Bob

Looking at a trip in October; rt OKC/CDG/OKC for a friend (non status). She wants to travel in business class on specific AA flights so she can travel with friends.

There is no availability for a free ticket at the 90,000 mile level; there is availability at the 180,000 mile level. (She's got lots of miles.)

A discounted non refundable business class ticket can be purchased (per the AA website today) for $2700.

A discounted non refundable coach class ticket can be purchased (per the AA website today) for $1029.

As I understand it (I used to know this sort of thing but haven't been keeping up with it and couldn't seem to formulate a search to kick out the current answer): She could buy the restricted non refundable coach ticket and use 50,000 miles (25,000 each way) plus $500 ($250 each way) to get to business class (that would be $1529 versus $2700). Is this correct?

Is there a capacity control on this sort of upgrade? In other words, since we know there are no 90,000 mile award seats available, will there still be inventory available from which she can buy restricted coach and also buy confirmed upgrades?

Is there a way to do this on the website or must she call AA and pay them $15 to do the ticket?

Is there a better way to do this that I am missing?



Again, please note it is important to her that she be able to travel on a specific date outbound and on a specific date and flight on the return.

Many thanks for your help and thoughts.

--Bob

Fly AA J all the way

There are capacity restrictions on this type of upgrade, and there will likely be no seats. However, if we had the exact flights and dates, maybe we could give you some better information. Also, make sure to check the price of B inventory fares. These will earn more miles/qpts, are often not much more expensive than other coach fares, and upgrade for 20k r/t, and no copay.

Bob

Thanks for your quick reply, Fly AA J. Forgive me but I'm a bit rusty at all of this.

Is B unrestricted coach?

Are there capacity restrictions on upgrades from B transatlantic?

FWAAA

There are capacity controls on ALL upgrades. B is unrestricted coach and would get you the cheaper mileage upgrade with no co-pay.

JonNYC

This little "B is often not much more expensive than other coach fares" thing has taken on a life of it's own and I don't agree it's true. You're just repeating what other(s) have said-- and, again, IMHO, it's not really factual.

I bet a -B- fare to CDG will be much more (close to double-- and close to the -I- fare!) than lowest, restricted, fare much of the time. S. America is a different matter (as are some other, specific, markets.)

Bob

Is it fair to conclude that if there are no 90,000 mile aadvantage award seats available there will be no upgrades available, or is that not correlated?

andrzej

Not correlated at all. Different inventory.

Dave Noble

nope. Upgrades come from C class and awards from U class on AA

Dave

JonNYC

However, the reverse corollary -might- hold some water.

JonNYC

100% incorrect.

Dave Noble

absolutely; I corrected myself within a cpl of minutes , I was thinking of the wrong scheme for a second; you're too quick on the ball

Dave

JonNYC

And I was gonna' say "Check the STICKY!!!"

Bob

So here's a correlated (!) question: I gather she can't do all this on the website but will have to talk to an agent to check availability and (if available) book the tickets. I also gather it now costs $15 to have said agent book the ticket. Is it true that it now costs $10 just to talk to the agent whether or not the booking is made???

eamus

The answer will cost you $5 .

Getting back to your original question: if your friend wants to get to CDG on a specific day in a specific class, then $2700 seems to me here in the cheap seats to be pretty good value. If on the other hand she has beaucoup de miles and doesn't much care about the implied cash value of miles, then the 180K redemption makes sense. Some people here reckon miles are worth around $0.02 each, give or take, which suggests that the 180K redemption is "worth" $3600 if I have my decimal places right. Ergo, some people would buy the $2700 ticket and collect the extra miles figuring that the cash equation is heavily in favor of the purchased ticket, especially with the mileage earned.

Personally, I think points are worth using whenever the cash price makes no sense. Sometimes I use miles to fly domestic awards, heretical as it may seem. If it were me, since I don't have $2700 lying around, I would use the 180K redemption and move on.

Yes you can work out the likelihood of U or C inventory opening up (assuming there is none now), but if the situation is "either I get into business class on Flight XX on that day or don't go" then I think you are setting yourself up for disappointment if you don't confirm the J seat on the day of making the res.

Bob

Now I am confused. Is it $5, $10 or $15 to get the question answered?

:-)

Seriously: it seems to me that a call to AA could clear up the question. If there is no current confirmable mileage-using upgrade availability then the decision tree is considerably pruned.

--Bob