mvoight

Maybe they had purchased First or on an aircraft new to them. It does happen. I was on 2 aircraft recently I have never been on before. A 787 and A321neo. So, all of us are new at things sometimes, whether we are elite or not.

FlyingEgghead

That doesn't match my experience. Curious what could explain the difference. I have been protected on a later connecting flight when delayed (keeping the original flight), but not kicked off the original unless the door actually closes without me, or it is clear that I have no chance to make it.

If I want to change and not risk the tight connection with a delay, I can ask for proactive rerouting (e.g., to a nonstop) if the projected arrival violates MCT -- that is, it allows me to argue that I have a significant chance of misconnecting. But I have not seen AA kick me off a flight that I still hope to make just because of a minor delay.

Basically, MCT is a scheduling policy, not a day-of-travel policy. AA wants us to make our ticketed connections if at all possible. MCT sets a norm that prevents people from being in a mad rush and GAs from having to hold the doors until the last second; but when push comes to shove, we rush and they hold the doors.

Anyway, we are talking about the in-between case of connections that become too close for comfort but still possible. All of your points about upgrades do apply when the connection is completely blown.

metallo

I'm not aware of that being a policy, and as other posters have agreed, it doesn't match my experience after making numerous connections that were originally legal but ended up being quite tight (and definitely less than the official MCT) with AA over the years.

What could possibly be happening is that, even without considering the official MCT, the GA is simply assuming you won't make the flight due to other factors. Perhaps they looked at the distance between your arrival and connecting departure gate, maybe even whether you were sitting at the front of the rear of the plane to see whether you'd be off first or last, or a number of other factors (non-revs on the standby list for the connecting flight ... there's another thread here with some juicy details about that type of situation recently), but bottom line, I don't think it's the system doing it based on MCT. I've certainly never had that experience.

metallo

Definitely been my experience... never had "the system" cancel me day of departure due to delays causing what would have been MCT issues in advance.

In fact, as CK/EP, you may find that you may find an extra flight in your record showing that you've been backed up on the next flight and kept your original connection just in case you're able to make it.

MarkOK

I have arrived at the gate within the MTC a few times due to a in-flight delay or gate delay and still made the connecting flight without issue -- I agree that in those cases you often still have your seats (unless the gate agent did something to clear the standby list). But if my departure is delayed (with my arrival being equally pushed back within the MTC), I have always had to get a new boarding pass when I make it to the gate and get assigned new seats. That being said, you all have more experience than me, so I yield to you on this.

Back on topic, I have zero problems with just holding the comp upgrades until gate control (except the SWUs, more of those should be able to clear at booking!). Not just because I find myself not being able to upgrade in IRROPS ahead of the golds, but based on my experiences, I am real reluctant to front the money for premium seats, especially when traveling with my wife which is 60% of the time, knowing there is a solid chance of being in a situation where I will get downgraded because F is already fully upgraded (except maybe one seat) at T-24.
It is unhealthy for some of us to obsessively check the app every 10 minutes at T-100 (or whenever) anyways!

meechyathere

I personally have never been dropped from a connection until said connection closes out.
Usually, but not always, a backup res will appear for the next flight with availability, which gets checked in as soon as you're dropped from the original.

CLT

Never been dropped on a connection on AA but I have on DL.

Years ago I was flying SFO-SLC-CLT. The SFO-SLC segment was extremely delayed, and the new arrival time was 20 minutes before flight departure (5 minutes before boarding closes). Thanks to the SFO-SLC segment arriving directly across from the SLC-CLT flight I could just walk across the concourse, but when I landed in SLC, I noticed that my boarding pass was gone from the app and I was now scheduled to fly on a SLC-ATL redeye connecting to CLT the following day. The GA at the flight to CLT was stumbled as she didn't personally delete my assigned space on the flight and had to call a supervisor over to reissue my boarding pass for the CLT nonstop.

mvoight

I recently cleared a flight with 2 first class seat remaining 2 weeks prior to the flight. After the upgrade clearing, the flight went to 0 available for F.
I found this rather odd. This was for an April 23 SWU upgrade from LAX-OGG

econ

On EF earlier this year I was seeing a lot of flights going down to J1C1, even weeks in advance. I was a little surprised, but it was nice to not have to waitlist a few SWUs that I wanted to use.

IADCAflyer

GF (gold) cleared both her segments for tomorrow. So if she can, and EP should be able to...

umaa83

Back on topic, I have zero problems with just holding the comp upgrades until gate control (except the SWUs, more of those should be able to clear at booking!). Not just because I find myself not being able to upgrade in IRROPS ahead of the golds, but based on my experiences, I am real reluctant to front the money for premium seats, especially when traveling with my wife which is 60% of the time, knowing there is a solid chance of being in a situation where I will get downgraded because F is already fully upgraded (except maybe one seat) at T-24.
It is unhealthy for some of us to obsessively check the app every 10 minutes at T-100 (or whenever) anyways![/QUOTE]

^^^this 100%. One of my biggest irritations and something I have had happen on atleast one segment on every trip this year. Flown five times, and ALL five times a segment has been cancelled on my outbound flights and I have needed to scramble with my wife to find some sort of availability. Thankfully in all situations, we were able to make something work (one involved literally jumping on a flight to a different hub departing from the gate next to us within 10 minutes of getting the cancelled notice of our connection). A few times I went back to coach and waitlisted and then someone didn't show up so I got moved up but it is annoying for those who actually purchase F. I would prefer it if they waited to process all upgrades until a few hours before departure or put some policy in place where if a paid F passenger needs the seat due to a cancellation/delay (no fault of their own) they start with the last person upgraded and move them back to coach.

IADCAflyer

Interesting followup datapoint. The GF had a three segment trip and cleared all three as a Gold (including changing her departure on her last segment which was already upgraded). On her last segment - 5 upgrades cleared at T-60 minutes and F was only booked 4/9 up until that 60-minute point.

thunderdeacon

In a couple of hours, I have an itinerary coming up, OKC-DFW-IAH. My second leg to Houston on an A319, cleared at the window. Doing a dummy booking for my first leg, on a CR9 to DFW, has showed a wide open first class cabin for the last couple of days, and it still appears to be wide open right now. However, there are four of us on the upgrade list and none of us have been cleared. On the Houston flight, there is one seat in first class that is left available. Which seems to be the normal mode of operation, keeping one seat open right up until boarding to see if somebody buys it. However, I have no idea why they have not cleared upgrades on the first flight. I have a hunch, however. My guess is that the economy cabin is overbooked, and they are going to have to put people into first class. My guess is that they are waiting until everybody checks in so they can receive an offer to pay for an upgrade.

CMK10

I had a weird one last week/early this week.

Routing was DRO-PHX-CLT-RDU. DRO-PHX-CLT Sunday night, CLT-RDU Monday morning. DRO-PHX-CLT cleared at T-100. CLT-RDU got held back. It didn't clear at T-24, it didn't clear when I checked in at DRO 12 hours before the flight and this was despite it being J6 at the time. Eventually it cleared about 4 hours before departure along with almost the entire upgrade list. I'm used to sweating upgrades when it's J1 or J2 but when it's J6 was weird.