Hijacking a bit since it seems many valid theories have been floated. Does anyone else find the mixed upgrade list a *little* unnerving? Flew HKG-DFW recently and was bummed to see myself at 6. Turns out I was the first one on the list for Y to J. I cleared, but not without some sweat! I wish AA's IT would catch up and show these separately, as well as the number of remaining seats, like Delta. That would likely solve a lot of mysteries like this thread, and the transparency would be good for FF morale.