Just ticketed SEA-PHX-MEX for 1st week of November. First test! Let's see what happens. Only 8k AA miles for Econ, over the 35k Alaska miles - AA business redemption I had and just canceled.
Though surely will go through DFW/MIA again in future - but those will be South American destinations - so I guess this whole upgrade thing is irrelevant (Central America only).
I'll be happy with any MCE upgrades for the short SEA-PHX-MEX routing. (Put in my Alaska #, so i see / chose a 'preferred' seat - which I know, is just location, still good to get off faster for the short 1 hour connection) I'll consider any upgrade beyond that wholly unexpected.