Originally Posted by
nomore1k
Upgrades:
Any coach passenger can upgrade. It costs $50 on short flights and $100 on mid-cons. You can request it from AS over the phone as soon as you’ve got your ticket. I don’t know what the procedure of releasing the seats is (check the AS forum) but I’ve never had any luck before OLCI. I haven’t seen any evidence yet of a ‘list’. You ask, you can either buy an upgrade or you can’t. AS Elites get upgrades free. AA Elites are part of the great unwashed.
It's a bit more complicated. AS has two elite tiers, MVP Golds (the highest tier) who request an upgrade find out at 72 hours. MVPs (the lowest tier) find out at 48 hours. Unlike AAdvantage Gold and Platinum who have to use "stickers" on AA, upgrades for both MVP Gold and MVPs are free on AS. MVP Golds also get 4 one-way upgrade coupons/year that can be used to upgrade to FC at time of ticket purchase if U inventory is available. People using mileage can also upgrade at time of purchase if U inventory is available. The process you describe for upgrading is available at the airport through the kiosk, at the ticket counter, or at the gate for all other passengers IF (and that's a BIG IF) there is any FC inventory left over after AS elites get their free upgrades. Of course, it's worth a try, but highly unlikely on mid-cons and trans-cons. I'm an AS MVP Gold and rarely get upgraded on transcons, AS does an excellent job of selling those seats.