msv777

Depending on where you are connecting to, Dfw-Icn might be the best option to use 2 swu's, ~ 2 months out. It's 772, 3 class, and seems to have better upgrade chances.

Cheers.

gcsmith

I went ahead and booked it to confirm the TUS-DFW, DFW-MIA. The second is on the updated 767, so a tough upgrade in general and it was down to F2. MIA-DFW inventory hasn't budged, still J7 with 20 open seats. I didn't directly ask for an opinion but agent mentioned if she was in Vegas she'd put the money down on my seat clearing before checkin.

outwrdbound

I have noticed TPA-DFW to be impossible for me as well, and I am EXP, although I do tend to book rather close-in due to company policy, perhaps thats why. I too have better luck with DFW-TPA, but not 60/40, more like 50/50 for me. But again, I usually book about 14 days out, probably my issue there.

TPA based EXP here. Upgrades have gotten to be very tough recently. In the past month, I have had a total of 20 flights, of those 16 were upgrade eligible, of those 16, I ended up clearing 2. I typically find myself as #1-#4 with F0. I am still not sure what I am going to do for next year. I just renewed my AC membership, so I will stick with AA exclusively for at least another year, maybe more. DL and UA are the same, and I love the AA staff at TPA, also MCE is nothing to complain about. While my upgrade percentage has gone down the toilet, I am still very happy with AA overall and still can't justify a switch. I sometimes think I will just book whoever can get me home on a Thursday night (with giving preference to AA, all other things equal), but AA has been great to me during IIROPS, 98% of the employees I have contact with are great and I love their TPA staff. My co-workers who fly DL and UA have the same (and sometimes worse) complaints. One poor co-worker of mine is a MM on UA and has been 1K for years, so far this year she as received 4 upgrades, total, and yes, she travels roughly 4 flights weekly, as I do. It will be interesting to see what the coming year will bring as far as changes to AAdvantage, but from what I hear from co-workers and friends who hold top tier status on DL and UA, the grass is not any greener over there. I guess this is just going to be the new norm. BTW, my flight on Friday, PHL-TPA went to F0 today. When I checked in on Monday, the TA checked Friday's flight for me and she said there were only 2 seats available, the other 12 (A321) were sold in advance, probably at very low prices.

PolarRoute

If your partner is not on the same record as you, then his status will be used to rank order. So every person down to Gold gets in before him.

Call the EXP desk and see if they can link the reservations. I have no idea if that is possible or not. Bonne chance!

gcsmith

When I woke up this morning the flight was now C7. No alert from Expertflyer, will see how long that takes to come in. Called AA and they are processing the award now. The auto American system may have been working as the agent had to move it forward. And when I logged in the standard can't display details (on the full web page, app was fine and showed coach). Processed somewhere between 72-60 hours out.

ExpertFlyer update: email just came in, about an hour after I found C inventory manually.

metallo

I needed to book last minute out of TPA recently and was surprised that F was practically zeroed out on most flights a few days before departure. I suppose there's a lot of paid F, particularly this time of year. I ended up flying through MIA and was somehow able to get the battlefield upgrade just before the door closed.

If my overall UPG percentage dropped as much as yours did, I'd have a really tough time sticking with AA.

Lakeviewsteve

I read on one of the threads that AA is reconfiguring certain A320 aircraft to only include 12 F seats. Interesting DL took delivery of it's first of 45 new A321 Stretch planes today and all will have 20F seats. AA is doing a huge disservice to it's FF community by reducing F capacity so drastically. They are also doing this on too many intl flights where F is being reduced to 8 with the new 77W and being eliminated on the 772 retrofits.

Is the CEO cost cutting Doug Parker behind this? Yet he says he is improving the customer experience.

Lakeviewsteve

no1cub17

The reduction in domestic F sucks for sure. As far as intl F - meh. I would be much more concerned about future reductions in J. Especially if the new Y+ cabin takes over.

ACA321

The current A320 aircraft only have 12F, as did the original A319s. The A319s are being reduced to 8F. Do you mean reducing the 16F A321s to just 12F? If so, I haven't heard this and am curious if anyone in the know could confirm.

In any case, upgrade possibilities are now almost non-existent on the new A319s, which is likely AA's plan...sell F and stop upgraders.

Lakeviewsteve

Thank you.... I'm not exactly sure which aircraft they are reducing the F seats in. But it was interesting Delta's new A321 are all going to have 20 F. They will be using them domestically as their range is only 3,000 miles. Here is a link to the article: http://www.bizjournals.com/twincitie...html?ana=yahoo

outwrdbound

Upgrades out of TPA can be difficult this time of year, really, all winter long. Snowbirds, vacationers, cruisers, etc... but they have been exceptionally difficult this year. My UG percentage now is much lower than back when I was an AA Plat (counting only requested flights) and even as a DL Plat. I did seriously consider switching but talking to co-workers who are Diamond on DL or 1K on United, the grass is no greener. My Diamond co-worker has had very few upgrades this year and last mainly due to DL's FCM, and well, we all know about United. Long story short, I have decided to stick with AA despite the drop in upgrades because they have treated me well during IIROPS, I get MCE at time of booking, the TPA staff are wonderful, and my overall experience on AA has been great. All things considered, the huge reduction in F upgrades (even their total loss) simply isn't enough to get me to switch. Now, if I ever have to join an upgrade list to get MCE, no longer have IIROPS re-booking priority or free same day changes, then that could/would be a different story.

outwrdbound

+1 I have been on about 12 LAA 319s thus far and have yet to have a single upgrade. Most have been between MIA-TPA.

remedy

Ditto on negative feelings about the paltry # of FC seat on the new 319 configuration, making complementary upgrades for elites very difficult. Extending this reductions on other aircraft configurations is definitely not good news. Only 1 seat left 100 hours out on my next flight to STL and am sure it will be held until boarding for one lucky elite flyer. I was lucky on the last fight to snag it, but there was a lot of grousing among the others in the priority line.

ACA321

My recent flights to/from DFW out of CLT have been F0 well before T-100, in some cases even over two weeks out. Upgrade lists on my last two flights between those cities have been 35+ deep. Must be several EXPs, or just lots of people willing to use stickers. I'm just glad I have AirPass, through which I've been getting YUPs on all those flights. It's nice not to worry about upgrades clearing etc..