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Note: older posts have been archived to ARCHIVE: Business Extra Program master thread (consolidated)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)
Oct 9, 2020 | 5:44 pm
#1201
Join Date: May 2015
Location: DCA
Programs: UA 1K, AA EXP, DL PM, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 6,972
Yeah that doesn't surprise me though.
Oct 27, 2020 | 12:52 pm
#1202
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: NYC, LAX, HKG
Posts: 296
I bought a non-refundable J ticket, then upgraded J->F using a BXP certificate immediately after booking. A few months later, I was involuntarily downgraded back to J due to an equipment swap (over a month before the flight). There are no other options available that week to fly in F.
Would I be entitled to a refund of the ticket, or just the BXP? The schedule change / refunds policy doesn't specify, leading me to believe it encompasses BXP and SWU confirmed upgrades: https://saleslink.aa.com/en-US/docum...40_Refunds.pdf
I would not have booked with AA in the first place if three-cabin F wasn't offered on the route.
Would I be entitled to a refund of the ticket, or just the BXP? The schedule change / refunds policy doesn't specify, leading me to believe it encompasses BXP and SWU confirmed upgrades: https://saleslink.aa.com/en-US/docum...40_Refunds.pdf
I would not have booked with AA in the first place if three-cabin F wasn't offered on the route.
Oct 27, 2020 | 2:23 pm
#1203
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Live: IWI; Work: DCA/Everywhere; Play: LAS/SJU/MLE
Programs: AA EXP, DL PM, Hyatt Glob, Marriott Ambassador/LTP, Nat'l Exec Elite, LEYE Gold
Posts: 7,458
I bought a non-refundable J ticket, then upgraded J->F using a BXP certificate immediately after booking. A few months later, I was involuntarily downgraded back to J due to an equipment swap (over a month before the flight). There are no other options available that week to fly in F.
Would I be entitled to a refund of the ticket, or just the BXP? The schedule change / refunds policy doesn't specify, leading me to believe it encompasses BXP and SWU confirmed upgrades: https://saleslink.aa.com/en-US/docum...40_Refunds.pdf
I would not have booked with AA in the first place if three-cabin F wasn't offered on the route.
Would I be entitled to a refund of the ticket, or just the BXP? The schedule change / refunds policy doesn't specify, leading me to believe it encompasses BXP and SWU confirmed upgrades: https://saleslink.aa.com/en-US/docum...40_Refunds.pdf
I would not have booked with AA in the first place if three-cabin F wasn't offered on the route.
I think the equipment swap should be enough for a refund.
Oct 27, 2020 | 2:29 pm
#1204
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Thousand Oaks, Ca., USA
Programs: AA Lifetime Plat; Bonvoy Titanium Lifetime Elite;Hyatt Globalist; HHonors Diamond; United Silver
Posts: 9,952
If intertantional, then yes. Spelled out somewhere in the rules, and posted somewhere in a Flyertalk thread.
If not international, I've still been sucessful in the past when 77W went to 757 (Nice P/E Y to crap Y)
If not international, I've still been sucessful in the past when 77W went to 757 (Nice P/E Y to crap Y)
Oct 27, 2020 | 4:36 pm
#1205
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: NYC, LAX, HKG
Posts: 296
Did you just file for your refund on prefunds.aa.com, or did you have to escalate? I was already turned down after submitting a request online.
Oct 27, 2020 | 9:27 pm
#1206
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Live: IWI; Work: DCA/Everywhere; Play: LAS/SJU/MLE
Programs: AA EXP, DL PM, Hyatt Glob, Marriott Ambassador/LTP, Nat'l Exec Elite, LEYE Gold
Posts: 7,458
I would have just called prior to canceling the ticket. International or not, AA phone reps *tend* to be pretty good, even these days, about refunds when involuntary changes occur that are not satisfactory to the passenger. YMMV.
Oct 29, 2020 | 3:59 pm
#1207
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: DCA
Posts: 172
Has AA done anything about extending expiration on Business Extra flight awards? Or is there a clever way to bump out the expiration date? I have a flight award that's scheduled to expire in a couple of months, and no plans to fly anytime soon, so I'd love to have that expiration date extended. If I can't get it extended, then I suppose I could book a flight way out into the future and then change that flight later. Any other suggestions?
Oct 29, 2020 | 4:14 pm
#1208
Join Date: Jun 2005
Programs: AS MVPG
Posts: 2,281
Has AA done anything about extending expiration on Business Extra flight awards? Or is there a clever way to bump out the expiration date? I have a flight award that's scheduled to expire in a couple of months, and no plans to fly anytime soon, so I'd love to have that expiration date extended. If I can't get it extended, then I suppose I could book a flight way out into the future and then change that flight later. Any other suggestions?
Oct 29, 2020 | 6:16 pm
#1209
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Arizona
Posts: 5,900
Has AA done anything about extending expiration on Business Extra flight awards? Or is there a clever way to bump out the expiration date? I have a flight award that's scheduled to expire in a couple of months, and no plans to fly anytime soon, so I'd love to have that expiration date extended. If I can't get it extended, then I suppose I could book a flight way out into the future and then change that flight later. Any other suggestions?
Oct 29, 2020 | 8:26 pm
#1210
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: DCA
Posts: 172
Edit to add: Just called, and they redeposited the points without any fee and with zero hassle. Thanks again for the suggestion.
Last edited by roberton; Oct 30, 2020 at 1:57 pm
Oct 30, 2020 | 8:09 am
#1212
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: TPA/DFW/K15
Programs: AA EXP, Mar AMB, HH LT DIA
Posts: 1,683
Has AA done anything about extending expiration on Business Extra flight awards? Or is there a clever way to bump out the expiration date? I have a flight award that's scheduled to expire in a couple of months, and no plans to fly anytime soon, so I'd love to have that expiration date extended. If I can't get it extended, then I suppose I could book a flight way out into the future and then change that flight later. Any other suggestions?
Also, if you log into your business extra account, this will be reflected directly under the word "Messages" on your Account Activity screen.
Oct 30, 2020 | 3:26 pm
#1213
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 2,691
Nov 1, 2020 | 2:23 pm
#1214
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: PAR
Programs: AA 1MM, AF Plat, VS Gold, Hyatt Glob, Sixt Diamond, Avis Presidents Club
Posts: 1,170
Is it possible to use Business Extra points to u/g from W (paid premium economy) to C?
BXP2 using 1200 points?
Routing is SFO-DFW-PVG
Thanks
BXP2 using 1200 points?
Routing is SFO-DFW-PVG
Thanks
Nov 1, 2020 | 3:40 pm
#1215
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: BOS
Programs: B6 M1, DL GM, UA PS
Posts: 2,164
If you have normal AA miles, it's 15,000 RDMs to upgrade from full fare economy or premium economy to business, and that explicitly calls out Y and W fares.