I am scheduled to fly MCO-ORD-DEL-MAA today with my wife. Despite the ticket being in J class the codeshare 9W flight is booked in economy. My friend who has a First class ticket from YYZ-MAA also has been booked in economy. AA cannot issue the ticket in J and asked me to contact 9W directly. 9W's policy as confirmed by their regional manager is no upgrades are permitted in AA code shares with through PNR with Jet coupons or miles. The booking can only be done at the 6.45 AM flight and inspite of having a fully flexible ticket it cannot be changed to a later flight
The only way appears to be buying the ticket up to DEL and buying separate J ticket to MAA losing through luggage check in . It may not matter much as during my last connecting flight 9W counter in DEL refused to accept my through baggage tagged to MAA. 9W appears to be consciously discriminating against AA passengers not recognizing elite status etc etc. How long will this marriage last?
I am tempted to try Kingfisher on the domestic sector.
Any suggestions or comments

If 9W is only codesharing a specific flight (6:45 AM) with AA and you book the flight under an AA flight number .. well of course.

Your TA should be easily able to issue you a ticket that has a 9W segment rather than an AA segment for DEL-MAA - and that can be any one of several DEL-MAA flights a day.

And not too many airlines easily allow upgrades on flights that are codeshared onto another airline's metal .. especially a non alliance partner's metal.

Looks like you and your friend got hosed by an incompetent travel agent or airline rep. Here is the rules for a J ticket on AA from MCO with 9W segment intra-India:

15 ORLMAA 06AUG08 AA USD 4030.00 J STAY---/-- BK-J
FARE CLS EXPLANATION BOOK CODES
-------- ---------------------- ----------
J BUSINESS UNRESTRICTED FARES J
BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND AREA 3 FOR ONE WAY FARES

BOOKING CODES FOR CARRIER: 9W
IF VIA AA J- FARES
VIA 9W J PERMITTED WITHIN INDIA

Fares on AA are the same from MIA. Next time, I suggest you should use a better travel agent who can make sure these things are taken care of in advance.

Thanks. The tickets were booked at AA.COM. Not through a travel agent

I still do not understand why blanket ban on upgrade with JET UPGRADE coupons and miles. My booking and my friends were booked at AA.COM

If the situation continues there are other air lines in India with better attitude like Kingfisher. If you are forking out over $ 4000 you do have a choice to choose airlines with inflexible rules and attitude

Was the ticket actually J or some other business class (D, Z etc or whatever the equivalents are for deep discount on AA)?

Also - 9W doesnt codeshare all its flights with AA. If as I said you'd booked the domestic leg with a 9W flight number - on the same ticket - you'd have been able to fly J on the domestic.

I know very well that 9W does not codeshare all its flights with AA. I am very familiar with these routes having flown both AA and 9W and their combo in J and F at least 12 times this year.
I am not at all interested in booking a separate domestic ticket for a long AA itinerary with all its attendant problems. For example 9W will not accept your luggage from ORD at the International terminal in Delhi if you have booked a separate domestic ticket. Even with a through ticket booked on a AA code share flight from DEL to MAA they accepted the luggage with great reluctance after AA Delhi supervisor reminded them of their contract with AA
and calling the 9W supervisor. Further if you book a separate domestic leg the total fare is much higher.
Both occasions mine being in full J and my friend's being in Full F the 9W flights were booked by AA.COM in economy. I only buy unrestricted fully refundable tickets in J and F as my plans change frequently.
Anyway, I passed through Delhi for MAA today. The check in counter upgraded me with coupons without any problem. The supervisor said that they will upgrade any code share flights on 9W metal as long as the coupons are from 9W.

Twice now, hserus has suggested that you ask to have the domestic sector in question booked with a 9W flight number (not the AA codeshare flight number) as a sector on your MCO-MAA itin. He's not advising you to book a separate domestic ticket. Yet you insist that you don't want to book a separate domestic ticket--maybe I've completely misunderstood everything, but I wonder if you're not quite grasping the concept.

Completely academic as 9W upgraded me with coupons on a AA flight number without any problems at DEL

Had the same problem -- was flying EWR-BRU-MAA-BOM-MAA-BRU-EWR in J

the MAA-BOM-MAA was booked in Y although the entire ticket was ~8K -- I hadn't realized until I left hotel in MAA to head to the airport. I also had more luggage than Y would permit -- I went to the 9W counter in MAA asked how much an upgrade would cost -- they said $90 -- the extra baggage allowance was $50 so I decided to take the $90 offer

Later I found out that the original flight that I was booked on b/w MAA-BOM-MAA had no J seats -- this itinerary was subsequently changed by my TA but somehow the Y didn't change. I am assuming the TA messed up but 9W staff was totally useless -- asked me to call my TA (in US) from India

Also service on 9W is getting poorer

Complain vigorously and bitterly to Consumer affairs department. You may get upgrade coupons or VVIP service on your next flight. 9W follows Indian ethos: Only crying babies get milk