Originally Posted by enviroian
F sold out for tpa-phx tomorrow
F sold out for phx-dtw Friday.
. . .I'm sure the other plats on here would be and/or are just as frustrated.
In recent months I have been shocked at the number of flights that have zero upgrade availability when the Platinum upgrade window rolls around. Many of my flights have either been sold out or they're holding the remaining seats for sale, to be released if not sold at some magical moment prior to departure.
On a recent flight from ORD to PHX I was standing in the cattle line waiting to board next to two gold members who were seated in first. (I was in coach.) I asked them if they bought F or were upgraded. They said that they were upgraded and that they kept calling until the last two seats being held "for sale" became available and then snagged them when they opened up the day before departure. As a Plat, this is extremely frustrating. If they want to hold back seats to sell, fine, but when they release them, they should go to the highest ranking elite members waiting to be upgraded. We shouldn't have to call them every hour to see if someone has released seats.
No question about it, upgrade-wise, being a Plat on HP is nothing like it used to be. Given how much more often I'm experiencing that ridiculously tight seat pitch on HP, UA's Econ. Plus or American's MRTC is looking better and better.