Being unable to use my companion passes or upgrade certificates because I fares are just too cheap is a heartbreak I can live with.

Edited to add: I’m being obnoxious here because I booked several stupid cheap I fares with wallet funds from last year a couple of months ago and I haven’t even flown the first of them yet. I see that the fares have come up since and the U space hasn’t come back, and if that doesn’t change I will be doing my share of griping in due course.

I'd rather have worthless NFT's or some worthless cryptocurrency than my GGU's . At least I could explain the former.

Maybe they can be converted to SWUs on AA. Not that those are of much value right now anyways. ;) lol. Kidding aside, I agree that they are difficult to use right now and when U is available, the eligible fare is often higher than F.

I have definitely put a lot to good use over the last few years, 6 flights upgraded at booking with 1 GGU is my personal best, but I don't value them when flying alone. I am happy to pay the cheapest fare, select premium at booking and fly. If an upgrade happens, all the better and it does happen many more times that it doesn't. The #1 benefit of 75K for me is the 125% Elite bonus. The plentiful upgrades are a nice add-on and the rest I don't get too excited about. Yes, GGUs can be useful to move into F on a companion certificate especially on multi-segment, multi-stop circle trips but ultimately the itinerary does cost more. Maybe if F upgrades weren't so plentiful, my valuation would differ and I would be frustrated if the the instrument couldn't be perfected.

James

Since the schedule seems to be finalized around 2-3 months in-advance (at most), virtually every flight beyond June would be considered a "placeholder" flight which really does limit my ability to use a GGU. I looked at dates in August as well as April....and a lot of those great I fares are starting to creep up not to mention the fact that the really good I fares were due to the discount promos that were being applied to them. Nearly all the main cabin fares to the East Coast this summer are running around $250 one-way from PDX/SEA so fares are definitely moving up.

I agree but now that the weekly promos have gone away and the fares are going up, I've found the companion certs to be great for summer and/or holiday travel.

I apparently spoke too soon; upcoming SAN-KOA has NO F, Y+ availability T+72 in either direction - first time I can EVER recall. Pent up demand from shutdown? Blocked middle seats? Fares also appear to be on the rise.

I have booked a couple routes recently within 2 days of departure and had to select Exit Rows since, as you say, Premium was full & F was spoken for too. However, in both cases, I was upgraded to F.

James

I did indeed speak too soon; recent SAN-KOA flight was COMPLETELY FULL - ended up in the exit row, with a stranger in the middle seat; no Y+ seats available T+72, but ended up in first T+20 or so - no GGUs required (2 adults in both cases.

I agree that Y+ seems to be way fuller lately but based on some relatively last minute upgrades to F, my guess is that many passengers in Y+ are not elites and therefore not on the upgrade list. The % of seats taken Y+ use to be a pretty rough indicator of how many 75Ks I was competing with for F, but not anymore--maybe it will go back to that when seat blocking goes away. I will say that if I'm traveling with other passengers, we always book window/aisle and leave the middle Y+ seat empty and unless it's a full flight, it has a good chance of staying empty since it doesn't open up for assignment by non-elites at T-24 like other seats (including exit rows). I realize it's always nice when you get upgraded without having to use a GGU, but I would argue that the benefit of the GGU is just the peace of mind you have in confirming first class weeks or months in-advance...especially if you are upgrading non-elites in your party. As it stands now, with a few exceptions I've found when looking at Hawaii flights later this year, I'm hard pressed to find any U space on transcons to virtually anywhere....it generally only shows up on much shorter flights like PDX-SEA so hopefully this is temporarily.

I’ve been watching U space for HNL flights and it seems AS is holding it until at least T-24, hoping to sell the seats.

For example, a recent trip.. I had one flight booked last year on an R fare.. 4 FC seats for months and including into T-24, FC peaked at $800 per seat and gradually declined to ~$450 prior to departure and AS didn’t open any U space.

I understand AS is looking for additional revenue, but when the FC seat map is unchanged for months they could at least try to honor their upgrade windows for elites.

It makes me feel more comfortable to be booking paid F for now.

Another option is to just get rid of or modify the GGU program....I've never had much trouble maximizing the value of GGUs in the past, but it's become nearly impossible. I would be willing to have fewer GGUs (like 2 instead of 4) if they were able to be used on any available F seat in the cabin but I realize that would never happen.

The value of GGUs in the program has been destroyed. Frankly, many other aspects of the program are now worth less (though not worthless). As a result, I will probably end this year settling for Gold and not requalifying for 75K, after many years of being 75K.

It is still April so I might change my mind depending on how AS behaves this year!

I'm exactly the opposite -- MVP Gold has little value right now and 75k looks a lot more attractive with 1 AA SWU, 50k bonus, free AA F upgrades and OWE status.

I dont know if you have flows AA domestic recently but in my opinion AA F is no better than AS premium.

Is there ANY U space to east coast cities in the next 3 or 4 months? (Outside of the next few days)