Last edit by: jay_dubya
AA Upgrade Window for AAdvantage Elites
The "upgrade window" is the time during which an upgrade may be granted to statusholders. The "upgrade window" for AAdvantage Elites varies upon elite status held. In 2017:
- ConciergeKey - 120 hours
- Executive Platinum - 100 hours
- Platinum Pro - 72 hours
- Platinum - 48 hours
- Gold - 24 hours
- Non-elite - no upgrade window
Conversely, higher load factors, Revenue Management predictions and actions, flight route, season, demand, supply and other factors all affect the availability of upgrade seats and when any seats might be made available to upgrade. AA has tightened upgrade availability over the recent years, but planning leading to significantly higher load factors has been undoubtedly been a major factor in upgrade "tightness" to the point even upper tier elites who get upgraded may do so airside at the gate counter.
Has AA eliminated the upgrade window for elites?
#1021
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: SNA LAX
Programs: AA PLT
Posts: 116
In the last few months, nothing before 24 hours and more frequently around 4 hours right before the upgrade list appears at the airport.
I have 15 stickers to use and no luck lately in them clearing. So they just keep accumulating. Going into this year, I plan on just booking F fares at the most competitive price rather than playing the upgrade game. Just flew OGG-LAX and there were 16 passengers on the upgrade list. I pretty much expected it wouldn't clear knowing the limited F space on the 32B but still surprising to see the list so long on that route.
I have 15 stickers to use and no luck lately in them clearing. So they just keep accumulating. Going into this year, I plan on just booking F fares at the most competitive price rather than playing the upgrade game. Just flew OGG-LAX and there were 16 passengers on the upgrade list. I pretty much expected it wouldn't clear knowing the limited F space on the 32B but still surprising to see the list so long on that route.
#1022
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Northern Virginia
Programs: UA Gold, AA PLT, Hertz PC, Marriott Gold
Posts: 107
I understand that. I was pointing out that they have plenty of confirmable upgrades (C) but have not cleared my comp upgrade.
#1023
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: DCA/IAD/WAS
Programs: MAR AMB, WOH Explorist, AA EXP, UA 2P
Posts: 2,136
The "confirmable upgrade being available, but no complimentary upgrade yet" phenomenon is also not new. LAA did it all the time (there's a whole thread about the lack of such space with the new F->J schema) and while I only took advantage of it a few times, I love that I have the option to spend a few miles and $ to confirm an upgrade if I so desired.
Either way, with inventory like that, it's likely you'll clear as it is.
#1026
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: DCA/IAD/WAS
Programs: MAR AMB, WOH Explorist, AA EXP, UA 2P
Posts: 2,136
#1027
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Northern Virginia
Programs: UA Gold, AA PLT, Hertz PC, Marriott Gold
Posts: 107
So I ended up with an upgrade by the gate agent, but stuck in a window. There were 3 seats available: 2A (single seat and best FC E175 seat IMHO), 3A, and 3F. I got 3F dispite being #1 on the upgrade list #firstworldproblems. I suppose if I had gone to the gate agent and requested 2A instead of sitting in the club, I could have gotten it. But if they had cleared the upgrade earlier, it would not have been an issue.
#1028
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: MIA, VIE and DPS
Programs: DL Plat 1MM, AA EXP 3MM, SQ Krisflyer Gold, UA Silver, Marriott LTT, HH Gold
Posts: 1,131
Haven't seen anything further out than T-24 (to 30) in all of 2016
Monday I am on a 767 with not a single seat occupied in Business and maybe half full in the back with very few Elite or E+ seats occupied... (it's MIA-MCO - so the odds of tons of business people suddenly booking it should be fairly low). I figured if there is one flight I'd see a t-100, it would have been this one.
#1030
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: DCA/IAD/WAS
Programs: MAR AMB, WOH Explorist, AA EXP, UA 2P
Posts: 2,136
So I ended up with an upgrade by the gate agent, but stuck in a window. There were 3 seats available: 2A (single seat and best FC E175 seat IMHO), 3A, and 3F. I got 3F dispite being #1 on the upgrade list #firstworldproblems. I suppose if I had gone to the gate agent and requested 2A instead of sitting in the club, I could have gotten it. But if they had cleared the upgrade earlier, it would not have been an issue.
#1031
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: MIA, VIE and DPS
Programs: DL Plat 1MM, AA EXP 3MM, SQ Krisflyer Gold, UA Silver, Marriott LTT, HH Gold
Posts: 1,131
#1032
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: DCA/IAD/WAS
Programs: MAR AMB, WOH Explorist, AA EXP, UA 2P
Posts: 2,136
#1033
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2001
Location: MSY; 2-time FT Fantasy Football Champ, now in recovery.
Programs: AA lifetime GLD; UA Silver; Marriott LTTE; IHG Plat,
Posts: 14,517
Of course, these rare >24 hour upgrades were on RJ flights with no advance meal selection available...
#1034
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: TPA
Programs: BA Silver; Hilton Gold; IHG Diamond Ambassador; Marriott Gold
Posts: 2,811
Plat; made the request upon the 2016-10-12 booking of a 2017-01-10 EZE-MIA flight. I arrived at the gate maybe 5 min before scheduled boarding time. I asked the GA if there was any chance I'd get the upgrade (no list was showing on the monitor). She checked and said "no", then "wait a couple minutes; one person hasn't checked in yet". A few minutes later, she'd handled the few people in her line; checked again, smiled, and issued me the new BP just as priority boarding started.
And then she had to come on board to take my card back to the desk for the co-pay.
This was a 16J737 777-300ER aka 77W; I got seat 4J (no surprise).
And then she had to come on board to take my card back to the desk for the co-pay.
This was a 16J
Last edited by SpammersAreScum; Jan 13, 2017 at 2:29 pm Reason: correcting model