Originally Posted by
denhaagflyer
I did not mean to imply that there are any official upgrade perks. They are certainly not. Just that the the meaning of op-up is a different one for AA than for BA, i.e. op-ups are not just used in case of overbooking. The GA seem to have the possibility to upgrade anyone last minute if there is a free seat in FC (at least domestically) and they use that possibility quite freely to make sure the plane does not go out with an empty seat in FC.
There is no procedure for that. AA policy is that it's perfectly fine for F seats to go empty if no one is officially eligible for them. (ie, all requested upgrades have cleared.)