Originally Posted by
MikeBOS
In BOS, my experience is that it is nearly completely random as to who gets the upgrade once you're under airport control. Many of the agents can't be bothered figuring out the rules, so they upgrade whomever the person is that happens to be standing in front of them, to minimize the work involved on their part. This is, of course, not always the case, but I have seen it happen many times.
In other AA cities, I have seen much more predictable behavior that attempts to conform to the rules, but I wouldn't get my hopes up in BOS. I think your best shot will be getting on the good side of the gate agent.
Indeed BOS can be a bit random but certainly status conscious. Thus I do not believe that a PLT hoping for 2 upgrades will be able to trump an EXP also hoping to upgrade.
As for the "First Check in Full" issue. I fly BOS-SFO a lot, and I don't think I've ever seen a route that so consistently has checked-in no shows. In each of my last four flights, seated pax have been brought up from Y b/c of last minute availability.