Originally Posted by
swag
I'll disagree with this advice. I'd keep checking for better seats online, once or twice a day, and hourly once you're within a day or so... but once you check in online, you can't change seats anymore until you get to the airport. I don't see any benefit to early check-in here.
In my limited experience, I agree with the points you mentioned,
swag. Unless I'm waitlisted for a SWU upgrade, I never check-in early. As AA processes upgrades, people check-in, change seats, etc., I want to stay flexible and be able to snag other seat if necessary; I lose that flexibility if I check-in. (Again, another improvement I'd like to see AA make, as other domestic carriers do allow for seat changes after check-in.) Checking-in early doesn't affect my domestic upgrade priority any more, so I see no point of doing it.