I don't see why they would waste time verifying something like this. Even if they were to how would they know someone wasn't doing consultancy work for you? Or a family member working part time?

Agreed that this is probably not verified, but do you even need to add them at all? Can't you just submit manual requests for credit for their flights if you have their ticket number?

you don't have to "add" them. You give them your Business Extra number, and they use it. That's all there is to it.
They can save it in their AA.com profile so it automatically is added to their reservations. AA doesn't ask you to give them a "list" of employees.

Has anyone had issues applying a BXP1 to a reservation ticketed through points like Citi ThankYou Points, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex MR, etc? In the past, I have had to pay a re-ticketing fee for a flight booked not through the AA website -- has that been an issue for applying a BXP1?

Have done it many times for both Citi and Amex tickets with no issues, no fees. Enjoy...

Likewise never an issue for me, just make sure your fare code is not one of: N,O,Q,S,B. I've even had success 'upfareing' to 'G' from one of the lower codes (with itin booked by US Bank points) without incurring a re-ticket fee (however, I 'think' she did get a waiver for me so don't necessarily count on it). Of course there was a $40 fare difference per ticket... And note I only went through the process of 'upfareing' because the upgrades (4 of them) were confirmable.

Question for the pros....

I'm Australia based & have about 8k BizExtra points in my account with about 4k of them expiring at the end of the year. I was looking at the BX9B award, which is saver biz between South Pacific & US. The only direct AA routes is SYD/AKL-LAX and there is *no* availability at all in 2018 on these routings on AA metal. So I'm very hesitant to cash out for this award - and this is the only award I'd really use.

Any suggestions on an award from Pacific (or even Asia) that's got good AA biz availability that I should consider cashing out on?

Since I believe BX9B requires AA metal, and AA has been extremely (I mean extremely extremely!) stingy with releasing space on it's own metal, I would not redeem for that.

How often do you fly AA or Qantas? Perhaps an Admirals Club membership might be of use?
https://www.businessextra.com/awards/toc.htm?awardId=17

However, since you're not domestic to AA you'd likely have to use a lot 'partner lounges', so, check if the partner lounge access policies work for you:
https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...p#southpacific

Or consider if you have no oneworld status, get yourself (or someone else) 'Ruby' by redeeming for AAdvantage Gold status:
https://www.businessextra.com/awards/toc.htm?awardId=14

My redemption patters would be different than you since I'm based in the US, but, I usually redeem on a mix of BXP1's (single segment North American upgrade) and 1-Day Admiral club passes.

AA EXP (I flew them a lot before coming to Oz) - so most of the other redemption awards don't do much for me, unfortunately. I'm thinking I may just cash out 2 domestic tix and give them to family....but was hoping something better would be available...

Thanks for the data points! Can add booking with Chase UR to the successes ... used BXP1 for PHL-LAX dinner flight and LAX-PHL redeye. Just in time for 12/31 expiration. Now have 4 more to use before end of June 2018 ...

So, I'm just trying to wrap my head around Business ExtrAA. All the bloggers like to write about it, but as C space never basically appears, there's essentially no way to use the upgrade certs, right? They can't be waitlisted, I don't think, right?

If you have an expertflyer subscription it's not hard to use the BXP1s. Just set alerts, search around, etc. I've had no trouble booking JFK-LAX/SFO flights (either in Y, to confirm into C; or in biz, to confirm into A) that I could confirm the upgrade on at the time of booking.

Of course, simply trying to use them on existing reservations is a fool's errand.

I've had reasonable luck using them on SFO-JFK reservations that didn't have C availability at time of booking, by picking flights with J cabins that were undersold relative to surrounding dates and times. I just put ExpertFlyer alerts on the flight and cross my fingers. I have an upcoming two-person SFO-JFK reservation on which I was able to confirm BXP1 upgrades months after I booked it with this method.

Yes, they do happen to be involved in my business despite not being employees.

WILCO.

How do you confirm them at time of booking? Do you have to book on the phone for that to work?