Upgrading using A+ Rewards

[aubriee]

I'm flying Air Tran to and from Orlando Dec 4th and 12th. I have an A+ rewards credit that will expire Dec 21st, so bought a seat only for the flight back on the 12th, planning on using four A+ Reward credits to get a first class seat when I check in at 24 hours, for my outgoing flight. The only thing is, Air Tran has now changed my flight from direct to one with a four hour layover in Atlanta. I've called and there is not another direct flight that day. So does this mean that I'm now going to have to purchase a seat for the Atlanta to MCO portion of the flight or will the A+ Reward credit upgrade allow me to upgrade to first class for that portion of the flight too? I know that if i paid for my seat from DFW-ATL-MCO, that I'd only have to pay once, but not sure how upgrading with the A+ Reward credits works with nondirect flights.

 

[NancyIL]

I'm not positive how upgrades work for connecting flights, but I imagine you would get business class seats for both if they are available. For upgrades - you don't have to wait until 24 hours before, but can call at midnight the day before. That's what I do when using an upgrade voucher, as there are only 12 business class seats on the plane I fly to Orlando.

 

[dioxide45]

As the PP indicated you can actually call at midnight the day before your flight to upgrade using A+ rewards, so don't wait until the 24 hour mark. When you upgrade using A+ rewards it will cover your entire itinerary to your destination. You will still only need 4 A+ rewards regardless of the number of connections.

This is different than upgrading with cash. With cash you have to pay the upgrade fee for each segment of your flight.

 

[aubriee]

Thanks! Good news! I don't know why I thought I had to wait until 24 hours to do the upgrade.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I've called and there is not another direct flight that day.

FYI - You are confusing a non-stop flight with a direct flight. Two different things.

 

[aubriee]

FYI - You are confusing a non-stop flight with a direct flight. Two different things.

Not really!. There is neither a nonstop nor a direct flight for that day. Every flight that day from DFW to Orlando has a layover in Atlanta (anywhere from about 45 minutes to over four hours) with two different flight numbers listed for each, meaning I have to change planes. My original flight was 2 hours 20 minutes and was direct from DFW to MCO. Going back to read my OP I realize I did say they changed my nonstop flight to one with a layover in Atlanta and that there was not another direct flight to MCO that day. Sorry about that. I went back and changed my OP.