Using AA miles to upgrade
 

Dear CX experts,

How difficult is it to use AA miles to upgrade on CX flights from J to F? Are there fair amount of availability? Can I waitlist for an upgrade? What is your experience?

Thanks for any comments!

Carfield

The first big caution is that the original ticket needs to be issued on AA stock. Not CX stock, not CXleverage, nothing other than AA. I'm sure someone here will say they have done otherwise. However, I'm quite certain of this requirement. The 2 times I've done this I didn't have any problem. Maybe I've been lucky.

Carfield,

I just did this getting AA to make the reservation and issue it on their stock from YYZ - HKG. The booking class they used was 'A'.

Francis

I have not done this before , but from the
previous posts/infos gathered here :
- tickets have to be issued on AA stock
- C ticket can be booked in D class
( discounted/sub class for business class
( need not be in full J )
- The upgraded FC has to be booked in A
- The upgrade and reissue has to be done
directly by AA with certificate

Since the upgraded flight is booked in "A", does this mean that I can get the 50% class of service bonus?

What is the reason for having AA reissue the ticket on their stock?

So that:
1) They have control of the original booking as well as the upgrade.
2) They can then see that the fare is 'normal' and not discounted or through a consolidator.
3) It is easier for them to do an 'issue' in exchange in case of changes.

Thanks for the information but I am still not sure what the procedures are. Let me try to list the procedures and please tell me if I am right or not!

1. Call AA and find out if A inventory is available!
2. Buy a J class ticket from CX (on CX stock)!
3. Call AA again and to confirm the upgrade!
4. Then bring the tickets to AA and reissue them

Am I right here? I guess these long procedures also try to dissuade people from using the upgrade awards...

Well, it may be complicated, but at least it is still an option.

Carfield

An easier way would be:

1)Call AA EXP/PLT/GLD etc. desk, tell them you want to upgrade your J ticket to First Class using the 40,000 mile upgrade award on CX.

2)Have AA check availability for the dates you want (in both "J" and "A").

3)Then have AA issue the "J" ticket and upgrade it to "A" while they deduct the 40,000 miles from your account, and charge the "J" fare to your credit card.

3A) Call CX and make sure you are confirmed in First Class on the flights you want and choose your seats.

4)Wait for the guy from the courier company, post office etc. to deliver the paper ticket.
(already upgraded)

I just called AA to change the date of my award travel. Upgrade from full fare business to first. Orginally when my ticket was issued it was in "A" Class but when I asked the guy what class he was booking me in he said "Z" Class. So which one is it ? Does anyone know ?

Thanks Guys.

Z class is used for award tickets--I am suprised they would also use this for upgrade tickets.

Thats what I thought. If they use Z Class as the booking class I probably wont recieve miles. I better call them and sort it out.

For CX awards on CX there is no difference in class booked between upgardes and full awards. I have always automatically got credit for the underlying mileage when using upgrades (and I have done this on different occasions crediting the miles to AA and CX).

CX uses Z and U class for their awards and upgrade codes. There will be an 'internal' remark on your reservation system that notifies CX that your reservation is an upgrade and that you should get your miles on class of ticket purchased. If not, just keep your documents and send them in if they don't get posted. This is what I've been doing even on flights made through Asiamiles themselves. Sometimes they post, sometimes they don't.

Thanks for your help all CX Experts. I still don't quite undertstand why the Class basis on my AA Ticket says "A" hmm was it a mistake by the AA ticket agent ?

From the posts in this thread it will seem that upgrades to First using AA miles will be in CX A class whereas upgrades/redemption ticketes using Asiamiles will be Z class. I had always thought that A class for CX were really discounted such as RoundTheWorld fares and Z were upgrade/redemption tickets. The important difference I thought was that there are more seats allotted to
A than to Z. Eg, you often see A4 on Gallileo (though God knows what the figure is for Z since it is not shown).

So, it would seem that getting upgrades on CX using AA miles would be easier in that there would be the A for use?

Now, what about redemption for CX tickets using AA miles? Does one also book in A class for First class seat redemption?

Cheers,

This is Z.

Does it mean that for CX tickets using AA miles for First Class, A class is for upgrades and Z for redemption? This seems strange especially when it is Z for both upgrades and redemption when one uses asiamiles.

for AA awards on CX- both upgrades and free tickets - first class inventory is booked in Z, for business it is booked in U

[This message has been edited by miki13331 (edited 02-11-2003).]

But this is different from what what was posted earlier in this thread - pls scroll up!

AA used to book CX upgrades on A and D class for upgrades based on full fares.

That has all changed now and AA now books upgrades under the same codes as award tickets. The only difference between AAdvantage and Asiamiles is that the latter can be upgraded on any mileage earning fare bought from anywhere. Whereas on AA, the ticket must be full Y or J and ticketed through AA themselves.

Thanks for the clarification.
And what is more - in a few months' time- CX upgrades using AA miles will be a thing of the past!

Yes. After that, one can only use ASIAMILES and SWISS TRAVEL CLUB miles to upgrade on most economy class fares to BUSINESS. You can only upgrade from Business to First using ASIAMILES.

This is slightly off subject : the point I
am trying to make here is : aren't most of
us here on this board , fly CX quite a few
times a year ? If YES , then , buy a one
way ( whatever class that gets you to BKK
or TPE , where fares are low ) and come back
in First class with a round trip ticket .
Your second half of this ticket will be your
outboud ticket in FC on your next trip .
So what , if your next destination is not
BKK or TPE , buy an intra asia ticket from
there to get to your final destination.
So what it takes a few more hours ? Saves
me all the hassles of upgrading . I paid
something less than US$4000 for a round trip
FC in A class on CX from there back to LA.

How can I book a FC A fare on CX? I tried to find it by checking fares on CX and AA's website, but they all seem to be F fares.

If you are interestedin ex-BKK fares, you can just call CX and book a seat under A and buy it in BKK.

The current published fare for BKK-LAX (A class) is 130,805THB for one way and 186,855 for return.

I think the bargain is D return for 111,425THB.

Gee, I didn't know AC has withdrawn those cheap J fares to the west coast!

[This message has been edited by Chiangi (edited 02-18-2003).]

Just checked ex-US fares to BKK. Some interesting fares under DX28 (for LAX, SFO, JFK) and DW28 (SFO). I fares from JFK with companion fares, too.

There are many 'theres'..and I'm going to do the same except that it'll cost me less than US$2600 for a F class return to the West Coast.

[This message has been edited by Guy Betsy (edited 02-18-2003).]

Wow! Isnt that great! Where is your *there*? Presumably it involves a stopover in HKG both ways? Does it allow you to stop in HKG for more than 24 hours on both occasions?

No stopover if more than 24 hours.

CX doesn't want to 'dilute' their HKG departure products, I was told. I don't know if we are talking about the same fare. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif I hope it will not suffer the fate of oneworld Explorer!

Just made my call to AA ExPlat desk! I talked to one of the nicest agents in AA. We had a nice chat about the discontinuation of such award. She said we should be able to upgrade on any OW carriers. Too bad, I said!

Anyway, I got my YVR-HKG-YVR booked and upgraded to F. That is nice. Although I have to fly both flights on Airbus A340-300, it is still nice. They have the Betsy seats.

Carfield

Funny how when AA discontinues their upgrade capabilities with CX, that Asiamiles members can now upgrade on AA flights!

See http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum85/HTML/001457.html

With this change for AsiaMiles, since AsiaMiles determine upgrades based on distance to be flown, if you have domestic AA add-ons, like SIN-HKG-LAX-(AA codeshare city), then you can upgrade all the way through?

I think the upgrades on AA flights pertains specifically on AA operated aircraft.

But as Asiamiles calculates destinations based on distances, I'd say the further you go, the more you have to pay with miles.

Guy: please drop me an email about buying tickets in BKK! Thank you!

i think CX do not offer F class, only J and Y, from HKG to that 'there'.