Yeah that's gonna push me even lower. It's looking more and more like I'll be hitting the ATL airport every flight in 2018 - I will continue to do my domestic travel via AA in 2017 so as to not waste those perks I can take advantage of as a PLT.

FWIW - I just looked at my reservation. I'm at T-60 and was upgraded as a PLT. No email. It's a Saturday night flight and only three others in the cabin on a 737-800 at the moment. It's the first non-gate upgrade I've received in quite a while.

EXP. Flight Sunday morning (we're at approx. T-70 now)... 738: F10, Y>0, still waiting.

EXP, at T-20 hours and no upgrade with the following info.. SMH @ AA

Since earning EXP last August, I rarely see upgrades happening until only a few (under 8) hours before the flight. Recently they have been at the gate. I fly almost weekly and I have been upgraded roughly 90% of the time. A few occasions I just didn't make the top of the list, but am nearly always #1 or #2.

Generally speaking, coach is oversold (or there are several standby passengers), so that may have something to do with it.

Today for example, my flight departs in 3 hours and I just got notified about 35 minutes ago. Last night there were only 4 booked 1st class seats (out of 20).

PLT on a Saturday SFO-LAX-SFO roundtrip.

Southbound, 9am: F5 with seven empty seats, no upgrade at T-12 and counting.

Northbound, 10pm: F7 with twelve empty seats, got the upgrade e-mail at T-39 or so.

My last 3 flights have been automatically upgraded (email upgrade) via email at around 10 hours.

My flight tomorrow was automatically upgraded at -36 hours.

We'll see what my return south looks like later this week.

Had MIA-LAX this week on the 77W that was J7 Y7 (with at least 13 unoccupied seats) at T-24 and up to T-1. I didn't clear until about 60 mins prior to take off when they seemed to finally process a whole bunch (was #3 on the upgrade list). Not sure if they were holding off incase of a swap or what but seemed pretty strange to me.

On my way out I flew SFO-MIA -- which was F3 and I was number 3 on the list -- that didn't clear until right when they started boarding and called the 3 of us up.

Happy they cleared but wish you didn't have the sweat it out always.

I'll present an unpopular view in regards to close-in upgrades: as a buyer of F, I have been able to recently same-day-change many flights beginning at 24 hours before departure. Choice of seating is often great- there are many F seats still unoccupied and I can almost always choose the one I prefer. All of those flights have then gone out with F completely filled by gate upgrades or the like, but for someone like myself who has purchased F, it's nice to have the option of changing to a different flight when my schedule changes short notice. This isn't possible when the F (or J) cabins fill up days out from departure, as was almost always the case in the days of US Airways.

I get the disappointment when an upgrade doesn't clear at published windows, however the upgrades aren't guaranteed- if they clear at T-100, T-48 or T-60-mins, they're still complimentary upgrades.

I interpret upgrades processing at the gate as a favor to purchasers of premium cabins. I travel in Y with my family when not on work related trips, and I get the angst of upgrades not clearing. However, as someone who also runs a business I get it from a corporate point of view, unpopular as it may be.

As an exp. Flying lax to las this afternoon. Received upgrade at T-30 for myself and 500 mile upgrade for Mrs steview, no email sent to either account. I know this is only a short flight but the extra leg room will help especially after 11 hour flight from Lhr.

It absolutely does affect pre-departure upgrades when Y is approaching or is oversold, as they will sometimes decrement F seats when selling a Y ticket, and let the gate agents sort it all out. While it might seem logical to us that they clear out some of the upgrade backlog to free up Y seats, AA likes to be able to sell either an F (J) or Y seat to those last few passengers.

As someone who will probably take 10 trips in paid F next year (hopefully often on YUP fares), I agree with you. When there are travel disruptions or plans change, it used to nearly always mean sitting in the back. Now there is still a chance that there will be an F seat somewhere that will work depending on what my plans allow.

Just had my FIRST 100-hr upgrade clear (and with a companion, natch!) today. Granted it's a late Monday evening OUT of Orlando, but hey! I'll take it!

Well, in favor to the airline as well. I've noticed more last-minute F availability at very reasonable fares. Booked Xmas travel a few days ago in F and the fares were about the same (if not a little less) as when I first starting looking months ago. I think waiting on upgrades obviously benefits the airline considerably as they may in fact capture last-minute paid passengers.

I don't think anyone begrudges AA the opportunity to sell F fares rather than give upgrades. The problem is the windows are largely a sham now - at least for most.

If a flight is at A9 or A7 at T-72 or less, there's no reason to at least free up a few of those seats for an upgrade. I can see being stingy on hub-to-hub or premium routes, but for "crap" routes? It's getting ridiculous.