I ordered one BXP1 cert as my first one ever BE redemption on 12/30, right before I had ~600pts expire on the 31st, and it arrived a couple of days ago, so approximately two weeks.

Happened to call the meeting services myself and was told that the fee will be waived if an EXP is on the reservation.

Hi everyone. Does anyone know how BXP1 certs are prioritized in the upgrade process?

Will they clear before the 500 segment upgrades ?

Prior to airport control, it depends on which inventory is released (C vs R).

Nevermind, I was misinformed.

New to this thread. I have two first class plan ahead BE certificates to Europe, but have not been able to find space. The agent said, "Oh, you are too far out (travel in June). You can use an anytime award or wait. Since the flights are wide open, the plan ahead awards should open up."

Has anyone had experience with this? Does it sound right that AA is not opening up any plan ahead BE awards even though the cabins are completely empty, or nearly so?

Does this strategy sound strange to wait? June does not seem THAT far away.

Help and insight appreciated.

I believe Plan Ahead awards are the same inventory as mile sAAver awards. Very rarely do I ever see sAAvers open up on AA metal these days...

Are there even four flights a day with first class cabins --- and don't they all fly to London Heathrow? If you're looking to fly anywhere else, you may want/need to be asking about business class....

The advice above is spot on. A Business Extra award comes from the same inventory as normal sAAver AAdvantage awards. AA has become very stingy with premium award space on AA metal routes to Europe. It's completely normal to see no award space even when the F or J cabin is wide open, especially for the summer high season. It's likely that more space will open up as the date gets closer, but as you're looking for 2 seats it will tough.

Also, as mentioned above, the only routes that AA offers F on to Europe are the 77W flights to LHR from JFK, MIA, DFW, and LAX. Since normal BE awards are only valid on AA metal, you need to focus your search on these routes, which is severely limiting your options.

I have a pretty unique issue I could really use some help on if anyone knows how to approach this one - will try to keep it as brief as possible.

2 weeks ago I was flying LAX-JFK-MIA-MDE in paid J. I requested an upgrade to F on LAX-JFK using a BXP1 which was confirmed at time of request. Got the certificate in the mail - all is good. Unfortunately with the storm back east that week that flight was cancelled so I got moved to LAX-MIA and all was well. The agent mentioned she could see if I could use the certificate on JFK-LAX on the way home so we waitlisted that - I just asked to make sure it was noted with a BXP1 - I did NOT want a SWU pulled on a domestic flight. She said to save the certificate and if it clears will be collected when I attempt to board the plane. Fast forward to flight home I was moved to first last moment and boarded the plane (jetlagged) and did not think much of it. When I got home realized they had never collected the certificate at JFK. I went into my account, turns out a SWU was pulled which was exactly what I did not want.

I am hoping I can get this resolved and the SWU reinstated - obviously I still have the BXP1 in my possession. Does anyone have a similar experience like this? Or know who I can reach out to and try to get this resolved? I would think this is a customer service issue so a bit unsure. Getting through to the EXP desk right now with the storm back east seems a bit tough as is. I am hoping I can sort this out as it was just confusion - nothing malicious. Any advice here would be greatly appreciated...

AA is usually pretty good at resolving mistaken SWU redemptions. They'll look through your reservation records, see a BXP1 upgrade was placed, and restore the SWU. Just expect to provide your BXP1 certificate number to them so that they can invalidate it. The EXP desk isn't going to be able to help you very much with this, though. Instead, reach out to AAdvantage Account Customer Service (800-882-8880, M-F 8am-7pm CST) and tell them what happened.

I had that exact same thing happen a few years back, I was waitlisted using a BE upgrade but AA pulled a SWU instead. As potus18 mentioned above, you need to contact AAdvantage Customer Service to get it fixed, not the normal EXP line.

Thanks a ton for the above advice - really appreciate it. Once the east coast weather related delays die down I will call and report back what I hear

I have a PlanAAhead Europe-USA ticket issued and need to cancel and use later(I don't have future travel date yet). I know changes are free for EXP.
Can I cancel now and rebook later without paying the $150 fee. I will lose EXP on 01/31. Ticket validity is upto Nov 2018

Cancel before losing your EXP status.