I wound up clearing at the airport; AA had sent an email an hour or two before the flight but I never looked at my email before flight. I wasn't on the monitor as waiting for an upgrade. I asked at the gate if I had cleared since I wasn't showing on the list; I got a "maybe, maybe not" answer. But I had cleared.

Observation on my end.

I had three flights over the weekend clear ~T-3.

At T-4, I would see myself on the upgrade list. I soon after got seat notification/emails about being upgraded. Afterwards, I wasn't on the upgrade list (despite being upgraded).

Even after you check in and get added to the airport upgrade list, automated sweeps continue. If you got an email, you were cleared by the automated process rather than from the airport list which explains why you disappeared from the list in the app.

However, I thought the information I'd read on Travelingbetter indicated that process stopped at T-4h so these are interesting data points.

On AA it says T-3.5 is when the process stops on the automatic sweep.

https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-p...e-upgrades.jsp

I don't see a reason to wait until < T-3.5 to check-in since the system still works for all passengers based on the priority (which for now is elite status/upgrade request date).

Rasheed

Data point: Upgraded at 106 hours out for a return flight late this week. First is empty besides me. Nothing for the flight tomorrow but given it's after the holiday, I assume they will hold until the end. Right now, it's 100% open in first.

EDIT: Outbound cleared at T-24.

First world problem: Under 500 miles, so gold and plat cleared with EXP. I would prefer a different seat, but they are taken. I'm 99.9% sure there are 2 or less EXPs on the flight. I wonder if they would move someone over if I called the EXP number... Guess I should just be happy with what I have =)

Another data point: Nov 25 NAS-MIA-TPA
MIA-TPA cleared 3 days in advance. (I am PLT)
Went standby for earlier flights and cleared standby and the upgrade for both segment (Thanksgiving Friday has always been good to me)
(under 500 miles, so no "stickers")

Just going to add my data points that 2 of 4 flights this past week cleared right before the switch to airport control (so T-4 or so). Other 2 flights didn't clear at all. All mid-cons.

This happened to me a couple of weeks ago. I was watching pretty closely - at T-4, I was on the upgrade list. The flight was F1 Y7, about 30 minutes later I check EF and saw it was F0. I was like "ugh", but then I checked the coach seat map and saw my seat was empty. And I had cleared. I then checked my email, and saw that I had cleared at about T-3:55. I was really surprised since I took the last available seat for sale.

Flight from PHX-CLT this morning cleared 8 at the airport a few minutes before boarding. Flight 1837 5am flight. I've been seeing 3-4 at the airport more and more often but not usually 8.

Nov 22 TPA CLT auto-up c!eared T-24
Nov 28 CLT TPA " " T-28
Plat

Policy change vacation destination upgrades?
 

I'm currently based out of PUJ (Punta Cana) and as an EP my upgrades almost always cleared 3+ days before departure and I cleared on all but one flight all year. In the last 2 months none of upgrades have cleared before the day of the flight. I had several clear 4 hours before and the last one cleared at the gate when Expertflyer showed 10 open seats. I'm flying this morning and I'm number one on the list with 6+ seats available on Expertflyer. I know that AA tries to sell upgrades on these vacation routes at the 24 hour mark but is this going to be the new "normal"?

Thanks in advance

It is not limited to just vacation destinations, but systemwide AA is much more stringent with releasing complimentary upgrade space. Datapoint, I had an AUS-PHX flight last week (thanksgiving evening) where I was the only elite on the flight and not a single F seat was sold, but my upgrade did not clear until around 36 hours out. All of my other domestic flights cleared at or under 24 hours out.

This is the new norm - very little financial incentive for AA to clear upgrades at the window as if you were supposed to clear at T-100 hours out and nothing changes at T-24 hours you will still get the upgrade, but AA risks losing opportunity of selling more close in F/J bookings.

For one of the few times this year, I cleared for an IAH/ORD CR7 flight at T-100 last night. I haven't cleared in more than 24 hours out in quite some time now, so that was a pleasant surprise. As reported here, most of my upgrades are around T-4 or less.

I was the only one that cleared, and there was only one other F seat taken. Flight is still F7 A6 on EF so they clearly released only one seat.

I don't think I've cleared more than 1-2 flights at T-100 this year (as EXP). For my upcoming trip, I have two segments on the outbound that are UDU-eligible. One cleared at T-71h (which is better than usual so far). The other is still pending and I suspect it will go to gate.

My upgrade for LAS-LAX flight on 11/29 cleared 48 hours ahead of time, but most of the time, I clear at the airport, regardless of whether it's complimentary or requested.