Nov 21, 2012, 10:53 am

FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides

Last edit by: Prospero

American Airlines Business Extra® Program (master thread)

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:

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.
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:
1. Go to www.britishairways.com
2. Select 'Manage My Booking' tab
3. Follow the instructions to pull up your reservation
4. Select the link towards bottom listed under 'Quick Links' 'Add On Business or Business Extra number'
5. 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)

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Feb 18, 2019, 11:03 pm

#826

NYC Flyer

Join Date: Dec 1999

Location: NYC/PHX

Programs: IATA, Sabre, AvgeekAgent

Posts: 1,958

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonesdds

I guess the key thing is if I am able to redeposit for no charge does that change the clock on when those 680 points will expire(or is it the same as when the certificate would?)

The re-deposit should restore the points in your account with their original expiration date (12/31 two calendar years after earned). The certificate is only good for one year from the date of redemption.

Quote:

Originally Posted by platbrownguy

...just call them and they'll waive the fee if you're an EXP.

Sounds like a nice unpublished benefit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryan182

...so my new question is: regarding the BXP1 cert previously applied to by reservation, do I need to call meeting services to refund it or is that automatic and I can just re-use the cert number in the future?

The certificate should still be outstanding/unused, but it can't hurt to call (or email) and confirm.

Feb 19, 2019, 9:16 pm

#827

yerffej201

Join Date: Nov 2011

Posts: 6,385

if you have to waitlist a BXP1, can you clear at the gate? if so, where does it place you in terms of priority vs UDU/stickers? i.e., would a Gold pax with a BXP1 trump an Plat Pro on a mid-tier Y fare with comp upgrades?

Last edited by yerffej201; Feb 19, 2019 at 9:35 pm

Feb 21, 2019, 12:48 am

#828

jlai777

Join Date: Jul 2018

Posts: 21

Has anyone's Business Extra points for January flights been posted to their accounts yet?

Feb 21, 2019, 7:05 am

#829

NYC Flyer

Join Date: Dec 1999

Location: NYC/PHX

Programs: IATA, Sabre, AvgeekAgent

Posts: 1,958

Quote:

Originally Posted by yerffej201

Yes; Higher

Last edited by NYC Flyer; Feb 21, 2019 at 7:07 am Reason: simplification

Feb 21, 2019, 11:19 am

#830

uxb

Join Date: Jan 2008

Location: JFK, DCA, BUR, YVR

Programs: AC, AS, BA, DL, HH (D), MR (T/LTP), UA (*S), UScAAre (PLT/1,87MM), WN

Posts: 5,207

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlai777

Has anyone's Business Extra points for January flights been posted to their accounts yet?

Yesterday.

Feb 26, 2019, 9:03 pm

#831

xyc

Join Date: Aug 2015

Posts: 46

Hi, if someone redeems 300 points on Business Extra for an Admirals Club Day Pass, when does that day pass expire? Thanks!

Feb 27, 2019, 12:02 am

#832

jlai777

Join Date: Jul 2018

Posts: 21

Usually about an year. I just redeemed 300 points in early February and just got the One-Day Pass with an expiration date of June 30, 2020

milesforhire likes this.

Feb 27, 2019, 9:56 pm

#833

Burj

Join Date: Jan 2008

Location: Upstate, NY

Posts: 3,359

For the day passes I assume we should write in the name but leave the Date blank? Then he first club we visit will write in the date and then give it back to use later in the day at other clubs?

Mar 2, 2019, 10:45 am

#834

amm

Join Date: Nov 2017

Posts: 106

I had a one way EZE-DFW-DCA itinerary in December. Ended up using miles+copay to upgrade the EZE-DFW leg from prem economy to business (economy for domestic leg). However, I only received BusinessExtra points for the DFW-DCA leg even though it was all one ticket number. I’ve already emailed in but curious if anyone has experienced this before.

Thanks!

Mar 5, 2019, 10:02 pm

#835

lightbulbs

Join Date: Jan 2015

Programs: Alaska Gold 75K, AA EXP, United 1K

Posts: 472

Anyone ever try unapplying a BXP1 that has already cleared if it looks like the upgrade would clear as a UDU sticker upgrade instead?

Mar 5, 2019, 10:45 pm

#836

asf-07

Join Date: Apr 2008

Location: TX

Programs: AA: EXP MR: Ti

Posts: 495

I feel like its time for another BE promotion

Markie likes this.

Mar 6, 2019, 5:01 am

#837

JJeffrey

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Feb 2001

Location: RDU <|> MMX

Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS

Posts: 12,438

Quote:

Originally Posted by lightbulbs

Anyone ever try unapplying a BXP1 that has already cleared if it looks like the upgrade would clear as a UDU sticker upgrade instead?

Happy to be corrected if I'm wrong, but I don't see any reason why you shouldn't be able to call Meeting Services and ask them to un-apply your BXP1.

I would just make doubly sure that they put a note on your PNR/record/certificate/whatever that shows the upgrade was removed and never used.

Mar 7, 2019, 12:30 pm

#838

dmp614

Join Date: Jul 2009

Location: BOS

Programs: AA-EXP, Marriott-Ti, IHG-P

Posts: 108

Quote:

Originally Posted by JJeffrey

I've done this. In my experience it's similar to un-applying an eVIP/SWU... to get you back into coach they "need" to have the same coach inventory available. For example if you bought G inventory and then used a BXP1 to move into C, but now you want to move back and the flight's pretty full and only M and higher are available, they can refuse to move you back (or attempt to collect the difference in fare between G and M, assuming there's a valid M fare). Depending on the circumstances, someone might oversell your original inventory bucket to move you back - but I think that requires both a knowledgeable and dedicated agent who really wants to help (and it's been a while since I've done this, so I have no idea if the "system" even allows them to do it any longer). If the original inventory is still there, then I completely agree it should be easy. In all cases, if at first you don't succeed, don't argue just hang up and try again (you don't want the first, second, third, etc. agent leaving a note in your record telling future agents to deny your request).

Mar 7, 2019, 12:35 pm

#839

uscjeff

Join Date: Jan 2013

Location: Vail, CO

Programs: AA EXP/1mm, Marriott Titanium/LT Gold, UA Silver

Posts: 624

Called yesterday to clear a J to F - nice surprise that as long as the flight is ticketed and there is confirmable space they will apply even if the flight is after the cert expiration date. I could be wrong but pretty sure that is not the case with SWUs (outside of exceptions due to Eagle ranking)?

Mar 8, 2019, 7:42 pm

#840

USAIRCHAIRMAN

Join Date: Nov 2012

Location: Tampa, FL

Programs: AA Ex Plat United Premier Silver Hilton Diamond Marriott Gold

Posts: 104

If I booked Y and upgraded with a cert will I earn double eqm? It seems so unlikely but worth the ask I suppose