Originally Posted by
FlyingTrojan
I have no experience with international standby, but with regard to the free upgrade to first, I do not believe you will be able to. You cannot use "stickers" to upgrade to first from business on the three class service between LAX-MIA (or LAX/SFO-JFK) You can use miles+copay or an SWU (but being on a codeshare would rule those out for you.
You may get bumped up if you're flying full-fare, but for the most part AA's premium product is sold on this route.
If you are able to standby for the 777, you will get to ride on AA NGBC which is not bad at all for a transcon. (Just don't get one of the middle seats)
Wow...didn't realize that. Thanks for the info. I went back and read the AA website. That's disappointing. I am not a fan of angled seats so I will avoid the NGBC (not sure what exactly is next gen about angled seats?!?). I'm going to rebook to skip the stop in MIA and stay on LA into LAX. I do not want to be angled for 5 hours.
It's interesting to learn the difference between AA and UA... On UA I would get an upgrade from Biz to First with UDU. I'm surprised AA won't do that.