Originally Posted by
JDiver
IMO, not an accurate characterization - it seems the flight was sold sufficiently, or being sold sufficiently close to the flight date ("later this week" is the clue here), that the lower fare tranches (N, O, Q etc.) were not available, therefore not part of the comparison.
It is, IMO, fair to say AA is selling opportunistically and is quite happy to sell discounted F (or C) fares as long as the cabin warrants it - and happy to sell higher priced coach seats to those who don;t figure it out, as you have.
I don't understand what you're taking issue with. The OP is saying that on some flights instant upgrade is cheaper than the available coach fares. You're saying that only happens on flights where the cheap fares are sold out. This isn't in any way at odds with the OP's statement.
In any case, it does strike me as extremely odd yield management to end up in a situation where the available "discount" coach fares are more expensive than the available discounted first class fares. If AA thinks it can get $X, presumably they ought to be able to get at least that much for a first class seat on the same flight?