My bad. My response was poorly worded, but I'll fix it. :o :o

My point was that it was not a benefit unique to PLT, but you are right, it is only true for elites. And I guess actually it is only pertinent to PLT and GLD since EXP are already eligible for complimentary upgrades.

AAdvantage Platinum and AAdvantage Gold members and one travel companion may request complimentary upgrades when both are traveling on a full-fare Economy Class ticket* within and between the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, the Bahamas and Bermuda and between the U.S. and Central America.

Hmm. It seemed to be working fine on a Saturday afternoon in February, but then, that's the sort of time one would be least likely to need it :) (I think I may have been the only person in either line)

I've been through T9 a couple times this year around 7 in the morning, connecting to a JFK-DCA flight after arriving in T8, and the elite line has been open every time.

I guess they must close it up when they see me coming! :)

I saw one about a month ago at T9, and I actually went through it. :eek:

If one is going to be purchasing a lot of Y fares, one is probably better off on CO/NW due to this ability to upgrade at time of purchase, with no capacity restrictions. However, there are a lot of routes where fully refundable fares book into the next-lower fare class (H on CO, B on NW IIRC) and the differential to buy up to "Y" is large and often unjustifiable, although there may be "Z" discounted FC fares somewhere between H/B and Y.

That is true only if these are routes wher AA does not usually offer YUPs, often times less expeinsive than full Y fares.

And capacity constrained, like the "Z" fares on CO, which are probably equivalent to the YUPs.
But there are routes like EWR-LAS where Y is $1100 and A (full F) is $1200, no discounted FC, so being elite saves you $100.
And EWR-FLL/PBI where Y is ~$600 and A is ~$640 -- on that route on AA, you need a YUPP (often limited availability) to match the CO A fare.

That is very true, but I can't imagine a scenario where YUPs would be more capacity constrained than CO's immediate upgrades on Y fares.

See my revised comments above. There are plenty of times on AA where you'd see something like F4 A0 P0 -- no YUPs. On CO, an elite purchasing a Y fare can upgrade into unrestricted F inventory (A class) -- if there's a seat for sale, it's there for upgrade.

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In about half a dozen trips from T9 at various times of day I have found the elite line to be open every time, and to never have more than about 5-10 people ahead of me. Just my experience.

Well, I'd say we figured out the mystery code situation discussed here. Anyone by chance know the 10k Plat code?

AA400 if already Gold and wanting to start Platinum challenge.

So even though I was not targeted, I would now be enrolled in a challenge to get PLT after 10k miles? Also, will this circumvent the fact that I qualified for PLT last year on a challenge, or will this likely not be picked up?