bdemaria

The discussion fare v. status w/regard to upgrades has been discussed ad nauseum in this forum. The reason the AAdvantage program has been so successful and enjoys such loyalty is precisely because there are multiple avenues to achieve status and multiple avenues for upgrades.

Whether or not the new process - (which I agree in concept seems more fair since it alleviates at least one way to 'game' the system via 24 hr checkin) results in disenfranchising a important revenue base remains to be seen.

JDiver

From YM/ RM it's logic you want? From where I sit, kind of like Hal9000, but more like Hal on drugs... If they wished to maximize income, they would reward those with upgrade requests by fare class - but then there would be those higher-level elites who would be upset that the last-minute bizzpeople were getting the upgrades. I think unitedPSbusiness has some good points as well - RM is predictive analytics based, and I am sure AA have given a very close look at how the upgrade system meshes with these; this system, as weird as it seems to us, seems to work pretty well for AA; but for this civilian, it looks like something from Dr. Seuss.

pistonsdc

Yes, not much at all. Except allow them to jump ahead to the front of the upgrade wait list by checking in at exactly 24 hours ahead of time, virtually guaranteeing them a #1 or 2 position.

The fact is the old system did a lot for them, and many of those affected are quite upset by the change.

whirledtraveler

The thing you're missing is that everyone had the option to check in at the 24 hour mark. If you didn't care much about the upgrade (and at times I didn't) you checked in later, but you had a choice.

Now, the system is biased toward early purchasers. There was no bias before. Therefore, it is not as fair as it was before.

vasantn

Yes, the system is now stacked against the 100 or so people in the whole universe who knew or cared about the 24-hour check-in "trick" out of 50 million AAdvantage members.

VickiSoCal

The new system has been in place for 10 days, only six weekdays. 2-3 of those days had weather disrupptions and people being re-routed due to weather on the previous day. Seems like it is way too early to tell if statistically your average is going to change.

The 24 hour check-in was also seriously biased towards people coonecting from farther away, as they could check in sooner (24 hours from their first flight) than people originating at the hub. That bias has been removed, which is a good thing.

beachfan

So I think you are saying it fills the plane, but that's not better for American? Or there is another pricing strategy that works better for maximum revenue, but they aren't implementing it?

Perhaps you thought I meant booking earlier is better than booking later (but I didn't say that). Steady bookings over time is what fills the plane.

Perhaps you thought I said booking earlier is better for the airline than booking later (but I didn't). It's that you don't

If they went by revenue class for upgrades and their competitors didn't, they wouldn't fill the plane -- certainly frequent flyers who always buy discounted fares would look elsewhere. Can't always argue that marginal revenue is what matters if you affect the revenue that came along before it.

billgrates3

But I was one of those "trick the system" people!!


[ok, the point about the people checking in from different time zones is a valid one, but that's one of the rules of the game. When you are gaming, you can't always win! Example, sometimes i have tix bought early, sometimes not. Sometimes there's a bunch of EXPs who show up, sometimes not.]

Sometimes there's way too many of those dang full fare J drug/oil company employees who are getting my the seat that should be reserved for my rightful free upgrade! Sometimes i just have to accept that those guys are the ones keeping airlines in business and making it possible for me to ever get a free upgrade.

san2yul

So far I like the new system because I too don't like having to "play" the 24 hour check-in or the 4 hour automated request game.

So at least give it a chance before declaring that EXP is ruined for you. I'm sure there will be days when I won't clear an upgrade due to some other EXP booking earlier then myself but at least it's easier to accept than if some Gold gamed the system because he/she didn't mind getting up at 4:00am to check-in.

^

JDiver

It's a shame about those people who DKWYA snapping up those seats up front - we're so "grate"ful for your sense awesome and of entitlement, as ell as your sense of ultimate kismet! THAT'S self esteem! ROTFL! (Please do not take this seriously or personally - any more than I will take your more playful comments seriously. But you have made my day.)

Seriously, you are right - there were probably very few, and now, there's a new game in town, requiring some time and effort to figure out.

yul2005

Perhaps you are missing the fact that NOT everyone had/has the option of checking in at the 24 hour mark.

I flew 56 segments last year, and not one of them allowed me to check in at 24 hours.

bdemaria

Ok I'll let you in on a "new trick" BOOK EARLY

I know it isn't feasible for a lot of business travel, but what about holidays, birthdays, that annual conference you always attend. I always visit family on the East Coast for Christmas, so I went ahead and booked my ticket. Were it not for the new system, I probably would have waited but combine the procedural change w/rising fuel costs and I thought - why not? I'm just about the only one on either of the flights - so if there are upgrades to be had, then as an EXP who booked 9 months out, I'll probably get one.

whirledtraveler

All I'm gonna say is, they better fix it or else I'll start flying AirTran.

GadgetFreak

No, I think the new system is "stacked against" those who book tickets closer to travel. I tend to not book real late (last few days) and not months in advance. It will be interesting to see how it effects me. So far I have had LGA-ORD, ORD-ABQ, ABQ-DFW and LGA-STL clear since the rule went into effect. I had a DFW-LGA not clear but I was first on the list so it was just sold out so no bad effect yet. It probably would have cleared anyway but they had a lot of people trying to get out DFW this past Saturday due to bad weather Friday and they seemed to have shifted a lot of paid firsts onto the flight. So that wasnt a typical event. If I do see an effect, I may start buying tickets when I book early on AA, and if it is later on UA where they seem to go by fare class. Ill have to give that some thought after I see the impact of this.

tom911

How are you going to get One World awards, or for that matter an international award product, with AirTran miles? There's a lot more to the AA product than upgrades. Are you really going to jump just based on not clearing the upgrade list?

Tom in Honolulu