Originally Posted by
netsc
VIP/mileage inventory is usually cleared before before sticker upgrades because it is larger revenue generator for AA. When I flew my NRT round trip from DCA/DFW last week, the upgrades cleared (both domestic and international at the same time) about 2-4 days before the flight, and when I looked at EF that day, it went from F0 Z0 A0 J0 U0 C0 Y0 to F4 Z4 A4 J5 U5 C5.
Wow! I've never seen that kind of shift before. It seems to indicate that Rev Mgmt was holding back not only upgrade inventory (A and C classes), and not only flight award inventory (Z and U), but also
revenue classes (F and J)!
I do recall once an EXP Agent telling me that on key international routes, Rev Mgmt sometimes holds back REVENUE seats to allow last-minute purchasers to get in on the action. So, such flights would show as zeroed out in the CRS until a few days before departure, then the remaining inventory would be made public rather suddenly.
(The only other explanation for such a dramatic change in buckets would be if a whole bunch of full-fare premium pax suddenly switched to different flights or cancelled.)