New EXP Trying to Ugrade
 

I hit EXP status last month and am hoping to use two of the system wide upgrades for an upcoming flight to London. Monday Sept 28th, JFK-LHR and LHR-JFK on Friday, October 16th. I just got off the phone with the EXP desk and they added me to the wait list. Just wondering what are the odds that my ugrades will go through? A round trip ticket in "O" class is $642.00, while the cheapest ticket in "N" class is $798.00. I don't want to pay an additional $150.00 to not have my ugrades go through. Is there anyway around this, or is it a risk I will have to take?
Thanks,
Moe

To see your odds you need to subscribe to Expert Flyer. Check for C inventory. O or Q coach fares are not upgradable.

There is no way around it if you want to use the SWUs. Whilst you cannot be certain that the SWUs will clear, many people on here (myself included) report a 100% success rate.

In over 100 international upgrade requests as an EXP, I've been in coach only once, so I'm very confident your upgrade will clear. As you know, you have to buy N or higher to have any chance, but given the tremendous slowdown in paid premium international travel over the past year, your chances are very good.

Check the number of I and D seats available (with something like www.expertflyer.com ). The more D and I available, the better your odds.

There's no way around the fare class issue, but like I said, you'll likely be in biz class, so spend the extra $150.

Thanks, so much, I will check expertflyer.com and spend the extra $150.

Let us know what happens, but you should be good to go when the dust settles. Never had a JFK-LHR request not clear, fwiw.

HI,

I was in the same situation as you - q fare to Madrid. When I called, they wanted me to spend over $1k to get to the next fare to upgrade just for my outbound flight. I was not happy about that and decided that I can use that money for another trip. And I would be waitlisted.

I think it stinks that they won't let you get on the waitlist and then pay if you get upgraded. Why should I spend when it's not even for sure?

- Albutt -

That's the chance you take--unless you can find the availability at booking--though I'm surprised the difference for an upgradeable fare, one way, would be over $1,000.

Many in the AA forum report very high percentages of VIPs clearing, even if wait-listed. It's certainly a better deal than the fares required to use SWUs on, say, DL.

+1 ...I’ve had a 100% success rate on about 12 JFK/LHR RTs during the past 18 months or so. Prior to that, I was about 6 for 6 as a PLT, but I did have to “sweat it out” a few times. Good luck!

Yea I couldn't believe it cost that much to upfare it when I already at my ticket! I said to the agent I could buy another ticket for this price to go back to Europe and use my SWU.

Extra tax
 

I flew LAX to LHR in May with the upgrade (after being on wait list). When the upgrade came through I had to pay extra tax in LHR. I don't remember how much but I think it was around $100.

That would be the additional business class tax for LHR departures which is 40 pounds (about $65 at today's exchange rate). AA has been charging that for a few years now. They have a similar charge ($50?) if you upgrade from Paris.

Welcome to FlyerTalk :)

>$`1000 to upfare? I rather suspect the lower fares had disappeared due to purchases, or perhaps due to expiring advance purchase requirements.

Some of us use ExpertFlyer or other tools to peek and see if there is an upgradable seat, and get confirmed upgrades when we fly, btw. I can also see AA's position - a free upgrade will not be granted for the absolutely lowest fares.

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Yep, the lowest fare is not the lowest upgradable fare. AA should enhance their web page with 'using SWU' so that ppl that are trying to upgrade don't get caught up in Q class. By the time I received my upgrades, I was at about 3 weeks away from my flight --> hence I guess the next level fare was all gone.