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.