gemac

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

CloudCoder

I've been doing it wrong. A few weeks or months before my trip I talk to the Exec Plat desk and apply my earned upgrades. So you're saying to omit that step? I'm supposed to talk instead to the station manager at my originating airport? If so, this is really handy information which will save me significant time and effort in the future.

I wonder why this info is not on AA.com, or in the Exec Plat guide? This is the first time I've ever heard of this new "free upgrade to F" initiative. Normally I would doubt it, but since it's on FlyerTalk it must be true. Kudos to AA for providing this much-needed benefit to people who do not actually fly AA often.
I've been doing this wrong also! I've been applying upgrades which I actually earned from frequent flying. I feel so USED. Dummies like me use their earned benefits while savvy people get free upgrades from any AAgent. I'm never gonna let AA trick me like that ever again.

I do appreciate the useful info.

Does anyone want to buy some of my eVIPs or miles? I no longer need them.

KD5MDK

I'll give you a dollar for the lot. You can pass it on to him for the information.

Landing Gear

I will double the previous bid.

oklAAhoma

Oui, oui.

oklAAhoma

Say what?

Even assuming this claim is accurate, how exactly will this answer help the OP? Since he's set to fly from PHX in a month or so, knowing that agents in smaller outstations might possibly be willing to bend the rules doesn't seem very relevant to his situation.

As to the helpfulness of this claim...

... 'nuff said.

PUCCI GALORE

No actually she was Posh Spice - there was a Scary Spice but not a dangerous Spice. Since I have long ago been on solid food, that is all I know on that subject.

I too have thought long and hard about the original question. When I first came to Flyertalk I lurked for a long time to get the flavour of the place. One thing that came through long and hard was that full "Elites" in name if not in nature guard their upgrades and perks extremely jealously, I well remember the fuss there was one day as someone posted the Platinum phone number for the UK (it was the actually in the newpaper as memory serves as it was a "catch-all" number. So although I do have some sympathy with the OP in his quest - this may not have been the best place to ask the question. People have severe humour shortages over such matters - and I do not altogether blame them.

What does surprise me is that I would have thought that if someone can afford to stay in Japan for a honeymoon where everything is nail-bitingly expensive - a paid ticket to cover the difference between J an F would be a breeze. Of course it is entirely possible that the hotel is paid for with points as well - but one still has to eat and a little goes a long way through a wallet in the Land of the Rising Yen. People eat the flight out on the way back to London and the crew are no exception.

Of course the crowning irony will be if the flight checks in full and there are no seats - which basically ends this rather academic argument. What happens if there is room for one only? Your bride may belong in First Class - as so we all - and yes I know that this was meant to be humourous - but what if only one of you can go. She may not want to sit next to a stranger or away from you in First. I have to agree with those who think that if you really want it then pay for it. I also confess myself curious as to why a honeymoon should be a reason for an upgrade. Start as you mean to go on! By the same logic, flying to one's divorce should qualify one for a downgrade.

American's J class may not be the world's greatest according to some - but I like it and have had some very good flights with them and it is far far better then being in Economy. You are in a pretty good cabin with one of the world's finer airlines - be content with that.

Congratulations.

IST_flyer

This is just too funny... premium cabins would fly empty.

If the occasion is the 50th Anniversary, than the couple deserves the whole F cabin for themselves... free of charge!

Come on guys, it's just a honeymoon... the OP should downgrade to coach (to see if the love is still there through tough times).

Landing Gear

Pucci,

I know who you are even though you have not graced me with even the rank of porteur in your légion d'honneur.

If I recall correctly, Mel B. was Scary Spice. My remark about Victoria was an acerbic comment about her since her arrival in this country where she comes off a bit like a bad guy on The Twilight Zone. In fact, I think she outdoes Angelina Jolie in Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Jolie was acting.

Otherwise, I agree with you.

IMH

If I have a confirmed seat up front then it's my decision whether to give it up or not. AA can obviously switch me, for good reasons or bad, but anything else is my personal decision.

I've tried and failed to understand this. If I give up 2A to this woman and take 2B in exchange, she'll be sitting next to me and no one else. Or has her husband been tacked to the fuselage outside row 2?

More seriously, one doesn't "have" to move to help couples wanting to sit together. Our experience to date has been that most people we've asked have agreed to help us. I think it's a fair bet that many if not most of them have been passengers with elite status.

This obviously needs to be spelled out again and again. Frequent flyers with elite status don't have a "sense" of entitlement, they have certain entitlements to priority treatment. For moldavian's benefit: I've got this deal going on with the airline. I buy some 70% of my air travel from them and they give me benefits, including ways to get up front more easily than people who fly AA less frequently. Other people, including many who have responded here, fly two or three times as much as I do. They get upgrades even more easily. AA and other airlines have determined that this makes commercial sense for them. Live with that.

Wrong. The very "best course of action" if Mr and Mrs OP "really want" the F seats is to secure them by one of the legitimate means already suggested in this thread.

Sad but true. And not just "travel writers"...:

Great tip. My wife and I have two 12-hour flights in July, booked in coach with an airline where we don't have status, so we'll try this.

Hang on a moment... are those the same elites you're "so sick of"? How about retreating from both extremes and trying the middle ground. Attributing any kind of personality traits, either positive or negative, to "most elites" is probably foolish.

In my experience, most of the time it's good to have elite passengers around you: experienced flyers usually cause fewer delays at security and just 'do' airports and planes better than infrequent travellers. They can radiate calm when all around them are hot and bothered. But it's also fair to say that some other frequent flyers are hard to be around, impatient with others and wanting everything to be "just so" even though years of experience should have taught them that it rarely is. And some of us are patient and accommodating one day and difficult to be near the next... ;-)

Great. Do that as often as you want. Just don't give away my F seat and don't advocate that AA should be able to.

I still don't get this: why is a honeymoon a "compelling reason" to give someone an upgrade they're not otherwise entitled to? If AA were making F seats available to people who are down on their luck (they aren't), then cute newly-weds taking an expensive foreign holiday wouldn't be at the top of my list. Give a seat to someone newly widowed instead. I mean it.

dayone

Bon retour parmi nous!

gemac

Merci, mais j'ai été allé seulement pour un jour ou deux.

Acclamations.

ja_user

Tell them that it is your 21st Birthday, and ask them to make your trip special.

dvalatsas

I'm sorry, noone's gonna comment on the perceived categorical imperative to give up your wonderful F seat for the proverbial marine? Noone? An American, maybe, because I'll probably be subject to deportation....

IMH

Peter Noone? Actually, I think a couple of people already have commented on moldavian's examples, including that one. They just didn't choose to get political about it: