Originally Posted by
bse118
It always amuses me that people who voluntarily eliminate a large portion of potential SWU use are so quick to declare SWUs "worthless".
I mean it's certainly your prerogative to not want to waitlist. That's certainly a choice people make - and have good reason to do so. No criticism from me about a choice to approach things that way.
But where it loses me is the extension that a choice to not want to waitlist means SWU's are across the board "difficult to use" and "worthless". Plenty of people clear SWUs off the waitlist. My own personal experience is that I waitlist SWUs regularly - and I've missed 1 request during 4+ years of EXP status. Easy to use and plenty of value, IME.
YMMV.
I, like you, have done many a waitlist because that's pretty much the defacto way it works with AA these days. I've also cleared 90%+ of those waitlists. That's not really the issue most people have, it's a mental thing. It's the massive difference between Y and J, and having to wait, watch, wonder at the inventory until the magic T minus 25 hour clearance occurs. The waitlists don't even clear until it's really close in for most flights. The only saving grace to AA SWUs is the ability to use them on every class, unlike UA. But with UA, they at least release a decent amount of upgrade space in advance.
In the end though, they are worthless, because I'd rather purchase W or J to have my expectations set instead of upending them for the better at 25 hours prior to departure.