What would cause AA to not release J inventory to C?
So I'm working on a eVip upgrade for tomorrow. YYZ-->LAX. There are 6 J seats available and nothing has been opened up in C (I've had an EF alert set).
I decided to poke around expertflyer and, for the dates I looked at, it did not appear that they ever release C inventory for this flight. Even this evening's flight has 7 J seats but 0 C inventory.
I understand that AA wants to sell these seats but are they really hoping that they will sell 7 business class seats a few hours before the flight? Has anyone ever had luck calling the EXP desk? Will they ever look at the inventory and release a seat or is it 100% automated?
If there are a lot of people connecting from YYZ on to Australia in premium cabins who purchase last minute fares, then that's the best way to get there.
So I'm working on a eVip upgrade for tomorrow. YYZ-->LAX. There are 6 J seats available and nothing has been opened up in C (I've had an EF alert set).
I decided to poke around expertflyer and, for the dates I looked at, it did not appear that they ever release C inventory for this flight. Even this evening's flight has 7 J seats but 0 C inventory.
I understand that AA wants to sell these seats but are they really hoping that they will sell 7 business class seats a few hours before the flight? Has anyone ever had luck calling the EXP desk? Will they ever look at the inventory and release a seat or is it 100% automated?
They could open up a seat, especially on the day of the flight, but in the end its the revenue managements decision until the flight goes to airport control and you are at the mercy of the upgrade list.
In all seriousness, AA RM sometimes doesn't release any C/R until a few hours to the departure for some elite-light/low-load factor flights.(such as US-Central America,US-Caribbean and some minor routes in the north america)
I don't know why but I have seen similar situation many times this year.
But AA actually released C/R properly as far as I have observed.
I guess AA will release C/R before the flight goes to under the airport control based on my limited experience.
Annoying part is the automatic UG will run once for every elites including PLT/GLD, so there is a great posibbility that you will not able to grab the preferable seats in J.
Set seat alert on EF for your current seat in Y to know the UG process being run as early as possible.
By the way, YYZ-LAX can got upgraded by the 500mile -cert(free for EXP)?
I won't use my eVIPs for the EXP complimentary upgradable route, but that is another story.
I fly EZE-MIA/DFW/JFK many times per year and C inventory is almost never released until 24-36 hours before the flight; fortunately, EVIPs have always cleared on these flights and very often J has empty seats when the aircraft door is ultimately shut. AA RM must have data that suggests there is a reasonable likelihood that there will be "last minute" J purchases on these flights; I tend to believe many of those sitting in J seats on these flights did in fact purchase them as I often see entire five member Argentine families sitting near each other (little kids and all).
Programs: My primary programs are AA EXP, Hilton Gold, National Executive. Also SPG Gold, Hertz Gold, AS & BA.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by supergrandslam
AA RM sometimes doesn't release any C/R until a few hours to the departure for some elite-light/low-load factor flights.(such as US-Central America,US-Caribbean and some minor routes in the north america)
My only semi-frequent Central American route is DFW-BZE, and while that route is usually loaded with a fixed number of C seats well in advance, once they are gone I've found it usually comes down to the airport, both on stickers and instruments.
Quote:
YYZ-LAX can got upgraded by the 500mile -cert(free for EXP)?
Programs: AA EXP Hyatt PLT Hilton GLD HA,AS,VX all at PEON level
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Expect Expert Flyer voice to chime in at any moment.....
Since AA changed their upgrade software, it's harder to predict and figure out for sure. What I've noticed.... having an Expert Flyer alert set for "C" doesn't always send an alert when C opens up, as those on the waitlist supposedly clear immediately (1-3 days out) and when EF does a "sweep" to look for C, they are gone by then. Does this make sense to anyone ?
Too bad Expert Flyer can't run their sweeps more often on the day of departure to help others trying to figure out what's going on to plan their upgrades.
Back to the question of what would cause AA to not release J inventory to C ?
The new upgrade software and AA wanting to get revenue for the seats before giving all seats away to upgraders.
My only semi-frequent Central American route is DFW-BZE, and while that route is usually loaded with a fixed number of C seats well in advance, once they are gone I've found it usually comes down to the airport, both on stickers and instruments.
My DFW-BZE on 6/3 was cleared at T-4 by the sticker UG.(I never use my eVIPs for such a easy route.)I still have the UG notification for it.
My BZE-DFW on 6/9 was cleared at around T-3, so it may have been under the air port control but I also have the UG email notification for it, so the UG was cleared by automatic I guess.
When I checked in at T-2, my UG was already cleared.
I have 2 more BZE flights this year but these are via MIA, outbound was cleared at T-100 but inbound cleared T-3 or closer(still I have the email notification for it).
I found in general inbound flights were more though to get UG in advance when we were still able to see R inventory on EF.
These are only for some of easy UG routes and not for all the easy UG routes.
Since AA changed their upgrade software, it's harder to predict and figure out for sure. What I've noticed.... having an Expert Flyer alert set for "C" doesn't always send an alert when C opens up, as those on the waitlist supposedly clear immediately (1-3 days out) and when EF does a "sweep" to look for C, they are gone by then. Does this make sense to anyone ?
Sometimes I didn't receive the alert from EF even if my UG actually cleared.
It usually happened less than T-24 to departure but before its going under the airport control.
It's not new for AA/EF as these have happened for me since last 3 years.
I am not sure if AA cleared the UGs without releasing any C or Cs were released but EF missed them.
I'm flying TUS-DFW-LHR on Jan 1. The flight was booked back in September. I had put in for a miles plus copay upgrade some time in October. My upgrade cleared on December 9th (maybe on the 8th as I had to call the Plat number to get the upgrade to ticket). I was surprised the upgrade cleared that far out. Before then and since I have not seen C inventory open up on the flight. I had been expecting the upgrade to clear sometime this coming weekend. As of this message I'm seeing J7, R7, D7 on the flight. At the moment I'm the only one seated in the middle section
The EF alerts I had set never triggered. I attributed this to the C inventory being opened up between EF sweeps of the relevant data.
Sometimes I didn't receive the alert from EF even if my UG actually cleared.
It usually happened less than T-24 to departure but before its going under the airport control.
It's not new for AA/EF as these have happened for me since last 3 years.
I am not sure if AA cleared the UGs without releasing any C or Cs were released but EF missed them.
EF is not a real time view of airline inventory in most cases. It goes out and queries the databases on specific intervals, so if a change happens in the airline's inventory between the intervals, it wont be reflected in EF.
Now why an airline chooses to or not release certain inventory is an age old question. There are many many reasons inventory may not be released, so there is no definitive answer for specific cases. It can be as simple as the revenue management analyst working has a market specific strategy to hold up inventory, temporary company wide policy to hold back certain inventory, to forecasts in the revenue management system may be off.
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I was traveling LHR-JFK recently, in J with a friend who was on a Y award issued from my account. I wanted to sit together, and so was watching for U availability. Cabin seating wide open, C opens up day before departure, but no U inventory, through check in. At the FL they were able to force the exchange, so all was well, but there were plently of empty seats at departure, and I am convinced without the manual intervention the J seat would have gone out empty. I hope this approach to managing inventory doesn't spill over to C as well.
Programs: AA EXP Hyatt PLT Hilton GLD HA,AS,VX all at PEON level
Posts: 2,329
Quote:
Originally Posted by supergrandslam
Sometimes I didn't receive the alert from EF even if my UG actually cleared.
It usually happened less than T-24 to departure but before its going under the airport control.
It's not new for AA/EF as these have happened for me since last 3 years.
I am not sure if AA cleared the UGs without releasing any C or Cs were released but EF missed them.
I did read the comments about EF and real time view, but it seems like the 'edge' that Expert Flyer once provided has lost some of it's value. This is simply my opinion, but yeah, if others are confirming that they are being upgraded and not notified of the available upgrade (even though they have an alert set) on Expert Flyer, it kind of looses value. Then there is the "X" upgrade not being visible/available on EF, but I've adjusted to deal with that. I'm having the same issues with "U" and "Z" award booking codes not showing up as often on EF as well. Not saying the sky is falling, but again, the value............
I'm flying TUS-DFW-LHR on Jan 1. The flight was booked back in September. I had put in for a miles plus copay upgrade some time in October. My upgrade cleared on December 9th (maybe on the 8th as I had to call the Plat number to get the upgrade to ticket). I was surprised the upgrade cleared that far out.
My early Dec LHR-JFK was cleared in late Sep.
I was very surprised to receive the alert from EF.
At first, I thought someone having confirmed C had cancelled his reservation.
But it looked AA released some Cs for early Dec for some reason.
(I guess it was related to the AA captains quasi-strike...)
I think AA still sometimes releases Cs well inadvance but it happens very rarely now I believe.
