It depends. Flights under 500 miles requires no "stickers", flights over 500 miles require 2 stickers + 1 more for each full 500 miles.
E.g.
200 miles is 0 stickers
499 miles is 0 stickers
501 miles is 2 stickers.
800 miles is 2 stickers
999 miles is 2 stickers.
1001 miles is 3 stickers.
etc.
Both pre-cleared requests and standby upgrade requests should be using the same amount (or lack thereof) of stickers.
[ed. to ask]
On American (Pre-merger).
You mean on US Airways (Pre-merger), right?