: AA Exec Plat

Posts: 124

It took less than 48 hours whenI did it last year.

Aug 7, 2022 | 9:10 am

#1662

FAA1996

Join Date: Aug 2010

Programs: AA EXP

Posts: 1,784

Keep in mind I think nothing gets done over the weekends, I know whenever I redeem AC memberships on a weekend nothing gets done until Monday or Tuesday.

Aug 7, 2022 | 10:26 am

#1663

NickP 1K

Join Date: Jan 2000

Location: SoCal to the rest of the world...

Programs: AA 1MM EXP. UA 2MM Lifetime Plat

Posts: 6,742

Also keep in mind - once it is a weekday where they can process it: I've had them do gifting or AC memberships but NOT send out the redemption complete email. E.g. They award the gift and it's fine for the other party but will still sometimes show processing for a week. So bear in mind that they may award it quick though for some reason their system will keep it in "processing" for a week or two.

Aug 11, 2022 | 2:55 pm

#1664

DLmedalliongold

Join Date: Nov 2004

Location: Dallas, TX

Programs: DL PM MM, AA Platinum Pro, Marriott Lifetime Titanium, Hilton Gold

Posts: 1,097

Quote:

Originally Posted by Antarius

Can't hurt. There's no real good way online as the reservation web page is often wrong or shows nonsense with regards to upgrades.

Your status is the primary driver, even for the BXP3. You will be behind CK and EXP and ahead of PPros on complimentary upgrades. for other PPros using BXP/SWU/miles+copay, you will be prioritized by rolling LP count.

One more quick question, does being booked in Premium Economy W give me any priority over others in Coach to get the upgrade with BXP3?

Aug 11, 2022 | 3:25 pm

#1665

Antarius

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Aug 2012

Location: KHOU/KIAH

Programs: AA EXP | Marriott LT Plat | Hyatt Explorist

Posts: 13,278

Quote:

Originally Posted by DLmedalliongold

One more quick question, does being booked in Premium Economy W give me any priority over others in Coach to get the upgrade with BXP3?

Not really. The order is

Status level (AAdvantage ConciergeKey® members are first, followed by AAdvantage Executive Platinum®, AAdvantage Platinum Pro®, AAdvantage Platinum® and then AAdvantage Gold® members)
Upgrade type in this order: (1 - Systemwide and mileage award upgrades*, 2 - Upgrades on purchased tickets, 3 - Upgrades on award tickets)
12-month rolling Loyalty Points
Booking code

The likelihood of another person with your status using a BXP/SWU/miles+copay who also has the same exact rolling LP number on your flight is pretty low.