Who will knows that I will be denied for upgrade because my name is too long?

I have bought a ticket from AA, (CX Codeshare) and after getting my CX booking reference number thru AA, I first give CX MP a call and was told that even my ticket is thru AA, as long as I have the reference number, I will be able to upgrade with my points. I was soo hyped and I therefore go ahead to call Asiamiles and ask for the upgrade.

During the second call, I was then told that my name is not matching as my Chinese first name is missing. I have no idea why but decided to call AA to inquire. It turns out that my full first name is too long for them to input in the first name column and they put my chinese first name as my middle name. Interestingly, god knows why that the middle name part did not get transferred to CX . That very kind CS in asiamiles tried to check with her advisor, but at the end still no go.

O well. Sad face. Any one who have any insight to me?

-Pete

Sorry to disappoint you, but from my understanding, you cannot upgrade on an AA ticket even if its a CX codeshare as your PNR is under AA's PNR and not CX. Don't know how the CX agent thinks that you will have a CX PNR ??

There is no CX reference on the AA ticket until literally 24 hours prior to departure when AA hands over their bookings to CX. When you mean CX codeshare you mean that its an AA ticket on AA metal but CX flight number? Or do you mean that its an AA ticket on AA flight number but CX metal?

Either way, name shouldn't matter. Depends on who booked the ticket and how they input the name.

I think one can upgrade an AA ticket with Asiamiles.
https://www.asiamiles.com/am/en/redeem/charts?
(Airline Partners Awards Chart) 5 For American Airlines, only fare classes Y, B and H are eligible for Economy to Business Class Upgrade Awards. Only fare classes J, D and I are eligible for Business Class to First Class Upgrade Awards.


But I am not sure how it works when it involves a codeshare thing... because General Condition 3. Awards are not available on any codeshare flights.

umm.. interesting... So how about instant upgrade? Would there be any chance that I can talk to CX on LAX on the day of departure? To clarify, it is booked on AA, codeshared to CX (flight operated from CX).

Thanks.
-Pete

Still no I believe as the ticket is still on a AA flight number. If you want to upgrade you must have a CX flight number. Term here is that you have a AA codeshared ticket with CX on CX metal. You may try at the airport but chances are pretty slim.

Guy Betsy is correct. If you want an upgrade IT MUST be CX flight numbers. Since it's out of LAX, it must be 885, 883, or 881.

As far as an instant upgrade, since it's an AA flight number no chance.

Even if the flight is oversold and you're an Emerald, you have no chance in the pecking order for op up.

You sure about that, Guy? When I use AAdvantage miles for CX flights (which I do fairly regularly), I ask for both the AA and CX PNR codes at the end of the call and always get them. Are we talking about the same thing?

No this is quite different - AA books you in their system (SABRE based if I am not wrong) and generates a PNR on that, there is a corresponding 1A (AMADEUS, WHAT CX USES) PNR for CX. CX/QF/BA/IB are all on amadeus from OW so they will have the same PNR. However a redemption booked using AA miles is still booked on the CX flight number - for example LAX-HKG would be CX 885, not AA 6075 which is AA codeshare for the same flight.
Codesharing is different as it allows for AA to share revenue on certain segments, all CX transpacs from USA-HKG are codeshared with an AA flight number. Strangely CX has not put its flight number on the new AA flight from DFW - This very different from one airline booking on another's flight.

As Guy Betsy has confirmed, a codeshare is not upgradable on AM. Similarily I couldn't use one of my SWU on an AA operated flight if it was book using a BA flight number.

Alright, I seems to understand it now. So in my situation, since my flight is with AA flight number, even if it is a codeshare flight with CX, CX cannot process the upgrade as it is not technically a CX ticket. However, if we redeemed a flight on AA website, we are in fact buying a CX ticket with our AA points, so since our flight number is on CX (like CX 883..), we will be able to process the upgrade with our asia miles. Is it correct?

P.S: I am very surprised by all those differences between different airline reward system. Guess I should be more careful next time. Sigh.. and I will need to sit in economy class in this full flight. By full, I mean there are not seats available for me to choose on CX website...

Correct....CX can't process any upgrade request because it's an AA flight number.

If you redeemed CX flights with AAdvantage miles, you still can't process an upgrade as award tickets AREN'T UPGRADABLE. The only time you'll get upgraded on an award ticket is if the flight is oversold and it's still VERY RARE.

Do you have elite status with AA? If you're Sapphire, I think you should be able to pick your seats on the CX website.

I see. I am able to pick my seat, but because the flight is full (like totally full) there is no seat for me to pick. But thank you so much for your answer tho. It clears all the confusion I have.

Try to call CX and see if they can assign you a seat.

If you want to use points for upgrades in the future, might I suggest collecting Asia Miles as opposed to Aadvantage. I know you get more miles with bonuses if you have elite status with AA, but if you plan on flying CX more, collect it with CX. You always have an advantage over other ow carriers.

CX blocks many/most seats in the Y cabin and prevents anyone from selecting them. Doesn't mean that they're unavailable. Check a tool like Expertflyer and you'll see what I mean. The seats will show correctly as blocked, not occupied.

Also, you can always try to get inflight upgrade. I once saw two random guys entering the J cabin two hours after take-off, and at first I thought something went wrong in PEY/EY. It turned out that they asked for inflight upgrade, and since the FAs have no way to validate the fare class, they must grant them the upgrade.

When i check in expertflyer, there are still room in the premium econ area. So I am sure there are spot for me in the plane, the question is I cannot select any of them on CX and it is frustrating..