Attn: Flyboy, RE: AA Platinum Status
 

I read a post from flyboy on another thread where he had said that he got transatlantic upgrades from AA because of his Platinum status. I have Platinum status, how can I get these upgrades?

Did you try speaking with the airline? I'm not trying to be flip at all it is just that all situations are different.

Are your platinum status miles from flying?

If you thinking <b>free</b> upgrades, then you are dreaming. Op-ups(free upgrades) do happen and the higher the status the better chance of that happening, but it's not something you can plan for or call in advance. That happens when economy class is oversold and they need to move some people into business or first class. I fly AA for over 100K miles per year (Executive Platinum), with many flights to Europe and Asia and the only op-up I ever got was on a Miami-Tampa flight.

As an EXP I get 8 one way free systemwide upgrades a year. These are totally free upgrades anywhere AA flies. Otherwise it's 25K miles + $250 each way to upgrade a US-Europe flight, and that applies to everybody.

You can go to AA.com and click on AAdvantage and program details. You'll find answers to all your questions.

To summarize, if you have Platinum status you get an automatic upgrade (provided seats are available) if you purchase a full fare Economy Class seat. For restricted economy fare seats you can request an upgrade to the next class, i.e. Economy to Business or Business to First Class (using stickers or miles) when you make your reservation or anytime prior to the flight. You cannot upgrade 2 classes, i.e. from Economy to First Class, skipping Business Class. Subject to seat availability Platinum members can be upgraded as early as 72 hours prior to departure but sometimes upgrade seats are not released until closer to departure time (48 hours, 24 hours or even the day of flight). Upgrades are given first to Executive Platinum members, then Platinum members followed by Gold members.

Hope I didn't mislead - AAFrequentFlyer is right you have to pay the $250 fee on international flights. Now that I think about it more I may be wrong about the Fullfare upgrade - I think that applies only on domestic flights not international.

If you buy a full-fare &quot;Y&quot; international flight, you also don't need to pay the $250 for upgrade. Only some reduced miles (10K to Europe each way, for example). But of course, a &quot;Y&quot; fare to Europe may cost more than a discount business.

From the &quot;It Can't Happen&quot; closet...I sat next to an EXP recently....He was telling me that last month on as he was about to board his flight from DFW to LAX, he was &quot;un-upgraded&quot;(downgraded) from F to Y...The gate agent offered no explanation other than he was the last to be upgraded prior to departure....I relayed this incident to my TA, who was astounded...rather than go thru the list of upgradees to find maybe a Gold, they simply plucked the last guy who just happened to be EXP....Upon further consultation, he found out that the only circumstance under which this scheme of events would unfold: an Air Marshal appeared at the gate for the flight.They fly up front, according to the source at AA.

BeachBoi- I can perhaps explain since somethng similar happened to my spouse &amp; I. We had First Class seats on an international flight and had our boarding passes issued prior to boarding a connecting flight. The in-bound connecting flight was delayed and we arrived at departure gate 5 minutes or so before the door was closed. By that time they had given our FC seats to someone on the upgrade list. We had to wait a few minutes while the &quot;last&quot; upgrade people were switched back to their original seats.