ffdom

Just some random musings on upgrade experiences this year. I am curious as to others recent experiences.

Did a quick trip to NYC this past weekend, LAX-JFK I'm an EXP, travelling with my no-status partner. The cheap coach tickets were bought some time ago. The J seatmap was wide open on the outbound so I requested sticker upgrades, on the return I tried to use VIPs but there were only 3 seats in J open several weeks out. I was expecting the worst. Nothing had cleared either direction. I check in online for coach outbound and then just before the three hour mark the outbound upgrades cleared into J. We were both upgraded but not seated together; on board with the help of a friendly FA we persuaded someone to move. Then a few minutes before take off the ground lead came on board and came and got me and moved us up to F, seated together - the elusive double upgrade. One other person in J was moved forward to F and then they cleared some standbys in Y I think, trying to fill every seat. Of course we were incredibly lucky to be sitting in AFS F (still pretty good despite the cutbacks) on a 3-class plane for $400 roundtrip. What is amazing to me is that there were no full fare J pax or at least a Y or B fare coach pax on an upgrade who got priority over us for the J to F upgrade - are such folks really that rare? On the return, with 2 seats open in J at check in (at the airport, just 2.5 hours before take off) I thought there was no hope of an upgrade, and then at the gate we both cleared. Again I was surprised that as an EXP on a really cheap ticket I was the top of the UG list, especially on this route.

My unscientific observation is thet there seem to be relatively few EXPs on some of the transcon flights (LAX-IAD, LAX-BOS, LAX-IAD). All but two complimentary upgrade (out of 22 flights) has cleared this year. However, they seem to be clearing later and later, making for a nailbiting time before take off. Yet I am almost always near the top of the list (and I still haven't gotten to 1MM and am buying cheapest tickets available these days).

If I had continued to fly on UA I would have been way out of upgrade stickers and SWUs by now. I know some folks don't like the complimentary upgrade policy, but it sure is a huge benefit that keeps me flying AA despite a less extensive network out of LAX than UA.

vasantn

As you say, it's not harder for EXPs ... just later, causing needless drama.

Efrem

Upgrade on the LAX-BOS overnight red-eye one week ago hadn't cleared 24 hours before departure. The EXP desk agent said things didn't look good. Faced with the prospect of a night in the small seats (that cabin was packed, no chance of three across and precious little of an empty seat next to me) I burned an eVIP for the sole seat available in that inventory. (Sadly, it looks like I won't have eight trans-oceanic flights by 2/07 anyhow.) At the airport I learned there were five people waitlisted for upgrades, some of whom were also EXP, so I probably would have been in back had I taken a chance with the "sticker" route.

Westbound, BOS-SJC (AA 611, stops at ORD) the day before, my upgrade cleared at the airport.

In January I was 10 for 10, about half of them at the 100-hour window and the rest at least 24 hours out.

So, from where I sit and based on a tiny sample, something has changed.

ord_is_home

I have been flying ORD-SFO and ORD-DEN quite a bit since March. My experience on the SFO route is that the outbound upgrade has never cleared at the 100hr mark; however, it usually has cleared 24 to 48 hrs prior. The DEN route has been wonderful - clearing at the 100hr mark every time.

On ORD-SFO I had been 6 for 6 with sticker upgrades ... until this week. ExpertFlyer was already showing F0 as early as last Saturday! To the back of the bus I went for the Monday outbound flight. On the inbound flight, something weird happened... I checked EF this morning and it showed F0, so I checked in online and flew Y again (although had an empty seat next to me, so it wasn't too bad). However, after I got home, I noticed I had gotten an email with my upgrade notification, sent 3 hours before my flight. I didn't see the e-mail since I was on my way to the airport. At the gate, the GA never called my name, and I never bothered to ask her, since EF had showed F0 earlier in the day and I didn't check my email... so she must have given my F seat away. Live and learn... always ask when you get to the gate.

All in all, I am 13 for 14 with 'sticker' upgrades this year (counting my non-upgrade upgrade above), but the trend is towards clearing nail-bitingly close to departure time.

omegadeal

Mine are clearing later and later as well with many of them clearing at the gate. An interesting thing happened earlier this week though... I was flying DFW->CLT and had requested upgrades. My return trip had already cleared and I checked in 24 hours in advance for my outbound. When I got to DFW it was one of the gates with the info on the TVs. I noticed that I was not on the "Upgrade request" list so I thought I had cleared. I waited for the GA to call me up, but it never happened.

DFW -> Anything NYC and DFW-> IAD are pretty tough IMO. I've routinely bought tickets a month in advance where the upgrades never cleared.

olimaspecto

I've had a lot clearing later as well, generally right before airport control begins at 3 hours. Also a fair amount of the transcons clearing at the gate as of late.

Mateo4321

Can I ask which 2 didn't clear?

sohony

lax/jfk may be ok but i was traveling jfk/sfo all year last year and as the year went on upgrades were getting less and less frequent--more and more vc's doing deals and paying full fare i suspect

aamilesslave

You can also use the automated system to check on the status of your upgrade. Then if it clears, you can have the GA reprint your boarding pass (warning: don't let the GA take away the upgrade -- Post #16!).

brp

Not so sure about that. Still waiting for our LAx-JFK for tonight. Traveling with two on the same PNR does hurt, though, as we'll get bypassed if singles show up. Could separate, but that has risks as well. I'd imagine percentages are higher for solo travelers.

Cheers.

vasantn

I'm sure you know that your flight is completely zeroed out except for a single J seat (J1 D0 I0). I hope you have good exit row seats! Of course, last-minute cancellations are always a possibility.

cbender

I've done JFK-LAX a half dozen times in the past 6 months: every sticker upgrade I've requested (5 legs) has cleared, and I'm only gold. The upgrades are never clearing before I leave for the airport. I always check in online, and then reprint my boarding pass at the automated kiosk when I get to the airport. The upgrade has always been reflected on the reprinted boarding pass. I get an email from AA stating the upgrade has gone through, but it is usually not until I'm in the air, and never before I leave for the airport (3 - 3.5 hours before departure).

Also, J (but not F) has been completely full on each of these flights.

brp

Yeah...saw it slowly go from J7 to J1...never saw any R. Never alerts from EF, so maybe there never was R released. If some were released, probably one at a time, so we would have lost out on that count. Check on the exit rows, so we can life the armrest and sleep. Want to be well-rested before tomorrow eve

Cheers.

Vaze

Never have a problem traveling on my own, when with my wife and children though have had no luck using evips or miles for domestic upgrades (5 trips so far this year), however, had no problem getting bumped up to business using evips on a recent LAX/LHR/EDI/CDG/LHR/LAX trip (at least on all the legs that had business class). Last year I was running ~ 90% - 95% upgraded travelling on my own and invariably ended up in first/business when with the family (using evips or miles) so not sure if it's just been the luck of the draw or if it's simply more difficult to get upgraded now.

r3guru

Not sure exactly what changed, maybe P fares.

In the 1st quarter all my upgs cleared at the 100 hr mark. Since then however it's been brutal, with 3 not clearing at all and most clearing less than 24hrs.