chartreuse

Well, on the plus side this won't affect my chances of international op-ups

Furthermore I don't believe that LFBUs will get priority over elites. At least for now. for the time being.

However, I wonder whether there's a risk that this might mean fewer elite upgrades clearing in advance. Sort of a YM equation that runs "given LFBU then releasing fewer seats to X until day of flight ... [some complicated YM calculus] ... profit!!!"

wanaflyforless

I don't care if AA occasionally gets $ ($50 per 500 miles) from a passenger instead of upgrading me...so long as I get upgraded most of the time.

alamedaguy

I was kind of thinking the same thing. If I could choose the routes.

I would also be willing to split the money with AA, at a rate of $15 per 500 miles.

Gardyloo

AS has been selling paid last-minute upgrades for years (way cheaper than these jobbies BTW) and there are still empty seats from time to time even on busy flights.

I think turning the kiosks into POS (that would be "point of sale") devices for revenue enhancement is a swell idea. Would you like a pizza with your upgrade? $60 per 500 mi. Yum!

Spiff

I concur. In a perfect world, the pecking order would be:

EXP
PLT
GLD
non-elite full-fare upgrade (Y/B)
EXP Award upgrade (paid)
PLT Award upgrade (paid)
GLD Award upgrade (paid)
LFBU for all non-elite

justageek

As has been mentioned, the impact of this system depends completely on the policy they use to allocate between elite upgrades and paid upgrades. I don't think we can judge this as either benign or detrimental until we find out what policy they use. As a recent example, the split of the YUP buckets into YUP/A and YUP/P appears to have benefitted upgraders rather than hurting them, contrary to what some (including myself) had assumed to be the goal.

Maybe Connected1 can shed some light?

In any event, this was inevitable, what with AS selling first-class upgrades, UA selling E+ upgrades, etc.

Fly AA J all the way

That doesn't make any sense. If they hold the X back, then those elites requesting upgrades will be added to the wait list. That wait list will still be cleared before these new upgrades are given. Therefore, it doesn't matter how far out the upgrades clear or don't clear for elites, they will still be cleared before the LFBUs.

zman

How many flights has anyone been on that there were empty first class seats
that could be SOLD as upgrades? I have been on none.

GoBears99

I think it's pretty clear that they're not going to bump elite folks for these upgrades. My guess is that they will check to see how many seats are available, how many AAdvantage elites there are on the flight in coach who have requested upgrades, and leave the typical 1-2 seats open for last minute sale on top of that. Thus, if the F cabin has 18 of 22 seats open and only 10 AAdvantage elites on the flight or something like that, they'll sell the upgrade. If not, they won't.

justageek

Maybe I missed something, but did the announcement actually say that the elite upgrade wait list will be cleared before the LFBUs are sold? If not, I would assume this woud actually not be the case, due to revenue maximization goals.

GoBears99

Keep in mind that employees flying non revenue often fill up the first class cabin when it's empty, so these upgrades will likely displace those folks, not the elite members.

martin33

I've been taking advantage of last-minute paid, non-elite upgrades on HP for several years, and the fact that they've been available at 50 minutes before departure says to me that not many folks are willing to pony up the cash for it.
not many folks will cough up $250-$300 for a transcon trip oneway, or $200 for LAX-ORD.

Given that, I'd see the system on AA as a win-win--- a little more revenue for AA, and a shot at upgrading AAward tickets for elite members...

nako

Depends on your airport or your route. I don't see this coming into play on your higher-demand routes, where all seats are full by takeoff. Many times, however, when I'm flying RNO-ORD or RNO-DFW, F leaves with several empty seats. (Earlier this year, in fact, I was on a 757 that had 8 F seats out of 22 filled at takeoff. And one of those, in fact, was someone with no status who paid the money to go from discount Y to paid F for comfort due to a broken arm.)

Given the text posted, I see this as a way for AA to raise revenue on routes with lower F loads, not as a threat to elite upgrades. And while it runs the chance of filling the cabin, it doesn't always do it - as Gardyloo mentioned, the paid AS upgrades don't always fill the F cabin (nor did the QQ program, when Reno Air did the same thing).

Mike

JonNYC

Right-- and those flights will be unaffected. AA has MANY flights every single day and, trust me, -most- of them go out with some empty f-class seats. I would think this would be just, plain common sense (to most)...

There was no announcement yet-- but even when they do announce it, I believe this info will be relatively hard to come by. Not to say we won't try. But I certainly assume that your assumption is incorrect.

CharlesMD

I will believe this when I see it from AA.