Originally Posted by
Blondeonboard
It upsets as I am often hoping that roll up from Business to first will happen so that I can upgrade from coach to business. The fare difference by the time I booked these with my boyfriend was ~$500 for $2500 for business ~$3500 for 1st. I felt like those were large price differences. I called and asked to pay for an upgrade several times, but each time was only offered full fare reticketing which would mean paying about ~$5000 more for us to fly in business. When you consider it, American loses revenue by flying first empty at the gate, as it could process upgrades, 500 certs, miles and fees by moving more customers to business. It also does this rollup once in a while and then not at other times.
I, also, think that as many loyal frequent flyers really want affordable upgrades, flying a bunch of empty first class seats is a deterent from chosing American on a competitive route.
Half of the time I have flown F, half of the seats are non-revenue passengers, and there are usually one or two empty seats. The other half, F is full of paying customers and occasionally celebrities. American wants to preserve price integrity in F on these routes, so rolling upgrades on a regular basis are not going to happen at this time. Most of my American flights nowadays are paid J on these routes, and I often upgrade to F using miles. If you want consistent J as a Platinum, plan ahead and buy J, the pricing is competitive far enough out.