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Note: older posts have been archived to ARCHIVE: Business Extra Program master thread (consolidated)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)
Nov 4, 2021 | 4:55 pm
#1426
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 1,583
The new requirements with a minimum number of travelers and minimum revenue seem reasonable and I'd rather have it documented and disclosed up-front, vs closing accounts after the fact. It would be pretty extreme if they were routinely asking for copies of W2s for a program that realistically amounts to a few hundred dollars a year in benefits for most small firms. Even the old signup bonuses (e.g. the SMEQ... ones) required at least 2 travelers so I think the intent of the program was clear from the start.
Nov 4, 2021 | 11:46 pm
#1427
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: LAX oriented World Digital Nomad
Programs: AA Exec Plat, Hyatt Globalist, MLife/Cosmo Identity Gold, Other Vegas too...
Posts: 1,466
https://www.businessextra.com/awards...dId=12&catKey=
Then again I just learned today BA is part of BusinessExtra,
Maybe I am wrong, check with someone else more experienced than I, but at least there's your EF info.
Nov 4, 2021 | 11:48 pm
#1428
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: New York City + Vail, CO
Programs: American Airlines Executive Platinum, Marriott Bonvoy Ambassador Elite
Posts: 4,237
Very new to EF and to BusinessExtra, but now a part of both. EF says there's at least 7 Cs, your flight is 10+ months away after all... but this is a British Airways flight with an AA Codeshare. My understanding is that you can't use a BXP3 on BA...
https://www.businessextra.com/awards...dId=12&catKey=
Then again I just learned today BA is part of BusinessExtra,
Maybe I am wrong, check with someone else more experienced than I, but at least there's your EF info.
https://www.businessextra.com/awards...dId=12&catKey=
Then again I just learned today BA is part of BusinessExtra,
Maybe I am wrong, check with someone else more experienced than I, but at least there's your EF info.
Nov 5, 2021 | 9:42 am
#1429
Join Date: Oct 2016
Programs: AA
Posts: 90
So the flight is operated by BA but the ticket would be through AA and with AA ticket#. Still cant use? Guess its back to trying to use SWU.
Nov 5, 2021 | 9:45 am
#1430
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: New York City + Vail, CO
Programs: American Airlines Executive Platinum, Marriott Bonvoy Ambassador Elite
Posts: 4,237
Nov 8, 2021 | 7:25 am
#1432
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Los Angeles
Programs: WN CP & A-List, National ES
Posts: 175
After referring the case to customer relations I got a generic email with a refund for the $200. They also threw 2500 points my way, which is better than nothing but I put the headache and the miss at closer to 5k or 10k points since it required quite a bit of work on my end and the system was clearly at fault. Nevertheless I'll take it.
Nov 9, 2021 | 8:39 am
#1433
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: NYC
Programs: AS, AA, UA, Hilton, Marriott, Caesars DE
Posts: 2,541
Has anyone had any issues with the business.aa website to be able to redeem Business Extra UGs? I keep getting an error that the record doesn't exist, but I can go to "View Itinerary" and that has no issue pulling up the flights.
Nov 9, 2021 | 1:20 pm
#1434
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: PHL
Programs: AA PLT, UA SLV, MR LTT, HH LTD
Posts: 10,737
I redeemed a BXP1 about 2 months ago. Had to wait until the reservation was fully ticketed before Business ExtrAA site would find my record.
Nov 9, 2021 | 1:43 pm
#1436
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've had issues with the way it spells names (I forget whether it needed my middle initial appended to the end of my first name, like JOHNQ DOE, or if it also needed a Mr., like JOHNQMR DOE, but I definitely had a weird situation with it at least once).
Nov 9, 2021 | 2:04 pm
#1438
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: NYC
Programs: AS, AA, UA, Hilton, Marriott, Caesars DE
Posts: 2,541
Ive usually never had a problem, or at least this major. Ive tried a different persons PNR and 3-4 of mine, no dice. Ill try the Prefix/Middle name, but I never have those associated with my AA account.
Nov 12, 2021 | 8:49 pm
#1440
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: LAX oriented World Digital Nomad
Programs: AA Exec Plat, Hyatt Globalist, MLife/Cosmo Identity Gold, Other Vegas too...
Posts: 1,466
Anyone else seeing that Business Extra is down for a couple of days, until end of day Texas time, 11/14? Maintenance or something...worse?