American on Upgrades

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by Rob in Miami Member March 12, 2017, 9:43 pm

American on Upgrades

Rob in Miami Member
March 12, 2017, 9:43 pm

I have a friend that returned from Milan today and flew from JFK-MXP-MIA and was upgraded on both segments. She bought a Y ticket and at the last minute was upgraded for $350 (each segment) and paid miles. She is either Gold or Platinum. It seems that each time I fly, I request to use SWUs but never get that to happen.
So, question is (obviously seats are available in J)- would one with a cash Y fare at last minute who pays with cash and miles have priority over an EXP who requested SWUs months in advance?
Gaurav Community Ambassador
March 12, 2017, 10:29 pm

[USER=1690]@Rob in Miami[/USER], hard to say without knowing the specifics of each flight in question but also wouldn’t be surprising for the airline to prefer cash and reduction in liabilities (outstanding miles) than free instruments.
David W Community Ambassador
March 13, 2017, 2:38 am

She paid $350 and miles [I]per segment[/I] for the upgrade?

Cash + miles upgrades use the same upgrade space SWUs use – maybe there was last minute availability? I did the same for my MXP-JFK route back in September but the upgrade was available a few months in advance.

But if she paid the same for each segment she overpaid. AA’s miles + cash for JFK-MIA is 15k and $75.

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American on Upgrades