Using AA Reward Miles

[Richard Davies49]

My wife and I have separate AAdvantage accounts, with some miles, probably not enough, but that's not the root of my question.

I'd like to book a round trip for both of us. I'd like to pay for Main Cabin and use miles to upgrade to Business or First. I'd like to use miles from both accounts. I'd like to do it in one transaction to make sure we're both booked, with the upgrade, all at the same time. It is not obvious to me how to make this work.

Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[jimntx]

Neat software called Google.
AAdvantage customer service
Award travel
Within the U.S. and Canada
800-882-8880 or your elite reservation number

Elite reservation number generally means "million miles plus" accounts. I gather yours is not there yet; so just call the 800 number above. Tell them exactly what you want to do. They will be able to tell you if it can or can not be done. If you can book the upgrade at a minimum cost in AAdvantage miles, do so. As a flight attendant (now retired) I witnessed numerous attempts by passengers to upgrade at the gate using their AAdvantage miles, and passenger changing their mind after finding out how many miles the upgrade would cost. Evidently it takes a lot of miles to do that, and I don't know whether it's always that high or due to last minute upgrade, or that there weren't any F/C seats available. Flights rarely leave the gate with empty seats in First Class. Executive Platinum (over 100,000 miles per year) passengers get first dibs on upgrades to F/C.
,

 

[Richard Davies49]

Thanks. I was hoping to avoid an hour on hold and an extra charge for not booking online, but I may have to go that route.

 

[jimntx]

Do you want to be on hold for an hour, or do you want to act upon the opinion of an airline employee who may or may not know a thing about the AAdvantage program? The great majority of people who belong to this forum are not involved in any way with the AAdvantage program. I know of one gate agent ( who works for Southwest), no reservations personnel, a couple of flight attendants, and the rest are mechanics and other airplane maintenance guys or rampers. I am one of those flight attendants and I am retired. What I learned about reservations in 15 years of employment is the reservations 800 number. But, the choice is yours. Good luck.

 

[UPNAWAY]

AA.com is really where you want to g. But if that doesn't answer your questions then Flyer Talk is the forum. That's the one with all the frequent travelers that know all the ins and outs.

 

[Insp4]

Man with the Golden AA lifetime pass: https://narratively.com/the-man-with-the-golden-airline-ticket/?utm_source=pocket-newta