rfrost

I've been an EXP on AA for about 10 years, but the only op up I've had on an AA international flight was a few years before that, when I had no status at all with them but was in paid J from CDG-JFK and was bumped up to F. But of course I have applied SWUs to a significant percentage (more than 50%) of my international flights on AA.
In contrast, as a BAEC Gold for the last 11 years, I've had 3 or 4 op ups on BA from W to J, and once from Y to J.
Back during my pre-2005 UA 1K 10-year tenure, I routinely had op ups from Y to J on international flights from JFK-LHR at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
And if it counts as international: on my one AC flight (EWR-YYZ) as a *Alliance Gold, I had an op up.

CPH-Flyer

I have had two op-ups on NRT-DFW as JL OWE. I was wondering if there were no EXP in Y, and how far down in the AA elite ranks they were looking before coming to me.

In both cases my ticket was booked a few days before departure. One in booking class Y, and think the other was B. Might have been influencing the result.

coolcoil

NRSA can be cleared before boarding and even at the kiosk when the airline knows there will be empty seats. See here:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/14750100-post43.html

I know that on my flights from MDE to MIA the NRSA are often cleared before boarding, as I hear them called up for BP's before we begin boarding. I'd think that happens more often at remote airports like MDE because the odds of a late-arriving revenue pax that wants to stand-by for the flight are almost zero, so once the flight is checked in, they have a pretty good idea of how many seats are available for NRSA, and even sooner if it's not booked full.

However, I cannot say for sure they would be op-upped ahead of revenue passengers. I knew I had seen many AA NRSA's in business class, but I learned from reading the thread that they can actually standby for business and pay a bit more if they get it. So, that's not really an op up.

uscjeff

I am curious to see if I get this Monday on HKG-LAX. It is F7 J0 Y2 - I booked into fare code I if that factors in

born sleepy

I'm unsure what AA policy is regarding op-ups when there are standbys. On a few occasions I was op-upped after boarding even though the flight was over 500mi (I'm AA Plat) to make room for standby pax. Yay, op-up.

Yesterday DCA-ATL I did not request an upgrade and there was one person on the list according to the monitor. I boarded with no expectation of an upgrade despite only two pax in F: the guy on the UG list and one more. Bad wx yesterday with many delays and cancellations so the standby list was about 30 pax. F remained nearly empty until the GA boarded standby pax, filling up the remaining seats in Y and F.

Should GA have upgraded EXP/PLT/GLD members then put the standbys in the now-open Y seats? There's no way all those standbys were EXP and they were not on the UG list.

Again I had no expectation of an upgrade. I just want to be clear on AA policy in this situation. Thx in advance (yes I searched, everything returned was from 2011 or older).

rjw242

The standby passengers seated in F may well have been F passengers on the previously cancelled/delayed flights...

formeraa

No, it is not American's policy on domestic flights to upgrade Elite passengers before boarding standby passengers (unless the Elite passengers are entitled to an upgrade -- free or with an upgrade instrument). On international flights, they will op-up Elite (if they have oversold the main cabin). Of course, the official policy and what actually happens can be two very different things!

nrr

I was flying JFKK-ZRH (used up my 8 SWUs), when I got to the gate I saw my name on the cleared list, I asked the GA what I was cleared for: flt was oversold in Y and I was being OP-UPed to J.^

born sleepy

Would they not have been on the upgrade list vs. the standby list since there was plenty of space?

My gut sense is that the GA just wanted the flight the hell out of his sight and filled up the remaining seats F or not. DCA was a supreme mess yesterday.

dkc192

I've gotten two J-F op-ups on transcons when they rolled the cabins to clear large numbers of standby pax into Y due to IRROPS. Y was not oversold on either of those flights, but both were the last flights of the day.

FWAAA

formeraa is correct; AA does not routinely roll the cabins (op-ups) in order to make room for standby passengers. AA will, obviously, upgrade passengers to make room when a flight is overbooked. So on those "few occasions" you mentioned, you were probably upgraded to alleviate an oversold situation in economy, not to accommodate standby passengers.

During stormy weather like yesterday at DCA, all the rules go out the window. With cancelled flights and passengers to accommodate, gate agents will do their best to fill planes.

And no, never expect that agents will seek out the highest status passengers during weather disruptions as they're trying to fill the seats and close out the flight.

adambrock

if F had availability, then there would've been no KEY, EXP or PPro to upgrade when processing standby - they would've already been upgraded. If there were 30 people on standby, my guess is those that cleared were elites and got put into first because they were eligible for upgrades as well.

coolcoil

I got my first op-up on an A319 MIA-MDE yesterday. The GA told me they were oversold, so they picked me due to my EXP status. Years ago, when I was PLT, I was often OP-up'd during busy times and the plane was a 737 with 16 F seats, but this is the first one in a long time.

I believe they were truly oversold, rather than trying to accommodate stand-by pax. In the past, when they have had empty seats in F, I have seen the GA's come on board and move AA employees on NRSA up to first.

And yes, based on my own conversations with these passengers when we were seated together prior to their upgrade or overhearing their conversations, I am very confident they were NRSA employees. Also please note that I am not complaining about this. I am not entitled to a free upgrade and have no problem with employees getting the perk. If I wanted to pay for the UG or burn an SWU I would do that.

Adelphos

travelling companion

Very interesting experience receiving my first operational upgrade yesterday from SBA-DFW. I boarded the plane with my fiancee and we got to our seats and they were taken by another couple. The woman sitting in our seats had just had a major surgery on her leg so the FA allowed her to sit in our bulkhead main cabin extra seats. We asked the FA where we should sit and she said she would upgrade us to first class. I really appreciated it since it is about a three hour flight on a CRJ-900.