OLCI purchased upgrade offer to non-elite before elite upgrades processed
Aug 20, 2012, 7:34 am
#76
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: OKC
Programs: AA Exp 1.3mm, HH Dia, SPG Gld, IHG Plt
Posts: 141
IMHO, AA would be making a huge mistake implementing a change like this, especially now when all these UA 1Ks are jumping ship and are overwhelmingly happy with AA vs UA (based on the UA forum). The reason many of these 1Ks came over was specifically due to UA selling upgrades in front on elites. Crappy timing if you really want to make this change.
But, I really don't think they are making this change and hopefully it was just glitch. I've had 12 segments in the last 30 days and every one of them cleared (and all but a couple of the 300+ segments over the last 3yrs). Now they could have sold some seats prior to my upgrades, but as long as it didn't take my seat, no worries. And if this was being implemented, I would expect that more and more EXPs would be missing upgrades and posting here within milliseconds!!
But, I really don't think they are making this change and hopefully it was just glitch. I've had 12 segments in the last 30 days and every one of them cleared (and all but a couple of the 300+ segments over the last 3yrs). Now they could have sold some seats prior to my upgrades, but as long as it didn't take my seat, no worries. And if this was being implemented, I would expect that more and more EXPs would be missing upgrades and posting here within milliseconds!!
Aug 20, 2012, 7:49 am
#78
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: SAN
Programs: AA-EXP; US-Silver; Marriott-Platinum; Starwood-Platinum; Hilton-Gold
Posts: 1,260
This also occurred on Flight 1121 today. There were 7 open seats in first and Y was oversold by 8. Now Y is oversold only by 6 and only 5 seats left in first. Typically they assign all first seats but 1 by now. New trend? Only 90 minutes until take off / 60 until boarding.
None of the elites got the UG. There is one 1T in front of me.
None of the elites got the UG. There is one 1T in front of me.
Aug 20, 2012, 7:56 am
#79
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: NYC
Programs: Delta Platinum, former AA EXP, Hilton Diamond, Uber Diamond, National Executive
Posts: 249
I have a management-level contact at AAdvantage, brought this thread to that individual's attention. Will let you know if I hear anything. From my experience with this person and others at AAdvantage, I can say that they really seem to care about keeping EXPs happy (for obvious reasons) and can almost guarantee this is either:
A) a glitch
B) a new policy that will soon allow EXPs to purchase upgrades, likely before others
However, I really don't see any possibility that this situation (allowing non-elites to upgrade, with no chance for EXPs to) is AA's endgame. It doesn't make any business sense at all, and AA knows where its money comes from.
A) a glitch
B) a new policy that will soon allow EXPs to purchase upgrades, likely before others
However, I really don't see any possibility that this situation (allowing non-elites to upgrade, with no chance for EXPs to) is AA's endgame. It doesn't make any business sense at all, and AA knows where its money comes from.
Aug 20, 2012, 7:57 am
#80
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Boston, MA (BOS)
Programs: AA PLT Pro 2MM, DL Gold, UA Silver, Marriott Ambassador + LT Plat, COFC Venture X, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 5,587
While everyone gets worked up about this and acts as if the sky is fAAling allow me to interrupt with an alternative view point and some objectivity.
AA has an obligation to their other stakeholders-not just FFs flying around earning AAdvantage bennies. Given the restructuring and rising fuel prices (anyone that pays attention to the capital markets would know oil is once again approach $100/bbl) its easy to understand why AA needs to raise cash.
They reserve the right, as ESpen36 pointed out, to change, modify, eliminate program benefits at anytime and we have no recourse. Plenty of other carriers engage in these schemes, most notably UA but I saw DL had a similar offer at DTW several weeks ago as well with Medallions still on the UG list.
It's not sustainable to have people purchase $99 transcon fares to fly on 767s in J/F on free UGs, I know many here enjoy this (as do I and have done so often in the past) but looking at AA's plans going forward it seems upgrades on those routes will be fewer and far between independent of any possible program changes.
There are definitely people that are over entitled when it comes to expectations of upgrades and FF benefits. Posters on the UA forum expect $500 compensation for having a complimentary upgrade rescinded on a domestic flight, demand to have multiple seats on the plane blocked (after only purchasing a single seat), cry and moan to the FA to get another $100.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/19063925-post651.html
I imagine there will be some reforms to the AA program post emergence and many of them people here won't like.
AA has an obligation to their other stakeholders-not just FFs flying around earning AAdvantage bennies. Given the restructuring and rising fuel prices (anyone that pays attention to the capital markets would know oil is once again approach $100/bbl) its easy to understand why AA needs to raise cash.
They reserve the right, as ESpen36 pointed out, to change, modify, eliminate program benefits at anytime and we have no recourse. Plenty of other carriers engage in these schemes, most notably UA but I saw DL had a similar offer at DTW several weeks ago as well with Medallions still on the UG list.
It's not sustainable to have people purchase $99 transcon fares to fly on 767s in J/F on free UGs, I know many here enjoy this (as do I and have done so often in the past) but looking at AA's plans going forward it seems upgrades on those routes will be fewer and far between independent of any possible program changes.
There are definitely people that are over entitled when it comes to expectations of upgrades and FF benefits. Posters on the UA forum expect $500 compensation for having a complimentary upgrade rescinded on a domestic flight, demand to have multiple seats on the plane blocked (after only purchasing a single seat), cry and moan to the FA to get another $100.
I was upgraded 96 hours prior to departure and reserved 3C on A320
24 hours before departure, I checked-in for my flight. System said to "see agent". They had downgraded to A319, which means I lost of upgrade.
Received $500 and agent gave me emergency exit row. They said they blocked off the middle seat/window seat.
When I boarded, and door closed, a pax decided to move into the seat next to me. I complained to FA that the gate agent had purposely blocked off the seat because i was downgraded.
FA said the agent is not alllowed to block any seats.
FA gave me another voucher for $100.
24 hours before departure, I checked-in for my flight. System said to "see agent". They had downgraded to A319, which means I lost of upgrade.
Received $500 and agent gave me emergency exit row. They said they blocked off the middle seat/window seat.
When I boarded, and door closed, a pax decided to move into the seat next to me. I complained to FA that the gate agent had purposely blocked off the seat because i was downgraded.
FA said the agent is not alllowed to block any seats.
FA gave me another voucher for $100.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/19063925-post651.html
I imagine there will be some reforms to the AA program post emergence and many of them people here won't like.
Aug 20, 2012, 8:02 am
#81
Join Date: Feb 2008
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 3,049
The concern so far is simply that what happened on this flight appears to be contrary to stated policy.
This isn't a matter of people lacking in objectivity, just tying to understand an apparent contradiction, if AA want to change the policy that is one thing, just ignoring it (if that is what happened) isn't acceptable.
Aug 20, 2012, 8:04 am
#82
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: NYC
Programs: Delta Platinum, former AA EXP, Hilton Diamond, Uber Diamond, National Executive
Posts: 249
It's not sustainable to have people purchase $99 transcon fares to fly on 767s in J/F on free UGs, I know many here enjoy this (as do I and have done so often in the past) but looking at AA's plans going forward it seems upgrades on those routes will be fewer and far between independent of any possible program changes.
As I said above, though, I really see no possible way that is a long-term strategy and is either a glitch or a transition period to a new system where EXPs can choose to buy UGs. If that's the case, it's bad, but not nearly as bad as not even giving EXPs/other elites the chance to UG.
Aug 20, 2012, 8:08 am
#83
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Boston, MA (BOS)
Programs: AA PLT Pro 2MM, DL Gold, UA Silver, Marriott Ambassador + LT Plat, COFC Venture X, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 5,587
If these were announced changes this would be a very different thread.
The concern so far is simply that what happened on this flight appears to be contrary to stated policy.
This isn't a matter of people lacking in objectivity, just tying to understand an apparent contradiction, if AA want to change the policy that is one thing, just ignoring it (if that is what happened) isn't acceptable.
The concern so far is simply that what happened on this flight appears to be contrary to stated policy.
This isn't a matter of people lacking in objectivity, just tying to understand an apparent contradiction, if AA want to change the policy that is one thing, just ignoring it (if that is what happened) isn't acceptable.
But I agree communicating these changes to customers would the appropriate thing to do.
Aug 20, 2012, 8:08 am
#84
Join Date: May 1998
Location: australia
Posts: 5,762
If you were being objective you wouldn't have ignored the complaint of many that EXPs are not being given the opportunity to purchase these upgrades.
Objectivity requires looking at all the facts presented. Spin on the other hand only requires looking at those details that suit
Aug 20, 2012, 8:10 am
#85
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Boston, MA (BOS)
Programs: AA PLT Pro 2MM, DL Gold, UA Silver, Marriott Ambassador + LT Plat, COFC Venture X, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 5,587
Well get over it, its been going on at CO for years and now the over entitled UA people are flipping out about it. Visit ATL or DTW, DL does it all day everyday as well.
Aug 20, 2012, 8:14 am
#86
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: NYC
Programs: Delta Platinum, former AA EXP, Hilton Diamond, Uber Diamond, National Executive
Posts: 249
No, I'm not going to "get over it" because I won't have to, and it doesn't make someone "over entitled" in any case to expect the chance to upgrade as an Elite (even if cash is eventually involved) when non-status pax are allowed to. This is not something the AAdvantage team is going to implement.
Aug 20, 2012, 8:17 am
#87
Join Date: May 2007
Programs: AAdvantage, Hilton
Posts: 3,191
Dec 26th, 2011
Feb 28th:
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.)
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.)
Feb 28th:
My friend, who has no status, received her 24 hour email reminder that it was time to check in.
When she opened the email, it offered her the option to buy an upgrade for $135 from DCA to DFW.
I mentioned this to an EXP agent who said she has only seen this at the kiosk and never online. I said I certainly hoped it meant no elite members, including Golds, were waiting for an X seat to clear.
When she opened the email, it offered her the option to buy an upgrade for $135 from DCA to DFW.
I mentioned this to an EXP agent who said she has only seen this at the kiosk and never online. I said I certainly hoped it meant no elite members, including Golds, were waiting for an X seat to clear.
April 2nd:
I was sitting in my LGA-ORD X seat the other day and the man beside me told me how he got to sit in first. He told me that he doesn't have status, he purchased a cheap (~$200) fare in economy, and then when he went to check in online he was offered the ability to move into first for only $90. Can someone please explain to me how this works? The upgrade list was over 20 people long for this flight. How exactly does AA determine how many of X inventory to sell as upgrades vs. providing for "free" to those with status?
April 12th:
LFBU has been pushed to OLCI too. My non-status spouse was offered a LFBU for $90 on an ORD-DCA flight last week - the flight was F6X0 and went out with First Full. When I got to the gate at T-35 min there was 1 person on the UG list.
In the case of the OP, the people on the UG list could have only requested their UGs when they checked-in and asked to be added to the UG list.
In the case of the OP, the people on the UG list could have only requested their UGs when they checked-in and asked to be added to the UG list.
April 4th:
The following situation, while not exactly the same as the main gist of this thread, is related:
I had an evip pending for jfk-zrh, in Feb. 2010 [I could not do OLCI since the evip was wait listed, and since ranking is based on when you did OLCI, I was #7 (per AC agent) on the list. At jfk while printing my bp from the kiosk, I was offered the upgrade for $3000. I don't know if anyone "bit" at that price.
The GA, announced at the start of boarding, that NO upgrades or standbys were going to be processed, since the flight was "sold-out". BUT I did get a notification from expert flyer (time stamped 5 minutes after departure) that one "c" class seat was available.
I had an evip pending for jfk-zrh, in Feb. 2010 [I could not do OLCI since the evip was wait listed, and since ranking is based on when you did OLCI, I was #7 (per AC agent) on the list. At jfk while printing my bp from the kiosk, I was offered the upgrade for $3000
. I don't know if anyone "bit" at that price.The GA, announced at the start of boarding, that NO upgrades or standbys were going to be processed, since the flight was "sold-out". BUT I did get a notification from expert flyer (time stamped 5 minutes after departure) that one "c" class seat was available.
May 30th:
Flying to Boston today with some colleagues and found that my upgrade had not cleared this morning. Printed my coach boarding pass and got ready to leave for the airport. Another colleague with no status flying with me shows me their boarding pass and it had first class on it. He said at check in the night before he was offered first class for $80 and took it.
My upgrade eventually cleared a couple of hours before departure but I was curious. Do lfbu upgrades clear before exp upgrades? I was also travelling with someone with life time gold who wanted to use stickers and their upgrade did not clear.
My upgrade eventually cleared a couple of hours before departure but I was curious. Do lfbu upgrades clear before exp upgrades? I was also travelling with someone with life time gold who wanted to use stickers and their upgrade did not clear.
And then there was this "statement" from AA's official presence here:
American Airlines policy is to always confirm existing elite customer upgrade requests before offering Load Factor Based Upgrades to non-elite customers. However, in some situations, we are unable to account for unexpected additions to the upgrade waitlist which occur within 24 hours of flight departure time. Elite customers requesting an upgrade are advised to add their names to the upgrade waitlist as early as possible.
Aug 20, 2012, 8:18 am
#88
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Boston, MA (BOS)
Programs: AA PLT Pro 2MM, DL Gold, UA Silver, Marriott Ambassador + LT Plat, COFC Venture X, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 5,587
Aug 20, 2012, 8:20 am
#89
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: NYC
Programs: Delta Platinum, former AA EXP, Hilton Diamond, Uber Diamond, National Executive
Posts: 249
Aug 20, 2012, 8:23 am
#90
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: DCA, EGE, IAD
Programs: MR LTT, BA Gold, AA LTP, UA Silver
Posts: 6,077
) who like(d) aa's program and did lots of leisure traveling with aa because of it (even putting up with TSA). With LT Plat, I also won't hesitate to book other airlines if the fare is better. I do that now booking paid UA F to Vail once a year. This appears to be an AA bottom line motivated move. Well AA it's my money, not my company's, and I have a bottom line too! FWIW, the writing has been on the wall for a couple years, so not a big surprise and something I have been preparing for strategically.
It seems that US FF programs with the current consolidation is undergoing a reduction in benefits across the board and will so on a going forward basis IMO.
One reason AA could do this and get away with it, is because UA has already done it so there is no benefit for us to switch allegiances as we are already vested in the AA program. This was one factor that did differentiate the two programs and with it gone will level the playing field IMO.
This also explains why AA removed the visibility of X Fare Class a few months ago.