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?

You must call. C availability has to be there.

I book online and immediately call to confirm the upgrade -- that way if the C space disappears before the phone agent locks it in, I'm still within the 24-hour grace period to cancel & refund the tickets. (This works fine, of course, unless I happen to be looking for airfares when the Meeting Services desk is closed.)

You can also do 24-hour hold, and then immediately telephone Meeting Services. Many times, they can get the ticket price even cheaper.

I tried using upgrade certificates for tickets from PHL to DFW but when I called reservations, the difference between the upfared economy ticket and the first-class ticket was only $30, which doesn't seem worth it. Should I expect more of a difference than that when calling Meeting Services?

I had a flight booked in S through work. When I called to upfare it to an upgradeable fare so I could use my BXP1 the agent told me that first was even cheaper (I class). $62 to upfare straight into F vs. $120+ to upfare to an upgradeable economy ticket. Go figure.

I tend to scope out the fares on Google Flights and/or use ITA Matrix before using a BXP1. On flights where the delta between discount first and discount economy is the standard $60ish per 500-mile increment, I would never burn a BXP1. It's where the difference is hundreds (or a transcon -- I tend to use these on JFK--SFO/LAX, etc.) that these are useful. Or I suppose in cases where I have to buy a short-notice high-dollar coach ticket, odds are it's going to be in V/G/L or higher so I'll burn a BXP1 on those.

In some cases, yes, the V/G/L fare is going to be substantially higher than the cheap N/O/Q/S fare, and perhaps higher than discount first. So obviously I wouldn't burn a BXP1 there.

I have never used business extra before: first redemption :)

I got a BXP1 certificate by mail. Domestic upgrade certificate. I purchased a ticket that happens to be an acceptable fare class, rarely happens for me.

I called business services there was no space on my flight. Can they waitlist me? Additionally i am also platinum, so should i request the 500 mile upgrade and they try to use that if it clears? Flight is in a few days (thursday) in case that makes a difference.

Yes, Meeting Services can waitlist you for C (the bucket for instrument upgrades), but the waitlist is known to be a clunky process that doesn't necessarily clear you automatically once C space opens. You can also request a 500-mile upgrade, which clears into R. C space (visible on EF) is typically released ahead of R space (not visible on EF; you'll only know it's released if you or others clear 500-mile upgrades), but you never know. If you have an EF subscription, set an alert for C space on your flight and be ready to call Meeting Services to manually clear the waitlist if and when the alert fires.

There's also J to F upgrades possible with BXP1, just saying. Any J ticket works, even I. For trans cons.

Quick point of clarification here - I can call the EXP line to apply a BXP1 right? Not just meeting services?

Searching for biz extra inventory
 

I'm sure this is a duplicate question but I couldn't find a post related to this. Is there any way to search an entire month for U inventory? On ExpertFlyer I have to go day by day...which is quite annoying.

Also, I first searched the AA website for mile saver business from LAX > SYD. I found Feb 4 and Feb 27 (return). I searched ExpertFlyer for those dates and it returns zero U inventory. How is this possible?

PS: I'm trying to redeem the BX9B or BX9C biz extra certificate. Thank you for the help!

No, has to be meeting services in my experience.

You can use the 30-day [Power Search] function in the KVS Tool.

When I am requesting credit for a past flight of one of my employees, are the 'Request Date From’ and the ‘Request Date To’ the flight dates? In other words, if I have a flight to credit that left 10JAN and returned 17JAN, I would enter 10Jan as the first date and 17Jan as the second date? And a one way would get the same date?

Is it possible to use 2 BXP1 certificates to go from coach-business and business to first on a JFK-LAX transcon, if there is C and A space available?

Is it possible to use 2 BXP1 certificates to go from coach to business to first on a JFK-LAX transcon if there is C and A space available?

No.

Points Expiry
 

One of my upgrade certificates will expire in a month.
How can I know the original points expiry date before I return the upgrade certificate?
Can the BE customer service tell me if I call and ask?

Double BE points to Spain promo:

Limited time bonus offer

Earn double Business Extra points when you fly nonstop between Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD), New York City Area (EWR, LGA, JFK), Los Angeles (LAX), Philadelphia (PHL), Miami (MIA), Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), and Spain.

Earn double points

For each eligible flight during the offer period, your company will earn double Business Extra points:

• Register for the promotion between December 11, 2017 and February 28, 2018 with the promotion code SPAIN17
• Complete qualifying travel between December 11, 2017 and February 28, 2018 between Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD), New York Area (EWR, LGA, JFK), Los Angeles (LAX), Philadelphia (PHL), Miami (MIA), Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), and Spain

https://businessextra.com/i18n/conte...rs/SPAIN17.jsp

Okay - I'm sure this is in the thread someplace but I could not find it....

I have Business Extra points expiring on 12/31/17. Can I redeem for a RT certificate, say North Am. to Europe, and then make the actual reservation sometime later during 2018, or do I need to actually make a (changeable) award redemption before 12/31/17?? In other words can I bank the certificate for the 12-months it is valid and not use it until I decide on flights? Saw the info below in the Wiki....

• 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.... Quote:
  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.

(BTW the first call I made to Meeting Services said no, must book the ticket before 12/31/17....)

Yes. If you redeem your points today, then the certificate issued will expire one year from the date in which you redeem. You must book travel before the award certificate expires. In theory, you can get an award certificate today, and wait until 30 December 2018 to book travel for some time in 2019.

Also refer to this:

I am curious has anyone ever got business extra points when booking tickets through TYP or AAVacations?

How do the points credit? Do they credit based on percentage similar with EQD since they don't know the fare paid or if they can't compute the fare we don't get any credit?

no

If you are referring to BXP1, it states "(Fare basis codes starting with B, N, O, Q or S are not eligible for this upgrade.)"
That is the complete opposite of your statement "I understand I need to purchase B, N, O, Q or S"

I'm guessing he means that he understands that he needs to purchase fare other than.

Can some of you share your experiences on how long does it take for BXP1 certificates to arrive in the mail?

I put in my redemption request for 7x certificates on 12/24 and to this date still have not received anything.

Thanks!

That's a lot longer than it's taken for my upgrade certificates to arrive. I'd give BE a call.

Any recent experience that PlanAhead award with EXP on the reservation can be modified (change date or cancel the trip to be used for another) for free?