Originally Posted by
Global_Hi_Flyer
My experience is that's not 100% accurate.
I watched - real time - one day as EF was showing F2 X0 A0 as the gate agent cleared 4 upgrades into F. When they cleared #5, EF went to F1/X0/A0. When they cleared #6, it went F0 and there it stayed. The last 3 were Platinum (Person #4 sat next to me on the flight).
I can't see them holding 4 seats as EXP expanded inventory on day of flight.
The gate agent was able to clear 5 upgrades because there were 5 seats available in F. The availability reflected F2 because that's all that AA was technically willing to sell at the time, that has nothing to do with how many upgrade slots were potentially available at the gate, especially when the flight is under airport control.
When a flight is under airport/gate control, the availability numbers in the GDS sometimes aren't updated exactly as you would think. Before that time, additional upgrades beyond what's already allocated in the class codes are up to revenue management.