wesmanz

I called the EXP desk and they basically said that I needed to add myself to the upgrade list at the airport. She confirmed I was first on the list and that there was only one seat left. I went over my story and she of course said this is the first she's heard of it and that I should probably talk with Customer Relations about it since it's a policy related question. She took down my companions PNR and his name and said she would pass it along and that this all was very strange.

This is very troubling for me, as I'm a DFW based passenger that has on several occasions been trumped on the upgrade list by through passengers, this only adds another layer of people that can screw me now.

Basically what it boils down to is I'm pretty much screwed for this flight tomorrow as it's likely I'll get trumped by a T passenger or some other random non-elite passenger will be offered the last seat for upgrade.

--wes

Seat 1F

I'm very concerned to hear that upgrade offers are being made to non-elites before elite upgrades are processed. Hopefully this is a system glitch and does not represent a change in policy. This used to occur at CO and then more recently on the combined UA/CO. Bad move in my opinion. Hopefully AA does not follow the UA/CO lead on this.

I have a feeling alot of people are going to be watching this thread and the AA response very closely.

wesmanz

Thanks for posting that dstan, I can confirm this is not at all how it's going down on this flight. I'm sure they will insist that this was a one time glitch.

Does anyone know anything about this customer relations group? contact info, hours etc? I'm sure they're open like Mon and Tues from 11am-3pmPDT or something obscure like that

sukn

Customer Relations keeps M-F business hours so if you call the EXP desk during that time frame, they can transfer you over to someone who will actually speak with you. The other option of course is aa.com which filters complaints from EXPs directly to Customer Relations.

wesmanz

Cool, I'll call the EXP desk tomorrow. It always baffles me when a companies customer service reps can't be reached on the weekend. I guess issues only happen M-F

--wes

wesmanz

I'm not on Twitter, but would Tweet it if I were


--wes

morrisunc

I paid somewhere around 70ish for an upgrade rdu to lga 2 Fridays ago and there were a couple elites on wl with f full. It was a great deal since I had 2 bags to check. I think it was going to cost more to check than upgrade. I get these offers often when checking in on ua but have never seen a price as low as aa offered

Majuki

Unless it has changed, I think it's still $45 per 500 miles flown. It's the counter price for a 500-mile upgrade sticker.

phlashba

I agree that this is very disturbing!

eethan

I wonder if AA is doing this on select routes or in cases when coach is full. Perhaps they've been doing this for a while, and we don't notice b/c all elites still manage to clear the upgrade list.

BrewerSEA

Very disturbing. I hope this is a system error and not a change in policy...

FWAAA

When AA introduced UDU for EXPs more than eight years ago, I was against it for several reasons. But I didn't think that AA would sell the upgrades out from under the EXPs waiting on the upgrade list. If AA needs the cash, that's fine with me - but give all passengers, including EXPs on the upgrade list, the same chance to purchase the F upgrade.

I was fine paying for stickers prior to March, 2004 and I'd be fine with paying for them again.

But selling upgrades to nonelites while EXPs sit on the upgrade list?

phlashba

Not sure I follow you. OP is an EXP and so should have upgraded at T-100 hours -- long before people were being offered a paid option at T-24.

BrewerSEA

As an EXP I rarely get upgraded at T-100. It's simply when the window opens for EXP to be upgraded.

justageek

Yup, and this is the main complaint folks have over on the UA board, as well. They kinda sorta mostly understand that the airline needs money, so they're going to sell upgrades before offering "free" upgrades to elites. However, the fact that elites on the upgrade waitlist can't purchase those upgrades leads to the infuriating "priority inversion" you're referring to, where non-elites actually have more opportunity to upgrade than do elites.