jcelio

I have 100% so far on clearing upgrades even on long legs that have done recently BCN-JFK-HND (and all BCN JFK MIA and MAD MIA so far)... But have to say that given how good the economy is in LATAM many seats in C must be taken by revenue passengers investment bankers and just regular shoppers you have to choose your days of flying well... The only one lately that took the longer to clear was BCN-JFK-GRU (the last leg in the 24 hr window before my flight and there were 2 of us) I called the EXP desk and asked them to release the seats... so my 2 cents...

SafeFlyer

It has been well documented here that EVIPS are clearing later than in past years, necessitating wait-listing more. While I hate not clearing at booking, and the associated stress, which increases exponentially as departure gets closer and closer, using EF and having a reasonable amount of flexibility has resulted in all but two of 60+ EVIPS (two accounts, missed the same flight) clearing over the past three years. If you want to be guaranteed, and can’t clear at booking, you’ll need to pay for J. (Which BTW is what we did for our flights to HEL this weekend).

Good luck and Safe Travels

brp

I've definitely heard this as well. I was surprised recently when I called about a flight in late November...just to see if they had any expanded inventory on hand. Mrs. brp is upgraded, and the only person in the 37-seat cabin. Nothing, so no problem. But he sent it to RM, got a "no" and then sent an appeal. I certainly hadn't asked for that.

Cheers.

Duffman

Hello -

I bought a LGA-ORD-DEL ticket for my wife (she has no status on AA) about a month and a half ago and requested an SWU by using an eVIP. I've been tracking the flight load on expert flyer and 20 of the 37 J seats were empty around Jan 1st. Since then AA has sold 4 more seats and as of two days ago 16 seats were available but the upgrade still didn't clear. I called the exec plat desk and asked them to check with revenue management to see if they would release any seats given the availability. They contacted RM but they didn't release any seats. Even the agent helping me said that it doesn't make sense why RM isn't releasing these seats. My wife is flying out today and finally at 5am I got the expert flyer notification. Called AA right away and they were able to process the upgrade.

I don't understand why AA took so long to clear the upgrade given the availability in J. The eVIP's to me are the biggest draw of the AAdvantage program. Making me wait till the last minute caused me a few minor problems:
- my wife wanted to make use of the 3 bags check-in allowance but couldn't confirm till the last minute if she could take 3 bags or not
- she could not request her special meal in J


I am a bit miffed that she had to wait till the day of the flight to find out whether she would fly economy or business especially given that there were a number of seats available. If there were only 2 J seats available and the upgrade cleared on the last day I would understand. What have others experienced in the time it takes to process eVIP's or thoughts on this?

I'm due to fly the same route on Tuesday and my upgrade hasn't cleared either.. I guess I'll find out 5am EST on Tues!


Note: FWIW, a dear friend helped me through this process and did a lot of the back and forth with AA. I've mentioned I did it all to simplify the story.

laxconnorw

Nothing out of the ordinary.

Be glad your wife got the upgrade. She has no status.

And your PLT status puts you behind EXPs on the same flight, also trying to use their SWUs.

Not sure how you received SWUs, anyway, since your profile says you're PLT.

My SWUs to and from PVG in December didn't clear until day before flights. And I am EXP.

Not a big deal, really. The big deal would be sitting in coach.

TheBeerHunter

It does suck when you're left to the last minute, but AA wants to try to make money on those seats, not give them away. If they think there's the possibility of sale -- they'll hold out, as well they should.

FlyMeToTheLooneyBin

Except, OP may be EXP because he called the EXP desk.

laxconnorw

LOL. Then he needs to change his profile.

869

Purchasing a business class ticket would relieve this agony in the future.

Duffman

Agree with that. Like I said, if there were only a few seats open then it makes sense that they would wait till the last day. I would think that AA would have some sort of a forecasting in place by which they would release X number of seats if before a certain day there are Y seats available. Since only elite members get SWU's it would also be a way to reward them and not wait till the very last minute at which point it feels like flying stand-by on an employee pass. In this particular case there were a whole lot of empty seats which surprised me..

EXP's - do you guys typically end up waiting till the very last day to get your SWU's cleared? And a better question would be does anyone have a low success-ratio using their SWU's?

Duffman

I hadn't considered that option. Thanks for adding much useful information to this thread that will help anyone wondering how long it takes for SWU's to typically clear.

FlyMeToTheLooneyBin

I wouldn't say last day most of the times, but I have noticed that on some flights, it clears very close to the last week; other times, months ahead. My return from BUD last year cleared 1 hour before departure, so there's not even a chance to consider packing 3 bags at that point.

I would suggest lighter packing and going with the flow.

Duffman

As mentioned, a friend of mine helped me with this. He is EXP and gave me 2 SWU's to use. I expect to get to EXP shortly (thanks to DEQM's!).

Global_Hi_Flyer

When it's leisure travel, and when possible, I choose flights and book early based on C availability at time of booking. When I do need to waitlist, I try to pick flights where the EXP desk indicates lower load factors.

That said, and to answer your question directly, yes, waitlisted eVIPs tend to clear within a day or two of flight. One cleared 6 hours out. And they will sometimes clear without inventory ever showing on EF.

Over the last couple of years, I've only missed 1. And that was a flight where I was #1 on the waitlist (there was one C seat at booking & we gave that to my wife while I took the waitlist). It was a few days after Thanksgiving out of MAD - every plane was packed to the States with Spaniards headed for holiday in South America.

brp

Of course this has actually been discussed quite a bit previously in a consolidated thread on chances of upgrades clearing, among other places. In the end, I don't think folks will really be coming here when wondering why SWUs take longer than they would like to clear.

Cheers.