Originally Posted by PMMMDL

The longhaul upgrades on AA and UA are very often "battlefield upgrades" at the gate, so while you can use lower fare classes to upgrade, you need to be prepared to fly in the back if your upgrade does not come through.

Originally Posted by vasantn

... my partner and I have probably used 100+ SWUs successfully on long-haul international flights in the last 5 years, without ever having to fly in the back on AA metal.

Originally Posted by vasantn

In the last 6 years I have been upgraded at the gate on an international flight only once. The next closest shave was a day before departure. There are a couple of instances where I recall being upgraded 3-4 days before departure. The rest of the time, at booking or weeks before departure. This is based on a sample of perhaps 60 flights (all long-haul international), covering every international destination that AA flies to.

And as an EXP, when all else fails, I've never been turned down on an appeal to revenue management to release a seat for me (assuming there are revenue seats available, of course). When was the last time that any DL flyer was able to get RM to make an exception?