Use SWU or 500-mile sticker within 100 hr upgrade window?
 

Shortly after ticketing, I requested complimentary EXP (sticker) upgrade on my transcon flight. I then called in to waitlist for a SWU upgrade on the transcon.

Once inside the 100 hour complimentary upgrade window, should I remove my SWU request and try to get the complimentary upgrade?

AA agent said I would have higher chances by remaining on the SWU waitlist. She said my sticker upgrade would be prioritized lower since I requested it at a later date. I pointed out to her that I requested the sticker upgrade and then waitlisted for the SWU. She checked and confirmed that I'm on waitlists for both the SWU and sticker upgrades.

I would think that stickers and SWUs get the same priority if they ticket into the same inventory. If I'm inside the 100 hr mark, how can I ensure that I don't lose priority by switching to the sticker upgrade?

Stickers and SWUs come from different inventory (X (or R) for he former and A (or C) for the latter. The parenthetical options are for Y->J on 3-class flights. So, they are not prioritized the same since the inventories are different.

A little time in the Upgrade section of the FAQ would provide some of this basic information about the program and prove helpful in understanding how upgrades work. Alternatively, there's always the Newbie Lounge thread for basic questions.

Cheers.

Change from SWU waitlist to 500 mile / sticker upgrade request? (consolidated)
 

I'm on a MIA-LAX 772 flight with 4 J and 5 F seats available with about 6 days to go to a flight.

I'm an executive plat member and there is availability for SWU, but I would rather not use it.

If I confirm the SWU, can I later downgrade back to Y if I see I will have a good change of upgrading with regular unlimited stickers?

You're not the first to use or abuse this strategy. As such the official AA policy is "No".

Not a good chance. If you upgrade and then want to downgrade, the flight will have to have the same coach inventory available. I believe there may also be change fees applicable.

For only 4 J seats I think you are playing with fire thinking of doing an EXP upgrade. I'd use the eVIP as on that flight, depending on when you bought your ticket the chance of being in the "top 4" is probably petty slim. YMMV

Thanks for the suggestion. I wonder if some EXPs who bought J would get upgrades to F releasing some more J seats.

I just bought the ticket, so I don't think the chances are good either!

They will only get upgrades to F if they use eVIPs themselves. The free upgrades do not apply domestically on 3-cabin service from J to F. They only ever apply from Y to the next cabin up.

Those F seats will go out with non-revs or empty. Your only option option is to hope for over sales requiring cabin roles. But I really haven't seen a lot of those in the past couple years. The AA RM team is really good. YMMV

Really?

AA actually allows this- the rules around it limit it's effectiveness:

So he can request an SWU. Later he can ask to downgrade. AA will in fact downgrade him IF HIS ORIGINAL INVENTORY IS AVAILABLE. No change fees as it is only a cabin change and not one of the changes listed in the tariff as requiring a few.

He can they request an upgrade as an EXP. I believe the datestamp is when he requests that second upgrade.

So the official AA policy is "yes".

Just highly improbable it will work.

As I said, the 'loophole' has been abused and the official policy is that you are no longer allowed to do this.

Wait. Are you saying you cannot upgrade from J to F on a domestic flight with an SWU?

No, you can "upgrade" from J to F on domestic, but J to F isn't part of the 500 mile sticker/complementary upgrade policy, so you need to use an SWU or 15K miles + copay (or just 15K miles depending on the fare). Its quite clear on aa.com

Upgrade from Economy, not upgrade from one class of service to the next.

To the OP: It would be useful to know the exact date of your flight

Sukn is correct about AA's policy on this.

So what I and others describe is incorrect? It was confirmed that it can be done as I described... Strange. Do they prohibit the downgrade back to the original class of service, or do the prohibit the subsequent upgrade request?

The old loop hole was just "converting", which is not what OP nor I (and others) described....

Whether or not it's allowed, the new date stamp will mean that, unless you are connecting, you will be down the list at the bottom of the EXPs.

4 seats with 6 days to go is not a lot on this flight unless it's clearly not a flight business folks would take.

Maybe you'd like to share how exactly they prevent this? It could be useful information for someone who isn't even attempting to use the loophole.