Originally Posted by
denCSA
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.
Easy to fix that: expect to fly the class that you buy. Don't sit around and obsess over inventory. A "mental thing" doesn't say anything about the utility of SWUs.
I buy discount Y because that's company policy (occasionally W is allowable). I buy the tickets I need for the dates and destinations I need. I request the upgrade if I want to and have instruments to use. If not available at booking, I check back around T-30 to T-25 to see if it's cleared and I can order a meal. Sometimes I don't request the upgrade in advance and just check AA.com shortly before departure to see if any C space has shown up.
I do all of this knowing there is a very good likelihood that I'll clear.
Matter of fact - just cleared a Y-->J Miles and Copay upgrade off the waitlist for LAX-HND.
And, yes, I fly solo. I can appreciate that it might be a somewhat different situation for couples/groups.