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2016 Chances of Upgrade Clearing and Availability (consolidated)

2016 Chances of Upgrade Clearing and Availability (consolidated)

Old Feb 25, 2016, 9:35 am
  #151  
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: DCA
Posts: 7,761
Originally Posted by Airrage
I am a Plat. level flyer. Missed Ex. Plat. by about 5K miles last year... probably the same this year.
So instead of spending the money to MR 5k you spend the better part of 95k BIS in Y? I'd have been on ITA so fast...
arlflyer is offline  
Old Feb 26, 2016, 1:00 am
  #152  
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Programs: AA PLT, SPG Gold
Posts: 2,401
Originally Posted by VickiSoCal
Yep, this is what has been happening here for a little while now. Very nice not to worry about people jumping the queue.
I know you don't believe me, but 100% that my wife and I recently upgraded a flight where C was released without clearing the waitlist first. No idea if we actually jumped the queue or not - upgrade list at the gate was shorter than I anticipated. But someone with no/lower status could absolutely have called in and snagged the upgrades if they saw them first. We've also had it happen recently where we clear without ever getting C alerts from EF. But for those of you who aren't worried about queue jumping - well - you should be IMO.
no1cub17 is offline  
Old Feb 26, 2016, 1:04 am
  #153  
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Programs: AA PLT, SPG Gold
Posts: 2,401
Originally Posted by Wollstonecraft
..and now those 2 C seats are gone, at least according to EF. Any insight into what happened would be much appreciated from those of you who understand this process better than me, thank you!
Just a guess - either AA released C and then cleared two off the waitlist in short order (but still triggered the EF alert), or someone else beat you to the punch. EF alerts are not in real time, so that C space might've been available for hours prior to you getting the notification.
no1cub17 is offline  
Old Feb 26, 2016, 8:05 am
  #154  
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Programs: AA ex-EXP (buh-bye!), HH Gold, SPG Gold, UM Go Blue
Posts: 543
Originally Posted by no1cub17
Just a guess - either AA released C and then cleared two off the waitlist in short order (but still triggered the EF alert), or someone else beat you to the punch. EF alerts are not in real time, so that C space might've been available for hours prior to you getting the notification.
I guess I didn't realize EF was not real-time. I was actually on EF checking it manually when I saw the space open up, then I called EXP line and they could not see it.

Is there any other way to see "real time" C space then? Or do I just need to call on the hour a day before my flight to check?
Wollstonecraft is offline  
Old Feb 26, 2016, 8:08 pm
  #155  
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Programs: AA PLT, SPG Gold
Posts: 2,401
Originally Posted by Wollstonecraft
Is there any other way to see "real time" C space then? Or do I just need to call on the hour a day before my flight to check?
I don't remember if you mentioned if you have an EF sub or not, but it's up there with the best $9.99 a month I could spend. Rather than call, I'd rather just check obsessively myself, then call as soon as I see the space.

Another thing I do is as soon as I receive an alert, I log in and check myself to make sure what I want is still there.

Even with EF not being real-time it's still worth it's weight in gold. If it was, it'd be the greatest thing since sliced bread.
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Old Feb 26, 2016, 8:30 pm
  #156  
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: AA EXP 2MM
Posts: 24
Originally Posted by no1cub17
Just a guess - either AA released C and then cleared two off the waitlist in short order (but still triggered the EF alert), or someone else beat you to the punch. EF alerts are not in real time, so that C space might've been available for hours prior to you getting the notification.
That would be my guess too. As mentioned earlier in this thread, some have noticed that when an upgrade clears, EF still shows the inventory as available while the upgrade processes for a little while. If you log on to AA.com, the itinerary will be unavailable, but if you call, the agent will tell you the upgrade is going through and can finalize it with you. Once it's fully processed, EF will zero out the inventory.
I_Claudius is offline  
Old Feb 28, 2016, 5:26 am
  #157  
 
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: St. Petersburg, FL
Programs: AAdvantage - PLT Pro, United Premier PLT, HHonors - Diamond, National - Ex. Elite
Posts: 31
Originally Posted by arlflyer
So instead of spending the money to MR 5k you spend the better part of 95k BIS in Y? I'd have been on ITA so fast...
I briefly, very briefly, thought about a MR. But at the end of the day, it just isn't that important to me. If I make Exp. Plat. great. But I'm not spending more of my time on a plane just to rack miles. I've got other things to do with my time.... and money. Guess in some ways I'm just too laid back about it.

Hey, Plat. boarding gets me overhead bin space! That makes me happy.
Airrage is offline  
Old Mar 3, 2016, 4:53 pm
  #158  
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: SoCal
Programs: AA EXP, HHonors LTDia, Marriott Plat
Posts: 639
EXP reserving 4-6 weeks in advance. This year I've been running about 10% on mainline and 90% on Regional. Main is LAX to CLT or DFW. The exception was ONT to DFW (75%) but every flight (4) missed the connection and I was stranded overnight twice. I'm sitting in CLT again after missing my connection - 5 times in 8 flights and 2 of the 3 that had no issues were code share on AS. I left UA 2 years ago because they kept messing up my flights. Everything has been good until the last 2 months and it's just gone in the crapper.
TSparky is offline  
Old Mar 3, 2016, 6:45 pm
  #159  
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: CLT
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 866
Originally Posted by TSparky
EXP reserving 4-6 weeks in advance. This year I've been running about 10% on mainline and 90% on Regional. Main is LAX to CLT or DFW. The exception was ONT to DFW (75%) but every flight (4) missed the connection and I was stranded overnight twice. I'm sitting in CLT again after missing my connection - 5 times in 8 flights and 2 of the 3 that had no issues were code share on AS. I left UA 2 years ago because they kept messing up my flights. Everything has been good until the last 2 months and it's just gone in the crapper.
How long are the connections you are booking? Unless something is going majorly wonky with equipment or weather, it sounds like you may want to start booking longer layovers, if possible...I typically don't book connections under two hours whenever possible, and use the extra time to catch up on work in the club. Haven't missed a connection in a long time, even with delays. This has ensured I keep my upgrades or originally selected seats more often than not.
ACA321 is offline  
Old Mar 5, 2016, 3:56 pm
  #160  
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: MCO via TUL + CMH
Programs: AA EXP, Former Hilton Diamond and Marriott Plat
Posts: 46
So I'm trying to determine when to take a Tokyo vacation/mileage run since the prices are so cheap right now. Plan is to book the cheap fare then upgrade using miles/copay since I'm only Gold. My understanding is that I need C, and C is generally not being released until close in.

So basically its a... try to pick random days and cross fingers?
AndyPok1 is offline  
Old Mar 9, 2016, 10:07 am
  #161  
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Rockville, MD
Programs: Alaska-MVP100k; AA-Plat; HH-Diamond; Hertz Pres
Posts: 415
Originally Posted by discoverCSG
There are 18 seats open in J, and almost as many occupied in the front part of Y. ....
Originally Posted by Stripe
18 seats out of 28 open with 6 weeks to go before departure is pretty normal. ...
Thanks for replying.
Just posting this as an FYI update..
The SWU on the outbound cleared today. (This is for 3/29 AA732 CLT-LHR).
(Updated my profile, thanks to Stripe!)
WASBLR is offline  
Old Mar 9, 2016, 2:07 pm
  #162  
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Phoenix/Columbus
Programs: Delta Silver Medallion, United Gold, US Airways silver
Posts: 1,716
Just cleared at T24 for AA 798 PHL - AMS tomorrow using a SWU. There was only one seat available on a 757 with only 12 first/business class seats available. Was not optimistic, but now happy!
remedy is offline  
Old Mar 11, 2016, 12:41 pm
  #163  
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Thatcham, UK
Programs: BA Gold, HHonors Gold, Marriott Silver
Posts: 470
Was offered a Biz to First upgrade at checkin today for tomorrow's AA107 from LHR TO JFK. £288.

I declined, the flatbed J is more than good enough for me.
CocoPops is offline  
Old Mar 12, 2016, 10:18 am
  #164  
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: LA
Programs: AA, DL, UA
Posts: 543
MIA-MVD now at T-8 with J0 and a full seat map. Waitlisted 2 SWU's 3 months in advance when the cabin was empty... sigh. Looks like it's back of the bus for me. Oddly it's Y7 so this must be a premium heavy route which is surprising considering it's a Saturday departure.

I'd say chances are about 0% for us both clearing unless there's some misconnect from a feeding flight -- is it terrible to wish this sort of thing happening?

Edit: Full flight. Nada. Also just learned (the easy way I guess... since no one cleared) that SWU's used on non-EXP companions (even if on the same itinerary, doesn't matter if companion is Gold, Plat, no status) will go to the bottom of the pile in terms of priority.

Last edited by supermintyfresh; Mar 14, 2016 at 7:36 pm
supermintyfresh is offline  
Old Mar 12, 2016, 1:44 pm
  #165  
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: DCA/IAD/WAS
Programs: MAR AMB, WOH Explorist, AA EXP, UA 2P
Posts: 2,133
Originally Posted by CocoPops
Was offered a Biz to First upgrade at checkin today for tomorrow's AA107 from LHR TO JFK. £288.

I declined, the flatbed J is more than good enough for me.
That's a pretty great price!
iadisgreat is offline  

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