iamnadv

I was pleasantly surprised yesterday on my JFK - SFO flight when me and two other guys were told to move up from biz class to 1st class. I don't know what type of fare the other two purchased for their tickets but the JFK - SFO segment was the only 'Q' fare type I had from my entire itinerary (BHM - MIA - LAX - JFK - SFO - DFW - BHM).

1st class was pretty bare bones at first but filled up once me and the other two guys got upgraded, not to mention flight attendants (not working the flight) got on board and took the rest of them.

The only thing I can think of was when I originally booked the flight, I requested SWUs on this itinerary (since they were expiring this month) but had to be waitlisted for this flight, but eventually cleared through the complimentary upgrade side and not through the SWU side. Could that have been it?

Nad

AA-Flyer-SAN

I have been cleared from coach to first on an international leg once. Biz was full and I had requested a SWU. There were no other EXPs (believe it or not) and I was bumped up.

bdemaria

Double upgrades are very unusual. You were likely the recipient of a "operational upgrade" due to your status. The East Coast weather has resulted in a lot of rebookings, cancelled flights, etc.. and it is in these situations when Op Ups are most likely occur.

Mark_T

A rare event, especially as there are usually more 'worthy' candidates for an op-up (if they need the J seats) than someone who was upgraded into the J cabin already.

I guess it is just possible that they accidentally processed your SWU as well, should be easy to see if your balance was reduced accordingly.

Obviously wrong if that was what happened, but I doubt you will be complaining

Life_Platinum

The same thing happened on AA 292 on 2/15 when 2 Business Class passengers were upgraded by what the CSAs called a "cabin roll", thereby freeing a J seat for an overbooked J passenger and me from coach. 292 left some standby passengers at the gate and went out filled, as my AA 32 from LAX to JFK had a weather cancellation on 2/14.

sinanju

My first ride in 1st on BA was the result of a double-bump when I had EXP status. I had a coach seat, paid for an upgrade to WT+, was bumped to business when I checked in and then into 1st at the gate.

That was a good day.

nkrijeka

I had an opup once from J to F on JFK-SFO after having used miles + copay to go from Y to J.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

I've been upgraded to J than op upgraded to F two times on transcons, one LAX to JFK and one SFO to JFK. Back in the 762s days. It does happen occasionally.

aamilesslave

That double-bump was a triple upgrade -- awesome!

SeattleDavid

Op-ups from Y to J are quite common on these routes, and op-ups from J to F (to make room for the Y to J ones) are less common, but not rare.

What is unusual is the double upgrade, but it certainly can happen. I've had one in about 20 flights, and that was after a cancellation of the flight on which I had already been upgraded. I presume that I got moved to the next flight as a C passenger and then got op-up'd by accident. Unfortunately that was in 762 days and so F wasn't especially special.

iamnadv

Biz class wasn't oversold, and I don't think the flight in general was oversold (at least, no announcement was made that led me to believe that). I can't really think of what the op upgrade reason would be.

I think what really struck me was being double upgraded on a 'Q' fare to begin with rather than a more worthy 'Y' fare. The rest of my other segments were 'O' and 'N' fares when I originally bought my ticket so those weren't much better in terms of 'worthiness'.

@Mark - I'll have to check my SWU upgrade account to see if another was taken but it doesn't appear that was the case.

Probably the only thing that could have made things sweeter is if I had gotten the double upgrade well before I boarded in order to access the Flagship lounge. Ah well, I'll take one diamond in the rough.

The amusing part was that the gate agent kind of ordered me and the other guys to first class in a semi-tough voice (she didn't ask us to move or even use the word 'please' when she told us to move). After we got comfy in our seats, she thanked us like crazy as if we underwent extreme hardships by moving to 1st. Weird, but awesome!

austin_res

I got a double upgrade on 1/1, CDG-DFW. Originally booked in Y, used miles+copay to upgrade to J. Y was overbooked (according to an agent) so they rolled some J to F, to allow for Y to J roll. I was one of the lucky J to F passengers.

flatlander

I once checked in to Y from the UK to the USA (with no upgrades requested, I wasn't EXP at the time) and got op-upped at the lounge to J and then at the gate to F.

I was just settling in to the F seat when the gate agent came onboard and gave me a new boarding pass... for a J seat, saying they got into too much trouble if they gave someone two upgrades.

So it seems sometimes you can be upgraded twice from the ticket you purchased if they are different sorts of upgrades - one with SWUs, miles+copay, etc - and one is an op-up.

Double op-up is rarer than hen's teeth, unfortunately (not unheard of, but very, very rare).

msv777

I may of been one of the other guys op-up'd to F on the flight you're referring to. I was on aa177 Sunday night. I was confirmed for an exp complimentary economy to business upgrade at the 100 hour window. I had an N fare. I was pleasantly surprised and appreciative that the gate agent moved me up to first. First time I received a double upgrade in my many years of flying.

There were 3 SFO-JFK (flights 16,20, and 18) cancellations on Saturday, causing 3 other return flight cancellations (15,179, and 163) on Sunday - leaving the only 2 left 85 and 177. They were trying to get stand bys from the earlier cancelled flights into what ever availability they had on later flights. Confirmed passengers get priority on upgrades so I'm assuming they pushed us up (cabin roll) to get the long list of stand bys on.

My guess is that many people were still trying to get back home today. 6 cancellations in a 24 hour period on a transcon with only 4 or 5 frequency each direction per day hurts!

We got lucky!

Cheers.

iamnadv

@mvedda - Cool...that was my flight too. I got the 12K "2015 Currency promotion" miles too (I assume for that flight) so if you haven't checked your account, you probably did too. I'm still not certain why I got credited with all of those miles though.

I'm sure I'm completely off-track but I'm wondering if their system doesn't "allow" a double upgrade so maybe they somehow re-issued my biz class ticket as a "purchased" ticket in order to trick their system into believing that it was just a single upgrade? I figure, that may be the only way I got the 12K miles even though I never purchased a biz/1st class ticket. Who knows?

I wasn't aware of the other cancelled flights but based on what you described, it sounds like the "cabin roll" theory makes perfect sense in explaining our double upgrades.

@flatlander - If you want rarer than hen's teeth, I've been upgraded to 1st class on an economy award ticket several times (short haul flights only) but strangely would also get the mileage too. It was like the gift that kept on giving!