That answers part of the question - maybe. Since you are not EXP, AA at times holds seats back for EXPs who bought coach tickets and have requested to upgrade using SWUs. Once their (EXP) SWUs clear, then the SWUs clear of everyone else on down the line in order of status.
(Directly above AND directly below posts make it even more clear).
As to your other questions: EXP's - do you guys typically end up waiting till the very last day to get your SWU's cleared? And a better question would be does anyone have a low success-ratio using their SWU's?
#1, it all depends on the flight number/route, time of year (season), equipment flown on route.
#2, in 15 years I have never NOT received an upgrade when requesting via SWUs.
Originally Posted by
Duffman
As mentioned, a friend of mine helped me with this. He is EXP and gave me 2 SWU's to use. I expect to get to EXP shortly (thanks to DEQM's!).