JDiver

Open seats on a chart are meaningless, pretty much. Sometimes a group will have travel confirmed, but no assigned seats until check in, for example.

On ExpertFlyer, see what is still available for sale - e.g. J5, I2 etc.

C17PSGR

AA's system for NRSA will have more information than EF.

EF shows open seats and how many seats are for sale. There is a distinction between those for various reasons. For example, JAL may have sold biz tickets on that flight that reduced the inventory available for sale but the purchasers may not have selected seats.

So, a month out, EF shows J5 meaning there are five biz seats for sale ...they will certainly sell some during the next month (the LAX-NRT flight on that day is only J3) plus there will be people such as AA EXP's who have purchased economy seats and are on the upgrade list. They will all go ahead of you but after people who have purchased biz seats.

Then, if there are still biz seats available, there is a ranking of NRSA. For example, active AA employees will have priority over you. If you had access to the system, you could see how many people were on the waiting list. Then again, a lot of people will go on the list at the last minute.

It seems to me a biz seat on a buddy pass for that flight is pretty unlikely.

wetrat0

Agreed with this assessment especially that in many cases, other non-revs will also list at the last minute. For example, someone using a vacation pass (D1? each employee gets a limited number) will jump to the top of the NRSA list even if they list 1 hour before the flight. This would not be unusual, esp for a destination like Japan.

Not trying to be too negative here-- good luck! But don't expect much. After doing it a couple of times I stopped, because NRSA travel is really only good for doing trips where you're totally ok with the possibility of not going at all (forget being in J vs. Y).

tyjoma

I have access to the AA employee portal. I assume you're talking about AA27 ? It shows 5 business and 49 coach with 1 D3 listed which I presume is you, but I would wager those will almost all sell since this is still a month out. I have flown around 100k miles in the last year non-rev with AA so message me if you have anymore questions or need me to give you an update on the load.

tyjoma

This is mostly true but every once in a while you can get lucky. A few weeks ago I saw flights from ORD to CDG that were leaving with up to 8 business seats empty, after even buddy passes (D3) were accommodated. It is hard to predict, but possible.

MSPeconomist

I wonder/guess whether the discrepancy between the EF numbers and what you see for AA nonrevs is the number of elite upgrade requests for the flight, since presumably AA will confirm those upgrades before clearing any nonrevs into business class on the flight.

Herb687

Doubtful. I would not expect revenue passengers confirmed in Y but waitlisted for an upgrade to J to be reflected in the count of confirmed J bookings displayed in AA's employee travel portal.

Edited to add: wait a minute, aren't all the data sources that matter in agreement that the flight in question has 5 seats available in J? (Assuming that AU=AC for the cabin in question i.e. the cabin is not to be overbooked)

C17PSGR

It's J5, but I doubt AA will be confirming any elite upgrade requests on this flight for a while. With only 5 business class seats for sale a month out, seems likely they'll sell most or all of them (although some individuals may also change flights).

tyjoma

Correct. Upgrades typically do not claim business seats until day of.

C17PSGR

Yes. The data sources are in agreement that there are 5 seats available in J.

OP noticed that there are more than 5 seats unassigned in J. I suspect that is because some of those who purchased J through JAL, for example, may not yet have assigned seats. The number of unassigned seats is interesting, but not relevant.

MSPeconomist

True, but from a nonrev's viewpoint, since the requested upgrades will be confirmed before any nonrevs are assigned business class seats, each upgrade request removes one business class seat from the ones that can possibly be given to nonrevs before departure.

C17PSGR

I think on the United nonrev system, employee can see how many revenue upgrades are pending. I don't know about the AA system. For UA, it was much easier to get NR biz when they were flying 747's.

The aircraft flown by AA on these routes are more rightsized for the route structure.

tyjoma

Upgrade requests can also be seen on the AA system, although they usually don't begin showing up until a couple of days before the flight.

doub01

How do some non-rev passengers become D1T from an international departure? I get that "T" is through but if you leave from an international departure how can they become through? For example, I've seen multiple D1T on ICN-DFW route. Any explanation would be appreciated.

Dave Noble

People do connect at airports such as ICN