TheBOSman

I honestly don't mind if they hold the last 2 or 3 seats until the gate, in fact I was surprised they didn't do that before. However, stuff like waiting all the way to the gate, on a flight showing F6 3 hours before departure, when the plane goes out with two empty F seats, that is what irks me. There's almost no chance 6 people walkup and buy 6 seats in first class on a Saturday SAN-DFW. I'd love for AA to do it and make the money but it is borderline impossible for that to happen. And the only reason I'm not saying it definitively is because I know someone will come on here and talk about an anecdote from 1997 when it did happen. Solar eclipses also happen from time to time too .

whimike

I ran into this a week ago. On the DFW-SFO flight, EF is showing F7 and the seat-map is only showing 3 seats occupied. I was tracking it since 4 days out. Upgrade finally clears at about T-3 hours.

AAExPlat

I hope AA don't overestimate their competitive position. Upgrades are the primary reason I fly AA these days. Absent that, UA would look better and better as a primary carrier. I sincerely hope AA doesn't gut upgrade rates for EXPs...

But there are plenty of contributing factors in this issue...cheaper F fares, lots of outstanding upgrade instruments, an abnormally large pool of elites due to matches and promos in the last year or two. Take your pick.

I have been saying for some time that AA will need to tighten the elite ranks and qualifications again at some point. If they can't, the they will need to create a new tier like DL at 125k or even 150k EQMs ad or introduce EQD.

As it stands, there are too many elites whose flying doesn't support the benefits they are taking out of the system...

Microwave

It seems some folks are still missing this important point so please forgive the formatting:

Through status does not mean anything until the gate agent working the flight begins processing upgrades somewhere around 45-60 minutes before the flight.

george 3

Since my usual routes involve at least one hub to hub (or "focus city" to "focus city") mine rarely clear at T-100. Many recently have cleared at the gate or a couple of hours before, and in fact, I was seated in Y on my most recent DFW LGA flight but was pulled up to F before the doors closed. Admittedly, there were alot of weather delays that day in DFW and the northeastern US which most likely provided availability. So, it hasn't been longer than normal for me.

Nonetheless, I have only missed one upgrade (comp and SWU) request this year on the popular 745am JFK LAX flight. This is out of 34 requests so far.

lobo411

ex-plats rarely clear on any route.

freeupgrade

I agree - and I think there have been far too many status matches and promos the last 2 years. I think AA is finally starting to realize there are too many elites, and this is maybe why there will not be any soft landings this year.

norshor1

Looks like both AA, DL & perhaps others are waiting longer to release those domestic FC seats to elites. I'm a PM with DL & didn't clear on my last trip from PHX-ATL until about 36 hours before departure. As another poster said, this has been going on for a few years. I've noticed that the closer to the flight date, the less price differential b/t coach & FC, so for a last minute flyer, why not pay another $125 or so for FC.

SFOPhD

This might be the key point. Are my upgrades clearing closer to gate time than earlier this year? Sure. Is my upgrade percentage decreasing? Nope. <knocks on wood>

FLLUAFlyer

I recently had 6 flights change flight #. Upgrade request disappeared for all 6 of them. Re-requested upgrades and called EXP desk to make sure the original request time stamp was still being used. EXP desk confirmed that it was.

sullim4

I do a lot of booking on behalf of my father who is an EXP. Based on what I've seen...

ATL-LGA (Eagle) on a Sunday afternoon three weeks ago was upgraded at T-100.
JFK-LAX on a Saturday afternoon about two weeks ago was auto-upgraded about T-24.
LAX-JFK on a Sunday morning about a week ago was auto-upgraded at the gate.

Even the SWU's are taking a long time. He does a lot of traveling to EZE, GRU, and PEK, and those have all cleared at the gate this year instead of in advance.

Stripe

Just checked my stats. Prior to the end of July, 17 of my 21 domestic upgrades cleared at T-100. Since then, only 2 of 17 cleared at T-100. 3 cleared at the gate and 4 cleared sometime earlier on the day of departure. Some of these had mostly full F cabins before the upgrade window opened, but some had many F seats open going into the day of departure. So yes, I am noticing auto upgrades taking longer than "normal". It's particularly irritating now that we can select meals if the upgrades come through far enough in advance.

That said, my overall upgrade rate is quite good. Two of the misses were trips where I was booked onto AA by DL at the last minute, and one had a sold-out F cabin well before the window opened.

mach92

Hey at least you guys are clearing LTPLAT is now a joke.

Most of my upgrades have not cleared all summer.

I'm flying Tuesday, Wednesday's and Saturday's for the record.

I've cleared more on United as gold go figure.

LNYAUS

^^^

No soft landing next year and no DQM this year will hopefully thin a few of the deadbeat status matches. The option of qualifying for status via points rather than miles introduces a revenue component to qualifying for status in the existing program. If AA follows Delta and UA down the revenue road hopefully they will utilize points and keep the revenue component simple and transparent. Unlike the competition.

Antarius

Got a flight that has cleared at T-100 almost every week for the last 4 months. Was F7 at T-100 and is now F1 < 24 hours before the flight and I haven't cleared. May well be nothing, but coupled with the account issues I have been having, I wonder...