Nov 21, 2012, 10:53 am
Last edit by: Prospero
American Airlines Business Extra Program (master thread)
Historical Notes
Key Information
Note: older posts have been archived to ARCHIVE: Business Extra Program master thread (consolidated)
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:
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:- Go to www.britishairways.com
- Select 'Manage My Booking' tab
- Follow the instructions to pull up your reservation
- Select the link towards bottom listed under 'Quick Links' 'Add On Business or Business Extra number'
- 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)
Feb 22, 2023 | 1:59 pm
#1846
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: SFO or OAK
Programs: AA 1MM GLD, Hertz #1 Gold, bunch of other programs w/no status
Posts: 1,751
Ugh, that stinks, but it's a good warning that just because you're above the $5k today you may not be tomorrow.
Depending on the number of points in question here I would be tempted to call BE and see if they could somehow waive the $5k at least till the end of the month. Worth a shot.
Depending on the number of points in question here I would be tempted to call BE and see if they could somehow waive the $5k at least till the end of the month. Worth a shot.
Feb 22, 2023 | 2:07 pm
#1847
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 3,751
I don't know about anyone else, but anytime I've tried to use the online BusinessExtraa upgrade tool lately, it fails to look up the reservation. (The same Name and reservation code works just fine on AA.com.)
(Not that there's much confirmable inventory, everything has to be waitlisted.)
(Not that there's much confirmable inventory, everything has to be waitlisted.)
Feb 23, 2023 | 7:43 am
#1848
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2002
Location: NC
Programs: AAConciergeKey/2MM, DL DM/2MM, UA Gold,Hilton Diamond,IHG Diamond, Hyatt Globalist,Marriott Titanium
Posts: 13,223
Also, is the reinstatement of awards policy still in place? For example, if I redeem for five biz class awards this week (because the points will otherwise expire), and then end up never finding space (as seems to be the case with not a single biz award seat showing for months and months), can I reinstate and essentially extend the points for another year? or would the awards just flat out expire if they don't get used after a year?
Feb 23, 2023 | 12:33 pm
#1849
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: VA
Programs: AA EXP, DL Gold, Hilton Lifetime Diamond, Wyndham Diamond, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 293
When did that change occur? I wonder if the same is true for those booked with Chase?
Also, is the reinstatement of awards policy still in place? For example, if I redeem for five biz class awards this week (because the points will otherwise expire), and then end up never finding space (as seems to be the case with not a single biz award seat showing for months and months), can I reinstate and essentially extend the points for another year? or would the awards just flat out expire if they don't get used after a year?
Also, is the reinstatement of awards policy still in place? For example, if I redeem for five biz class awards this week (because the points will otherwise expire), and then end up never finding space (as seems to be the case with not a single biz award seat showing for months and months), can I reinstate and essentially extend the points for another year? or would the awards just flat out expire if they don't get used after a year?
I just ran into this in Jan. I had redeemed points for (2) milesaver business awards to Europe in Feb 2022. I literally looked every month for destinations all over Europe, and I was never able to find availability. These awards were set to expire Feb 2023. In Jan 2023, I reached out to BE and told them that there was no availability, and they canceled them and gave me the points back. I believe they expire in 2025 now.
Feb 23, 2023 | 4:39 pm
#1850
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: CVG/DAY
Posts: 37
Back in Dec we had a bunch of BE points expiring that had a 'courtesy' extension such that they wouldn't expire until Feb 28th of this year. Great, I thought, I can wait until then to redeem. We had already met the $5K spend requirement, so I thought we were good to go. Well, I went to redeem points today, and we are now short on the spend requirement by a few dollars, and have no more spend planned before Feb 28. Can't redeem the points and now they're going to expire. There doesn't seem to be a good way to tell when you'll go below the $5K threshold AFAIK. 
As long as you have 100+ BE points, you can always redeem them for 6 AAdvantage miles per BE point. Maybe not the best use, but better than letting them expire. Im always at risk of dipping below the $5k threshold, so I redeem them frequently just in case I lose the ability to redeem; Ill never accrue enough to do anything meaningful with them
Mar 1, 2023 | 11:27 pm
#1851
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: SFO
Programs: AC SE, AA EXP MM, BA Silver, UA Gold MM, Hyatt Glob, Marriott Titanium, HH Dia, IHG Plat
Posts: 4,953
BE Traveler Credit if Award Flight? And More...
Can a Business Extra number be attached to an award booking on an AA-marketed flight, with that traveler counting as one of the necessary three to maintain BE standing?
Also, if a flight is marketed by AA, but operated by another airline, will that flight count for BE credit?
Thanks....
Also, if a flight is marketed by AA, but operated by another airline, will that flight count for BE credit?
Thanks....
Mar 8, 2023 | 9:52 pm
#1852
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 1K, AA Plat Pro, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Platinum, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 848
BXP1 Upgrade - Non Elite Cleared before Platinum Pro
Hi all,
So today my no status wife was upgraded on a waitlisted BXP1 whereas I was not, and I am Platinum Pro. I called AA and they said I was still waitlisted. Are BXP1s prioritized by time of request, as I may have waitlisted hers first. Otherwise struggling to figure out she was upgraded before I was. I am still in Y.
Any insight you have would be helpful as I don't understand how this would be possible.
Thanks!
So today my no status wife was upgraded on a waitlisted BXP1 whereas I was not, and I am Platinum Pro. I called AA and they said I was still waitlisted. Are BXP1s prioritized by time of request, as I may have waitlisted hers first. Otherwise struggling to figure out she was upgraded before I was. I am still in Y.
Any insight you have would be helpful as I don't understand how this would be possible.
Thanks!
Mar 8, 2023 | 9:58 pm
#1853
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: KHOU/KIAH
Programs: AA EXP | Marriott LT Plat | Hyatt Explorist
Posts: 13,278
They are prioritized by status, then LP, then booking code and then time of request.
Under normal circumstances, The loyalty points is the tiebreaker and nothing else is needed.
Given that your wife has no status and inherited yours (assuming), The first two would be equal. If she's booked in the same booking code then it probably was a function of time of request.
Under normal circumstances, The loyalty points is the tiebreaker and nothing else is needed.
Given that your wife has no status and inherited yours (assuming), The first two would be equal. If she's booked in the same booking code then it probably was a function of time of request.
Mar 8, 2023 | 10:21 pm
#1854
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 1K, AA Plat Pro, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Platinum, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 848
They are prioritized by status, then LP, then booking code and then time of request.
Under normal circumstances, The loyalty points is the tiebreaker and nothing else is needed.
Given that your wife has no status and inherited yours (assuming), The first two would be equal. If she's booked in the same booking code then it probably was a function of time of request.
Under normal circumstances, The loyalty points is the tiebreaker and nothing else is needed.
Given that your wife has no status and inherited yours (assuming), The first two would be equal. If she's booked in the same booking code then it probably was a function of time of request.
Mar 9, 2023 | 12:45 am
#1856
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: SEA
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 325
I have had this happen before - two passengers, one EXP, one Gold, waitlisted on separate, un-referenced PNRs with BXP1s, Gold cleared first. This doesn't explain what happened (also: inquiries to AA did not explain, or fix, it for me either), but you're not alone on this experience.
Were you within the complimentary upgrade window (for anyone) when this cleared?
Were you within the complimentary upgrade window (for anyone) when this cleared?
Mar 9, 2023 | 8:23 am
#1858
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: KHOU/KIAH
Programs: AA EXP | Marriott LT Plat | Hyatt Explorist
Posts: 13,278
There is no policy reason why she would get upgraded before you. Looks like a glitch.
Mar 9, 2023 | 10:56 am
#1859
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 1K, AA Plat Pro, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Platinum, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 848
AA said the ticket had a schedule change and wasn't synched up correctly. Some how my wifes schedule change didn't hang up the system but mine balked. So it skipped over me. I guess that makes sense...
Mar 9, 2023 | 10:57 am
#1860
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 1K, AA Plat Pro, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Platinum, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 848