Upgrade using miles

[TSUmom]

Is there a trick or a good time to upgrade a flight using miles?  I called AA wanting to upgrade our Premium To Business using my miles.  No seats available but we can pay to upgrade which means seats are available.  Our flight is not until October.

[Zach1213]

What do you mean by "no seats available"? Are you basing that on the online seating chart? If so, note that's not always accurate. If AA is willing to let you upgrade, they are confident seats are available.

[TSUmom]

6 minutes ago, Zach1213 said:

What do you mean by "no seats available"? Are you basing that on the online seating chart? If so, note that's not always accurate. If AA is willing to let you upgrade, they are confident seats are available.

I called the rewards department - they said there were no seats available with a rewards upgrade but were available for purchase.

[Zach1213]

Ah, now I understand. Well, airlines don't make every seat available for upgrade using miles, just like they don't make every seat available to book with miles (usually...some airlines do, most don't). But they will sell that seat. It's all about inventory control, and inventory control can change. Just because they don't have seats available for mileage upgrade right now doesn't mean they won't later. Unfortunately, none of us can guess if or when that will happen.

Edited March 7, 2019 by Zach1213

[TSUmom]

18 minutes ago, Zach1213 said:

Ah, now I understand. Well, airlines don't make every seat available for upgrade using miles, just like they don't make every seat available to book with miles (usually...some airlines do, most don't). But they will sell that seat. It's all about inventory control, and inventory control can change. Just because they don't have seats available for mileage upgrade right now doesn't mean they won't later. Unfortunately, none of us can guess if or when that will happen.

I guess it won't hurt to call again when it gets closer and give it another try.

[3rdCoastFan]

It would also be good to know what your current fare class is and what the associated rules are. Airlines may not permit mileage upgrades for certain fare classes. The cheaper the fare, the more restrictions likely apply - and fares secured by Viking are likely as cheap, and heavily restricted, as they come. 

 

Then, you may need to use a third-party service like ExpertFlyer - this tool can show availability across all fare buckets for a given flight. While I'm not as familiar with AA's policies/procedures, I'm going to guess that they operate similar to other airlines. While there may be 30+ business seats on the plane, only a fraction are likely set aside for mileage upgrades. There should be a code specific to these types of upgrades - subscribing to ExpertFlyer can show you when there are seats available for that specific code. Availability can fluctuate, too, over time but it's unlikely anyone outside of AA can speak to how their dynamic pricing algorithm operates. 

 

For example, United associates "PZ" fares with general upgrades. If PZ > 0, I can use miles (or a combination of miles and cash) to upgrade my economy seat to business. 

 

Depending on the current value of miles, a cash upgrade may be cheaper. ThePointsGuy, as one example, values an AA mile at ¢1.4. If an upgrade runs - and I'm just pulling this number out of the air (no pun intended) - 50,000 miles but they're charging only $500 to upgrade, cash would be the better route. Which doesn't help if you have the miles but not the cash, but it's something to consider. 

Edited March 7, 2019 by 3rdCoastFan

[TSUmom]

16 minutes ago, 3rdCoastFan said:

It would also be good to know what your current fare class is and what the associated rules are. Airlines may not permit mileage upgrades for certain fare classes. The cheaper the fare, the more restrictions likely apply - and fares secured by Viking are likely as cheap, and heavily restricted, as they come. 

 

Then, you may need to use a third-party service like ExpertFlyer - this tool can show availability across all fare buckets for a given flight. While I'm not as familiar with AA's policies/procedures, I'm going to guess that they operate similar to other airlines. While there may be 30+ business seats on the plane, only a fraction are likely set aside for mileage upgrades. There should be a code specific to these types of upgrades - subscribing to ExpertFlyer can show you when there are seats available for that specific code. Availability can fluctuate, too, over time but it's unlikely anyone outside of AA can speak to how their dynamic pricing algorithm operates. 

 

For example, United associates "PZ" fares with general upgrades. If PZ > 0, I can use miles (or a combination of miles and cash) to upgrade my economy seat to business. 

 

Depending on the current value of miles, a cash upgrade may be cheaper. ThePointsGuy, as one example, values an AA mile at ¢1.4. If an upgrade runs - and I'm just pulling this number out of the air (no pun intended) - 50,000 miles but they're charging only $500 to upgrade, cash would be the better route. Which doesn't help if you have the miles but not the cash, but it's something to consider. 

Thank you for the info...our fare class is P discount premium

[fbgd]

I would sign up for an Expertflyer Pro subscription. You can set alerts and it'll email you when seats become available. It only costs $10/mo and saves you having to check each time. Many regular travelers use Expertflyer to alert them of seats becoming available so you would almost certainly miss out if you kept trying to call randomly.

 

On the left hand side choose "Create New Flight Alert" then enter your flight details. The class code you'll want is C. It sounds as if there is more than one of you travelling. I would recommend creating the alert for one seat as they could drip feed into the system one at a time in which case you'd lose out if you were hoping for two to show up simultaneously. If that occurs then you can split your reservation upgrading one of you when the seat becomes available, then upgrading the other if/when a second comes online.

[3rdCoastFan]

9 minutes ago, TSUmom said:

Thank you for the info...our fare class is P discount premium

The good news is that an AA P fare is upgradeable - not so good news is that it requires miles + cash. There's a chart here: https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-program/miles/redeem/award-travel/upgrade-with-miles.jsp . From the continental US to Europe on a discount PE fare, you will need 25,000 miles + $350 to upgrade, provided there is upgrade space available. 

 

As mentioned, you would need to keep calling or you can subscribe to a third-party service and look for C ≥ 2 (I think it's C, if this chart is right). This resource could be helpful, as well: https://upgradedpoints.com/how-to-upgrade-on-american-airlines . 

[Gardyloo]

Try out this exercise.  Assign an arbitrary value to your miles, say 1.5 to 2.5 cents per mile.  Multiply that times 50,000 (for a round trip) then add $700 (for the co-pays) then add the amount you've already paid for your PE seats.  

 

For example, at 2c per mile, that would be  a total of $1700 on top of your present fare; at 1.5c, the total would be $1450.  

 

Then go to AA's website and see what the cheapest round trip business class ticket would cost for your dates if you bought it today.  Don't be surprised if the difference is negligible, or even negative.  And remember, if you "up-fared" your ticket (which AA will often do with no change fee) you'd also earn more FF miles rather than spending them, so the "cost" is actually less, provided you still value your miles at some nominal level.  And the main thing is, you'd know, rather than playing the (poor) odds that your upgrades will come through.

 

AA generally doesn't offer mileage upgrades until the last minute - if at all - owing to the nature of business class ticket buyers.  Most frequent flyers regard mileage upgrades as a poor use of miles.  

Edited March 7, 2019 by Gardyloo

[waterbug123]

20 hours ago, TSUmom said:

Is there a trick or a good time to upgrade a flight using miles?  I called AA wanting to upgrade our Premium To Business using my miles.  No seats available but we can pay to upgrade which means seats are available.  Our flight is not until October.

 

It's not uncommon to be able to pay actual cash for an upgrade but not use miles or upgrade certificates.  It all depends on whether the airline has decided to make seats available in an upgrade fare bucket.  If sales are going well or it's still a long time until the travel date, it's very possible they will only accept cash, not miles or certificates, for upgrades.

[Zach1213]

17 hours ago, Gardyloo said:

Most frequent flyers regard mileage upgrades as a poor use of miles.  

I have only ever used miles to upgrade once, and that was because I had United miles about to expire (I rarely fly Star Alliance) and I had an upgrade eligible ORD-FRA flight. Otherwise, I agree, generally a poor use of miles. BUT, sometimes it's just worth it.

[waterbug123]

23 hours ago, Zach1213 said:

I have only ever used miles to upgrade once, and that was because I had United miles about to expire (I rarely fly Star Alliance) and I had an upgrade eligible ORD-FRA flight. Otherwise, I agree, generally a poor use of miles. BUT, sometimes it's just worth it.

 

I just used miles to upgrade on a trip from CHS to LGA.  It's. 2 hour flight and I certainly don't need to be in F, but I have a pile of miles that I rarely use so why not?  The redemption was only .01/mile, but again, if the miles are just sitting there unused, and it keeps me from spending the cash, why not?  The only time we generally use miles is to buy tickets for the kids when we do a family vacation, as it keeps the cash outlay down for those trips.  As a result, we tend to accumulate a lot of miles pretty quickly and using them to upgrade here and there seems reasonable under the circumstances.