You can clear at the gate.

A Gold passenger with a BXP1 would not trump anyone with higher status on a complimentary upgrade, much the same as a Gold on a miles+copay upgrade wouldn't go ahead of higher tiers on complimentary upgrades.

In fact, I once had to have a BXP1 removed while on the airport wait list because it put me at the bottom of the list compared to all other Executive Platinum waiting on complimentary upgrades. I once thought that they bump you up on the list in the same way an SWU does, but was informed by Admirals Club that day that they actually put you below complimentary upgrades. Doesn't really make sense to me.

No, you always earn miles based on the original fare you purchase, not the cabin that you upgrade into. This goes for all types of upgrades.

I don't think that's accurate (at least not anymore) about ordering of the waitlist. Was your experience before they changed the ordering to be based on 1 year spend instead of time of request?

Anyone clear a BXP3 from PE to J lately?

I've read conflicting reports in this thread lately that Meetings Services is telling customers that BXP3 have lower priority than SWU / Miles+Copay. I know that is historically inaccurate, but with the way AA seems to be in a constant flux of change under the administration of under-informed CSRs, I wanted to double check to settle my mind.

It was May 2018, so after that change had been implemented.

I was curious about whether or not to use them to get higher on the upgrade list, so reached out to the AA Twitter team and they confirmed that the order is EVIP and Mileage Upgrades, 500 mile electronic upgrades, Business Extraa upgrades, and then 500 mile upgrades on Award Tickets. When I had them remove the Business Extraa upgrade, I shot up higher on the list as a 500 mile complimentary upgrade.

I am unsure as to how it works on international flights.

To my knowledge, eVIPs/BXP1s come from the C inventory, while complimentary/500cert elite upgrades come from a different bucket (R, I think). So the two waitlists should not have anything to do with each other -- your priority is within each list based on status/spend/etc. If you're EXP listed for C, but there's no C inventory, you won't clear, while if there are Gold/Plat/PPros on the complimentary upgrade list, they will clear as normal. Of course EXP on the comp. list would have higher priority, but I don't think you can waitlist both ways for the same flight.

SWU -> BXP3
 

Let's say, my seat was already upgrade confirmed by SWU.
Now, is it possible to switch the upgrade instrument from SWU to BXP3 (or BXP1, BXP2) before my departure?
Does anyone have an experience with that?

With the well documented near-impossibility of using SWUs in a satisfactory way -- for longhaul premium-cabin trips -- why in heaven would you mess with your SWU now?! You are one of the Chosen Ones! You've managed to actually use a SWU! Save your BXP miles for something more valuable!

It believe this should be possible only if there is confirmed upgrade space available at the time you want to switch. You can't retroactively switch the instrument you used, so it would involved cancelling the application of the SWU, moving you back to coach, then applying a BXP3 if the upgrade spot is there. Do not assume that cancelling your applied SWU will inherently drop your upgrade spot back into inventory... it is extremely unlikely that would happen.

I'm asking this because I read someone was able to change Mile+Copay -> SWU even the upgrade was confirmed already, so I thought SWU -> BXP3 is also doable...
I do think that another C inventory was available when this person asked to switch the upgrade instrument, though...

Bump. Any one have experience with this? Curious mainly about any change to priority on the PALL. Thx

While there has been no policy change, keep in mind that the airline is inclined to oversell PE (if they can) when it looks like J won't fill up. When that happens, upgrades to J will undoubtedly be first processed for passengers requesting to upgrade out of PE at least until the PE inventory is out of the negative and back to 0, at which point the list would then be run normally.

I did a quick search through the thread, but couldn't find any mention of the AA business booking website https://business.aa.com. Understandably, most of our posts are about upgrades, but this is in reference to full flight awards. I saw this website mentioned elsewhere, and am trying to understand it. It allows searching and, apparently, booking Business Extra flight awards online (unless I've misunderstood). Has anyone used it? I'm about to generate my first redemption (a BX1B). I see the space on AA.com for MileSaaver seats, and the seats also appear at the 3200point rate when I search this business.aa site. Has anyone ever fully booked an award on this site? Is it a bad idea? If calling Meeting Services is preferable, can I place the award on hold on AA.com first (I dread dealing with clueless agents who cannot see space).

Need some value advice.. would you redeem BE points for a BXP1 or use miles+copay. Target is for a Y--> J on a transcon.

Which is a better value?

At face value, earning 650 BE points will cost you $3250 in spend right? (1 point per $5 spent)

If you're EXP, that would net you 35,750 RDM ($3250*11).

A Miles+Copay for that flight is 15K + $75, right?

So, I think that math shows what the better value is.

I'm not following. The BE points are already earned.

What is a better use of BE points then?

Assuming you value miles at 1.5c each, mileage upgrade costs $300.

that means BXP1 gets you nearly 50 cents per point in value -- which I think is the best value you can get out of BE points (compare to BXP3s, which cost 3100 points to do what an SWU or 25k+$350 -- a "$775 value" so only 25c/point -- does)

Business Extra upgrades--when do they clear?
 

I've earned enough points in my business extra account (about 1800) to qualify for a few domestic upgrades. I can't seem to find info on when these clear. Is it at booking? Does it go to the upgrade list and if so where? After other elites? The info doesn't seem readily available. I am platinum flying PHL/LAX/PHL. Would I be better using 500-mile stickers? I have about $6000 in rolling annual spend.

This is new to me and I welcome input from the circle of wisdom here. Thanks in advance.

They clear into C inventory--same as system wide upgrades or mileage upgrades, you can use ExpertFlyer to search for it. It can be anytime from booking to boarding. You need to be booked in specific fare codes based on the type of award you get, pay attention to the restrictions and don't plan to use it on a basic economy ticket or a inexpensive O fare for example.

They don't work on B, N, O, Q, or S fares, so make sure you don't have those. There is plenty of information in the Business Extra thread, you should look there. (Mods: merge?)

You will likely notice in that thread that the waitlist process for BXP1 upgrades is a little hit-or-miss -- if it doesn't go automatically and you get an ExpertFlyer alert telling you there's C availability, it can be difficult to get an agent who can push the upgrade through. (You have to do the upgrades through Business Extra / Meeting Services -- regular AAgents won't touch these). For that reason, I don't waitlist them -- I personally only use BXP1s when I can confirm them at booking, which I check by looking on ExpertFlyer before I buy my ticket.

I then use Matrix - ITA Software by Google to search airfares to look for an eligible fare (typically H, K, M, L, G, or V) -- in your case, for example, I would type the following into the "Departing From" field: PHL :: aa+ /f bc=h bc=k bc=m bc=l bc=g bc=v and then tab over to type LAX :: aa+ /f bc=h bc=k bc=m bc=l bc=g bc=v for Destination, then hit tab again. That should result in the aa+ going in the routing codes field and everything after the / going in the extension codes box. I always check matrix because you might find that the higher fare you have to pay for a non-BNOQS fare makes the BXP1 no longer worth it. You can book the fares using bookwithmatrix or by calling AA.

Thanks for this detailed guidance. That's why I love Flyer Talk!

Really dumb question, but on the Rewards that are *segment* upgrades, do you get to pick which segment?
Or must it always be the first segment of an itinerary?

Thank you

Pick whichever one you like (or is available).

Have your Points for February/March posted yet?
 

I know it takes usually until the 24th day to post the points of the previous month; but I haven't seen anything yet. Just wondered if anyone else has their points in the system....if so, then I will need to do a missing point request with BE.... (and no one wants to do that, ha!) :p

February has already posted.

Really?
 

I guess I'm gonna have to dig for ticket numbers and request points.....I hate when this happens

Has anyone else had problems getting upgraded using BXP3 when booked as Premium Economy. It seems like its an ordeal every time. I just somehow lost an upgrade because it took Business Extra 45 minutes to figure out why they couldn't take from the C inventory only to have it taken by someone using Miles+Money or SWUs. I have SWUs sitting in my account and would have used them for a HKG->DFW upgrade. It seems like this is a problem EVERYTIME i try to upgrade from PE.

Am I just an isolated case?

I don't think it's related to PE specifically but more to the Meeting Services agents. IME over the past 3 years they have become no different than your basic AA phone agent, i.e. a majority have no idea what they're doing. They're poorly trained, make up stuff as to why an award or upgrade can't be booked, etc. Meanwhile you can HUCA once or twice and the next agent will have no problem booking it. Same ole AA garbage just in a different department.

It completely sucks that you lost C space on HKG-DFW due to the Merting Services incompetence.

Absolutely agree-I suspect calls are going to the same gen'l pool of AAgents (who have no idea what they're doing about almost everything) that are handling all calls, just being prioritized in a different way. The last 2 times I have tried to use a BXP1, it has taken me a minimum of 3 phone calls each time to get it done w/every agent insisting I have to call back for each step along the way.

As I told AA in the post-trip survey I got this week, when it asked why I had given them a 0 rating for likelihood of recommending AA to friends/family, they don't give me any reason TO fly them, but continue to give me lots of reasons not to!

Stories like this are why I keep storing up my BE points instead of redeeming them for BXP3s. I've been using M+CP when my SWUs are scarce lately. I have about 11K BE points available to redeem, but I think I'll continue to save them for J-F upgrades, or maybe for a different redemption. I'm too nervous to lose an upgrade from Y/W to J.

Maybe I missed this up the thread, so apologies if this is a redundant or asked/answered question... if C space opens on a flight outside of Meeting Services business hours, can a regular agent push a BXP3 through?

Not possible. Regular AAgents won't touch a BE award.

ugh. ok, thanks.

Just got an e-mail that BE awards and upgrades can now be searched and booked online.

https://www.businessextra.com/i18n/c...Award%20Launch

just got it as well.

cool ^

It's pretty amazing - suddenly lots of really useful functionality.
Switch from PlanAhead to Anytime on the same screen and some really exotic routing - London to Norfolk, VA is valid via LAX!
But, not any better availability I think - for example no saver transatlantic in November when I checked for PlanAhead.
I'll try the upgrade functionality later on.