Upgrade Order / Date of Purchase
 

I know I've seen this answer buried somewhere deep in a thread, but I've searched and can't seem to find it. And I'm not even an oldtimer yet.. Bear with me..

Booked SFO > JFK @ 7am flight on 12/8. Original ticket purchased on 11/13.

Changed from 7am flight to 1:55pm flight. Changed itinerary on 11/19.

Now looking like I need to take the 10:25am flight. Haven't changed yet, but will look to do so later today.

And for the million dollar question: As a 75k when I'm put on the upgrade list with all of the other lovely Bay Area 75k's, will I be prioritized by the 11/13, 11/19, or 12/5 date?

It's hard out here on the streets.

Bless.

Your “date of booking” will be when you last committed a change. So, if you were to change the flight today, your DOB would be 12/5.

Wonderful. Thank you for the clarification!

In theory! I don't think anybody really knows, including AS. :D I arrived early into SEA and did a SDC to an earlier flight that wasn't possible due to MCT time on the original scheduled arrival. Within a minute, I was upgraded on the way to the gate. I never showed on the waitlist. And nobody showing on the waitlist was upgraded.

I think the real fun will start once MVPG100K is active. A broken upgrade processor upgrading AA Elites over same Tier AS Elites. Oh, my!

James

One of the reasons that 100K is rolling out in late January is to (hopefully) get upgrade processing right. Seeing is believing, but AS elites should be happy with the result.

Seeing & seeing with consistency will be believing but AS' track record of "if it is broke, don't fix it!" doesn't emanate warm & fuzzy feelings. The simple, or at least what should be simple, implementation of accurate EQM & AS segments flown in 2021 seems to have eluded the IT talent pool.

If it is actually implemented properly, to policy and transparent then maybe AS Elites will be happy, well other than maybe Million Milers who can relish in their lifetime MVPG Status knowing their upgrade priority dropped from 2nd to 5th.

Then again, with the lure of EQD arbitrage for AA Elites flying AS, the move to Loyalty Points has knocked the wind out of that sail. That may reduce AA Elites flying AS, especially in Main where they would be vying for upgrades anyway.

I still have my doubts.

James

They really need to fix the UG professor, though. I have sniped oh so many FC seats within T-120 using GGUs for myself and friends & family - even those transcon with the last seat available at $1499 and U=1.

Given AS IT history, I don’t have confidence the new system once in production will be bug-free.

I’m also not looking forward to seeing AA elites on the UG list. 😓

I know the sentiment of late has been, "let it be broke & don't intervene," but if you are within your window & U space is available, you don't need to apply a GGU. Having to apply a GGU for AS' shortcomings is a sad state of affairs.

James

more like the UG intern :p :D

I think you'll be OK if they are below you.

There are the other impacts, such as AA elites potentially taking up FC space and then an AS elite wants to exercise a SDC..

🤙🏻

Just for educational purposes- if this does happen to you- can you call in and request to be manually upgraded and say there is U space or is it best to use the GGU and snag it?

It’s an on going issue. Reservations is not supposed to be processing the UG list manually anymore, but once in a while you may find an agent willing to do it. They put their foot down on this after that August 2021 random months out pax being upgraded IT meltdown.

The website says if UG space is available you will be upgraded immediately; however the UG system is broken and Reservations isn’t empowered to help. It’s a frustrating circle.

If you are on a waitlist, I recommend watching it carefully.

Hopefully if there are any system updates at end of January they address this, but I am not hopeful.

😮‍💨🙌🏻

That may be an impact, but it's a feature of the partner agreement. Some AA Platinums won't get upgraded because of AS 75Ks.

I don't believe that an agent can manually process an elite upgrade. That requires a supervisor. That has been my experience.

Yes, it's not immediate and that language needs to be changed. My experience is that the processor seems to run 3-5 hours after the window opens.