ParsleyMay

My husband and I just came back from a trip to India (ORD-DEL-ORD), and requested to use our EVIPs on both legs of the trip. (tickets were purchased 4 months out).

The EVIPs didn't clear on either leg . We were feeling quite confident on the return, because there were several seats left in business class with less than 24 hours to go, confirmed by calling AA, in fact the agent seemed perplexed as to why our upgrades hadn't cleared.

Then, when we checked in online, we were offered to buy upgrades to business class for $800 apiece (LFBUs ?) If we hadn't been trying to use our EVIPs we might have taken the deal, but we really would have liked to use them.

On arrival to the DEL airport we were told that business class was sold out, so we spent the 15 1/2 hr flight in coach (thank God for Ambien and exit row seats, but unfortunately also with an inoperable entertainment device. Grrr.)

My question is, Is this common practice? And if so, are we likely to ever be able to use our EVIPs? Or is AA's goal to force us to use them on a domestic flight or not at all?

Most of our flying is on smaller one-class regional jets or international flights, so I already have a backlog of 30 500-mile upgrades that I don't seem to be able to use, either.

Thanks in advance for any answers!

(I wasn't sure whether to add this to the EVIP thread or start a new one. Also, I searched, and didn't find this answered anywhere.)

sukn

I believe you are the first to report on FT that a LFBU was offered when checking in on-line. They have been limited to kiosks and certain check-in counters at international destinations.

The prevailing wisdom on LFBUs has been that they are only offered when the upgrade list is empty so this may be a new wrinkle.

Science Goy

You didn't mention it in your post so I've gotta ask - did you request to be put on the upgrade waitlist at ORD? You're not automatically waitlisted at check-in; an agent has to explicitly do it.

The decision to clear SWUs or offer LFBUs lies with revenue management, and I doubt there's a hard and fast rule of one taking priority over the other. Depending on the situation you could imagine either one being advantageous for AA.

Anyhow, it just sounds like poor luck, maybe brought about by an unusually large number of elites getting in one last trip to DEL. I've never missed a SWU, even on competitive routes like LAX-LHR, so I bet you'll eventually find a use for all of yours.

ParsleyMay

Yes, we did request to be added to the upgrade waitlist in ORD, and in DEL.

I can imagine that a bankrupt AA would rather have cash and let my EVIP expire, but that doesn't make me feel very valued as an elite customer.

Mark_T

Conventional wisdom is that LFBU are only offered at a kiosk and only after the Elite upgrades request queue has been cleared, so your report varies on both accounts.

Some locations outside the USA will offer to sell upgrades at the check-in desk, but that is something different again.

We need to be careful not to over-react to this one data point, but if what you describe were to become the norm, it would be a very serious degrading of the SWU programme.

smilee

If you read the thread on LFBU buy ups, you will see that previously as others have mentioned they are only offered once the upgrade list has been cleared.

In fact I have cleared an upgrade where for 5 days before departure they were not even selling F or J seats, and yet my Evip cleared at the gate

That said, I usually buy my tickets 4 months ahead - but still managed to miss 2 upgrades last year so that left me at 80% success at 4 month out booking (note only 2 had "C" availability at booking as well. or 75% success when waitlisting.

reft

It's been reported before in the consolidated LFBU thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...solidated.html (in December 2011)

sbrower

I think you found the explanation. Before filing the bankruptcy AA didn't care about cash or profit. Now that they are looking for reorganization and a future plan to profitability they have decided that the best way to do that is to maximize cash and harm their image with frequent flyers. [Yes, if I used smiley faces, I should put one right here >>>>]

ParsleyMay

I agree with you that it seems like a poor strategy, but I have a hard time explaining their reasoning otherwise.

I've put a call in to AA customer relations asking about the order of priority, and they weren't able to answer my question, and have promised to call me back.

Meanwhile, I'll try to only book flights where the EVIP clears at the time of purchase.

ParsleyMay

So AA called me back and said that this circumstance was unusual, but that they were running a "special" in Delhi that gave LFBUs to non-elites priority over EVIPs, but that was "unusual" and EVIPs are still "very valuable."

Why do I not find this satisfying?

869

Because it is complete horse [deleted]. There is no way they blow up the upgrade policy in DEL and claim this nonsense to make you feel better. AA.

Some might generally call me an AApologist but this [deleted] me off.

Time traveller

Sorry to hear of your experience. Although I have never flown AA's ORD-DEL route, I have read that this route has been one of the most difficult routes to clear. I wonder if you had split your PNR, if one person would have cleared as sometimes they open up one seat at a time for upgrades. 2 people on the upgrade list may be bypassed in favor of only one person on the PNR, assuming same EXP status.

ParsleyMay

We did split our PNR, trying to do everything we could to maximize our chances.

joe cold

What date did you return from DEL?
The reason I ask is I submitted an EVIP for another passenger 2 days prior to departure and this upgrade request cleared.
I found this truely amazing since ORD-DEL(DEL-ORD) and ORD-PVG (PVG-ORD) are the most difficult upgrades to obtain into business class.

Science Goy

If it makes you feel better, after tomorrow you won't have to worry about ORD-DEL upgrades clearing any longer.