Originally Posted by
Jerseyguy
My brother just started working in STL and will be commuting from AUS to STL every week Sunday night to Thursday. Trying to make his decision between AA and WN and I'm wondering how often will he be upgraded to First between DFW and STL (he doesn't care about the AUS-DFW flight). Once he gets to Exec platinum (which would happen the beginning of August), how often can he expect to be upgraded? Because WN has a nonstop AUS-STL and he'd qualify for the companion pass.
Sunday night DFW-STL upgrades generally aren't too bad -- I'm 100% in recent memory as EXP. I also used to clear this one fairly regularly as a PLT. STL-DFW on a Thursday afternoon/evening is less of a guarantee, but an EXP will still clear fairly often on this route.
The one thing that could kill UPG percentage, though, is the aircraft type. In the past, this route has been serviced primarily by the MD-80, with an occasional 738 or 757. Recently, though, it's been the MD-80, LUS CR9, and LAA 319. F cabins on the 319 only have eight seats and routinely sell out before the T-100 EXP upgrade window. Some travelers may not like the CR9 regional jet flights -- the F cabin is actually fairly comfortable, and the single seat side is nice (1x2 configuration), but gate checking rollaboards is a pain.