Originally Posted by
anabolism
My understanding, and please correct me if I'm wrong, is that kiosk upgrades are different from advertised check-in/Admiral's Club upgrades. I've yet to be offered a kiosk upgrade (possibly because I rarely use the kiosks), so I'm not sure if they are ex-U.S. only or not. I have seen the upgrade advertisements at check-in desks and Admiral's Clubs, but only at out-stations (that is, for flights to the U.S.) Posts in this thread tend to blur various kinds of upgrades together, which is, I think, confusing, and makes it difficult to tell what anyone is talking about. It might be helpful to split this into several threads, but that would be a fair amount of work.
My recent post here was because I was hoping to be offered a kiosk upgrade for LAX-NRT where we'd purchased Y and used VIPs for J. Loads were very light, but the kiosk didn't offer any, and when I asked a check-in agent about it (at LAX) she said that they were only for Y-J, not J-F.
The only difference between international and domestic LFBUs is the method of offering them (and possibly the method of calculating the price). Domestic LFBUs are normally offered by the kiosk, although I have been offered a LFBU by a check-in agent when on an award ticket. International LFBUs are normally offered by signs at the check-in desk, and sometimes at the Admirals Club.
AA doesn't like to do the double upgrade - Y to J to F. Never say never, but they want to protect the "sanctity" of three-class F. The only time I have gotten the double upgrade was on STL-NRT during IRROPS. We were upgraded using eVIPs, our ORD-NRT cancelled and we were re-routed through LAX, got F LAX-NRT because no room in J.