Originally Posted by
enpremiere
I don't personally see the value of purchasing a ticket if I only want to ensure that an upgrade can be applied to it first -
Even with the 24 hour cancellation, there is still a refund process that would have to happen if you purchase it so for folks who don't want to deal with that or to temporarily see their credit line decrease with the authorization, holding and ticketing when the upgrade is sure to be confirmed seems to have fewer moving parts.
I suppose to each their own. AA.com shows upgrade availability (it's the same as SWU availability), so it's an extreme edge case that you'd have to deal with a refund. And a phone call seems infinitely more annoying to me than watching my credit limit decrease and then increase and not having to do anything about it. But to each their own!