brp

On the two-class flights on this route, the sticker upgrade would book into first, so 'A' gives some indication of available first class inventory.

Cheers.

jeffreyt

Right. That's just one flight. I don't think it gives you any indication of a chance for an upgrade this far out. My 20 years of flying the week before Thanksgiving shows that the flights are usually pretty full with business travelers. Telling someone a month away that "chances look good" in this thread is irresponsbile.

nsr

Early Sat is much better than Fri, as usually less business travelers travel on the weekend. I would go on any of the 763, since you might be able to grab row 17, if the upgrade doesn't clear. The 762 might give you a slightly better chance though, in case people are upgrading from J->F.

clacko

my guess woulde be the 6pm on sat from jfk....good luck...

closetasfan

if there is space available, is it possible go secure the upgrade earlier using miles + copay rather than waiting for stickers to clear? (possibly doing the reverse route and thinking of how to secure biz class for a redeye if possible)

Thunderroad

Well, regardless of whether it was irresponsible, it was well-intentioned, and I know that I have to take any upgrade advice with a grain of salt. Anyway, thanks to you both and to all others for the input, including the cautions about flying even the week before Thanksgiving.

brp

Maybe true, but irrelevant to what you asked (and I answered). You asked why one would want to look at 'A' for this routing (since that represents first) and I simply responded that some upgrades on this route book into first, so review of 'A' is relevant. Period.

Cheers.

Sholey

Wirelessly posted (Treo: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98; PalmSource/Palm-D060; Blazer/4.5) 16;320x320)

I booked a ticket Thursday DFW-ORD same day RT for travel today, Monday. I thought the UG was a big deal & hard to come by. But when I got to my gate it showed I was cleared! I didn't expect that.



BTW I still have a perfect 79-79 upgrade % this year.

Yeah AA. :-)

No changes please!

dfwmusicman

You lucked out then! EXP definitely has it's advantages (so I hear ). I'm taking that flight on Saturday and fully expect it to be one of the few upgrades that don't clear this year.

AAExecPlatFlier

I have found both the DFW-ORD and ORD-DFW to be hit or miss. Many times, on popular days, F is filled with Intl connecting people who are on F, J, D, I tickets, along with those that are in A class for an INt'l upgrade. So full that it is zeroed out many days in advance or have maybe F1 or F2.

Then, there was a Friday in late August when I took the 777 DFW-ORD and a few golds cleared for an upgrade! YMMV!

vrbaba

Only upgrade as an EXP I missed last year was ORD-DFW on this flight.

Only upgrade I have missed this year is ORD-BOS on MD-80 Thu afternoon. Really odd, but considering that over 80% of the plane was business flyers and that only 4-5 seats left at the 100hr mark in F.

I am taking the ORD-DFW again this year on Fri. So far has not cleared.

cmhua777

My experience has been that sticker upgrades are pretty tough on the ORD-DFW 777. I have only flown this flight on Thursday and Friday, which obviously adds to the difficulty, but it is without a doubt the flight I most commonly don't clear on. DFW-ORD is a bit easier, but that may just be a result of flying this leg on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Overall, I would say I am 25-33% on the ORD-DFW and around 50% on the DFW-ORD.

mach92

Only upgrade missed this year 777 ORD DFW 3 weeks ago.

It's not easy, everyone loves this flight

dayone

And the time of day.

genotonda

I have 3 of these flights coming in the next 4 weeks. I am hoping to clear at least one so I can experience the "suite", minus the international spin.

I discovered this flight just a few weeks ago and now I always book it when flying MSP-DFW-MSP ex ORD. If not only for the Biz seats, but for the chance to sit in the coveted 777 F seats.

About 2 weeks ago I was scheduled for the flight and my RST-ORD flight was delayed past the depature time for the ORD-DFW leg. Being proactive I called AA and had them book me on the 7pm ORD-DFW. ORD-DFW was showing as on-time this whole time) On the way to ORD the AE pilot informed us that even depatures from ORD were behind due to visability. At this point I was kicking myself for being proactive, as I knew that even if the 777 was still there, there was no way I was going to get a Biz seat back.

Alas, the plane was still there and the only seat left was a middle section, row 36!! I was like #30 on the UG list anyway. Needless to say I just went ahead and took the on time 7pm flight, as the 777 was delayed until 6:30pm anyway.