AA - How do I use mileage points to upgrade flight?

[MelUser]

I prefer to use my TA.

She can:

(1) Get the seats I want

(2) Make the changes that I need to flights

(3) Cancel and get me a refund if I need to cancel.

without me needing to be on hold for hours on end to AA in Brisbane.

I have checked independently and this fare is only available through QF.

I think I have spent enough energy on this. As I have told others on this site "It's time to let go and move on!"

 

[Keith009]

Its just like passengers wanting to consolidate all their earning to one FF program. Qantas commission rates to travel agents can be based on the volume of business they put through Qantas. So they have incentive to put as much through Qantas as they can. As they are unlikely to have much volume through AA they will receive little commission for their effort.

I'd believe that. I once tried to get trailfinders to book my return flights to HNL on the AA codeshare (100% miles for AAdvantage), and they mentioned that if it's a QF flight they have to book on QF. Then again they agreed to book and plate on AA when I turned my trip into an LGLOB and insisted on MEL-SYD-HNL being on the AA flight numbers (so as to conform with their "policy" of ticketing on the first carrier ), though managed to spectacularly muck up the tax/YQ calcs as they didn't believe me when I said there's no need to pick up YQ when ticketing on AA 001 stock! They only backed down when I put them on a conference call with AA tariffs who backed me up.

Needless to say I've not been back to trailfinders since (they've shut in MEL anyhoo).

 

[drron]

It is getting very hard to ticket on AA using a TA.The consolidators are playing hardball.my TA has not had a problem ticketing on AA in the past.I started this current DONE4 on 14/4.As usual the flights were put on hold about 9 months previously.The first 6 sectors had AA flight numbers.
In Feb. my TA rang and said she would rebook to take advantage of the 10% discount.She then rang back to say she could no longer get the consolidator to ticket on AA.I kept asking what rule and initially I got the usual response that you must ticket with the first carrier-so first 6 are technicallyAA.It then changed to carrier on last flight.Bottom line is the consolidators have obviously had the frighteners put on by QF.
So it will probably transpire that i give up my TA and do my bookings on line.

 

[MelUser]

For those that are following this saga - an update:

Tickets have issued and ticket numbers start with 081.

I phoned AA reservation re getting from (Y) into (P) for AA flights. They wouldn't do it for any amount of money and referred me back to QF.

They said however that it was possible with miles and put me through to the Frequent Flyer Program.

Spoke to a chap at the Frequent Flyer Program. He took the reservation number and checked with reservations and said that the AA components are upgradeable with Miles.

I then queried him about whether there would be any problem given that the tickets were issued by Qantas and started with 081. He said that this was not a problem because it was a normal published fare.

So, on the strength of this I have purchased some Miles and will call them back when the miles appear in my account.

Will keep you updated as to progress.

 

[MelUser]

The saga continues:

The purchased miles credited to AA Freq Flyer Account.

I rang AA today in US.

The woman said that's fine - upgraded all passengers into First. I even went into checkmytrip and printed page - it said First Class.

Then she asked me to hold whilst she contacted some other department to have the points taken out of account.

She then came back and said that she had spoken with the Tariff department and the economy (Y) booking was not really full economy. She said that the economy (Y) seats were more like government or military seats. Therefore she said it would cost 15000 (not 5000 miles) per flight per person.

She said I'd been given the wrong advice by Brisbane. I said I would call Brisbane back on Monday.

Quite a strange result. I will call Brisbane Monday.

 

[Dave Noble]

She then came back and said that she had spoken with the Tariff department and the economy (Y) booking was not really full economy. She said that the economy (Y) seats were more like government or military seats. Therefore she said it would cost 15000 (not 5000 miles) per flight per person.

She said I'd been given the wrong advice by Brisbane. I said I would call Brisbane back on Monday..

Are they Govt fares or similar since these are definitely treated differently by AA

Dave

 

[MelUser]

No these are standard published fares that anyone can buy.

 

[MelUser]

The saga continues: spoke to AA this morning - the international desk.

They spoke to Tariffs who say that the flights cannot be upgraded because the ticket was not issued by AA.

Perhaps AA needs to be more transparent on its website.

Will be speak to the chap in Brisbane tomorrow who said it was all OK even though QF issued ticket because travelling on a "published fare".

Will provide an update.

 

[NM]

No these are standard published fares that anyone can buy.

What is the full fare basis, not just the booking code? The approx price you paid for the ticket may also be a give-away as to the discount level. What is the booking class for the QF flights?

Here is the list of published fares for sale by QF that book into Y booking code as returned by ExpertFlyer for return journey MEL-DFW:

Y2RT = $,8530
Y = $10,434

So unless you have paid in the order of $8,500 to $11,000 for the return ticket, its unlikely to be one of the those Qantas published fares.

This part rings alarm bells for me:

Here is the response from TA when asked to ticket via AA:

"We will have to ticket on QF paper, as it is their airfare and AA don’t have that fare."

 

[MelUser]

QF Booking code is "T".

Don't know the fare basis.

At the end of the day it might not be possible but I phoned AA 3 times on 3 consecutive days and got 3 completely different answers:

(1) Fri - yes totally possible - hurry up and get points into your AA Freq Flyer Account and get back to us

(2) Sat - yes totally possible, flights are briefly upgraded, then cancelled and told I need more points - beg borrow buy more points and get back to us

(3) Sun - not at all possible as not ticketed by AA

AA are lucky they aren't in Australia and have some irate consumer after them with help of ACCC or similar.

I am happy to let go and move on - the redemption rate for the points is pretty good - I have enough for a return business class fare anywhere within Australia or even to NZ!

I'll give it one more go Monday with chap in Brisbane who was so definite - his only fear was that A seats would disappear before I got points!!

 

[NM]

QF Booking code is "T".

QF published T fares on ExperFlyer show as:

TPXUSA = $3191
THSS = $5618

Note that the fare rules for the TPXUSE fare include restriction that it can only be sold in Australia and there is a surcharge if sold by an agent that have not joined the "opt-in" program for this Super Saver Premium Economy Sale Fare.

The sales restriction for this fare notes that it must be issued on the stock of Qantas (i.e. must be 081 ticket number).

So if this is the fare purchased, it is quite true that AA cannot re-issue the fare onto AA's 001 ticket stock.

 

[Dave Noble]

As NM says, these are probably QF special fares and so will not be mileage upgradeable since AA cannot reissue the ticket. With an eVIP, there is a clunky workaround but don't think that that is doable for miles

If you are booked in Y on AA and you are now an AA member , you can request electronic upgrades using electronic upgrade credits

Dave

 

[MelUser]

The upgrade credits seem to have their limitations too.

They can only be used by upgrader and one other person.

As we are a group of 5, I would have to join up 2 others.

Then out of 3 AA members - 1 would buy enough credits to upgrade himself and the other 2 would buy enough credits to upgrade themselves and one other.

Question: Do the 500 mile upgrade credits cause an instant upgrade (if there is plenty of "A" on a 2 class flight) or are we simply added to an upgrade list?

Question: What is there to stop AA saying, we didn't issue the ticket therefore you can't use the 500 mile upgrade credit system to upgrade these flights?

 

[Dave Noble]

The upgrade credits seem to have their limitations too.

They can only be used by upgrader and one other person.

As we are a group of 5, I would have to join up 2 others.

Then out of 3 AA members - 1 would buy enough credits to upgrade himself and the other 2 would buy enough credits to upgrade themselves and one other.

Question: Do the 500 mile upgrade credits cause an instant upgrade (if there is plenty of "A" on a 2 class flight) or are we simply added to an upgrade list?

Question: What is there to stop AA saying, we didn't issue the ticket therefore you can't use the 500 mile upgrade credit system to upgrade these flights?

Having to join up hardly seems the most onorous task

The key difference between electronic upgrade credits and mileage upgrades is that they do not need to reissue the ticket and so there should be no issue

They are not auto-upgrades; you log in and go into your reservation on AA and request them. They will then be allocated , subject to availability, between 24 hours and 3 hours before departure. If not issued at this point you will need to ask to be added to the airport list at the gate

Don't buy the credits until the upgrade clears

Dave

 

[MelUser]

The AA points upgrade saga continues:

I spoke to AA in Brisbane this morning - the Freq Flyer/Award Travel Department.

They can see the remarks in the system that I was told all was OK even though I have an 081 ticket number etc and that I was told to go ahead and buy points and call back.

The Brisbane operator said she has to check with the woman in the Tariff department that Brisbane spoke with on Friday.

She said that when she speaks to the Tariff Department Person that Oked everything on Friday, she will call me back.


On another note - I spoke to my contact in QF (international) and she told me that everytime QF upgrades someone they have to reissue the ticket. I told her about AAs issues and problems and she said that whilst sometimes it is difficult to reissue another airline's ticket, QF does it and it certainly doesn't stop an upgrade request being processed if all the other boxes are ticked - ie QF flight number, not in E,N,O etc, enough points and availability etc.

 

[Dave Noble]

On another note - I spoke to my contact in QF (international) and she told me that everytime QF upgrades someone they have to reissue the ticket. I told her about AAs issues and problems and she said that whilst sometimes it is difficult to reissue another airline's ticket, QF does it and it certainly doesn't stop an upgrade request being processed if all the other boxes are ticked - ie QF flight number, not in E,N,O etc, enough points and availability etc.

AA will not reissue a QF ticket if the ticket has restrictions such as "must be issued on QF stock"

Dave

 

[NM]

On another note - I spoke to my contact in QF (international) and she told me that everytime QF upgrades someone they have to reissue the ticket. I told her about AAs issues and problems and she said that whilst sometimes it is difficult to reissue another airline's ticket, QF does it and it certainly doesn't stop an upgrade request being processed if all the other boxes are ticked - ie QF flight number, not in E,N,O etc, enough points and availability etc.

I think there may be some confusion about terminology here. While Qantas can "rebook" you into another class, they cannot re-issue a ticket that explicitly says that it can only be issued on AA ticket stock, just as AA cannot re-issue a ticket that says it must be issued on QF ticket stock.

When I have used Qantas FF points to upgrade, my ticket has not been re-issued. When a ticket is re-issued, the ticket number changes. My QF upgrades never result in a new ticket number. My AA upgrades have resulted in new ticket numbers. If it was originally issued by QF then the re-issue by AA results in a 001 ticket number prefix. If it was originally issued by AA, then it gets a new ticket number but still with the 001 prefix.

 

[MelUser]

The matter has concluded:

The original AA Brisbane chap I spoke to on Friday has called me back to apologise and say that the upgrades have been put through.

All 5 pax have been upgraded into First as requested and this is reflected in checkmytrip.

I can say that the AA Frequent Flyer program has impressed me given that I wasn't even a member until last week!

 

[MelUser]

I have just phoned AA Brisbane to waitlist for an upgrade on another AA flight. They have advised that they have done this.

Does anyone know how and when the reservation will show that the flight is listed for an AA mileage upgrade award?

[I can't seem to see anything that has changed in the reservation]

 

[MelUser]

Given the doubters here I thought an update on using AA miles to upgrade an AA flight would be useful:

(1) My AA flights were upgraded from economy to first and (formerly 081 ticket numbers) etickets have been reissued as 001 numbers (AA tickets),

(2) I have waitlisted for an upgrade on other AA flights. The waitlisting does not show on any public reservation checking systems such as AA.com or checkmytrip. It is viewable to AA on their computer systems.

If and when the upgrade request is successful: (1) the reservation will update on the publicly viewable systems and (2) the miles (frequent flyer points) will be deducted from the AA mileage account.


The biggest lesson from this process is to call only AA in Brisbane for tickets issued in Australia. They are used to dealing with them and know how to deal with AA's Tariff Department - ie they know which section of the Tariff department to call to have a Qantas issued ticket upgraded.