flyingeph12

My understanding is that if your upgrade doesn't clear in advance, you can be placed on the airport upgrade list, and if you don't have enough stickers in your account, then you will be prompted to purchase the needed stickers at check in. Stickers are not actually deducted until time of travel. I don't take these rules to mean necessarily that you can purchase the upgrades after a companion upgrade (on a separate PNR) has cleared and expect no issues at check in. Of course, I don't deny that had you waited until check in to purchase the needed stickers you might have encountered less difficulty, but the fact that AA allows you to purchase the missing stickers at check in doesn't mean AA is to blame for your difficulties arising from the fact that you (knowingly, and I would guess intentionally) didn't have enough stickers in your account when the upgrade actually cleared for your companion. Relatedly, as you were waiting in line and seeing your time run out, couldn't you have just purchased the (extra) stickers and checked in, and dealt with the issue after your flight? At worst, you would have extra stickers to use later (and isn't that how it's really supposed to work?).

I don't disagree that under normal circumstances arriving two hours early for a domestic flight is reasonable, but in this instance you were reasonably mistaken. I don't see why your reasonable mistake means AA is somehow at fault. As an aside, my experience has been that sometimes the non-priority check in lanes move faster—not only are there often fewer agents handling the priority lanes, but the people in the priority lanes may have more luggage and/or issues for the agent to deal with.