phlwookie

This is where my money would be. My team bought the last 7 available J seats on one of the BA PHL-LHR flights with less than 12 hours' notice last week, with the rest of us on the AA flight, and AMEX Travel didn't preassign any seats (they usually can per our BA contract even though BA charges for J seat assignments except for those with high status). AA did autoassign seats to the 5 J seats we bought, but if we looked at GDS availability for the BA flight, I'm sure it would have shown J0 but 7 open on the seat map up until check in.

sdsearch

Do you realize that people without status cannot select most non-middle seats in economy until at least check-in (or at least not without paying an extra fee which most don't want to pay)? So unassinged seats these days in economy only show that lots of people with no status have booked seats.

Meanwhile, have you ever booked a seat on a partner airline and not gotten a seat assignment? Well, the same thing can happen (in any cabin) with people who are from outside the USA and booked on AA via BA, Qantas, LAN, Iberia, Qatar, Cathay, whoever.

So it's very normal for not all seats in any cabin to be assigned, even long after they've all been sold. And in economy, since a few years ago when AA started charging for a number seats and restricting certain other seats to elites only pre-check-in, it's very normal to see many seats unassigned even when the economy cabin is booked full.

babypuwet

yeah, i looked at the wrong flight, you are correct.

dpham4

I'm well aware seat maps don't reflect available tickets. The point was that with coach THIS empty, it is HIGHLY unlikely oversold.

dpham4

Yes. I called several times to verify. It was kind of strange though that the return flight (CDG-MIA on Feb 15) didn't clear automatically, even when C inventory opened up. I happened to noticed it and called in for them to clear it, but I was under the assumption that these things would clear automatically (hence the purpose of the waitlist). During that call, I had also asked them to verify I was infact on the waitlist, to which the agent assured me I was, but with little visibility to see for myself, I don't know.

I am waitlisted with my companion, which I believe requires 2 to open up in order for us to clear, which really sucks if it opened up 1 at a time and those below me kept clearing. Such is life I guess

ijgordon

It may be overbooked, but it's not oversold. FWIW.

arollins

You are wait listed for a SWU for 2? Why didn't you split the PNR? No wonder you don't clear. My wife and I are EXP, when we book tickets we ALWAYS split the reservation. The odds of 2 seats to appear at the same time is minimal to nonexistent. You most likely have been skipped over a few times. However, if your companion is not EXP, odds for companion to clear are minimal.

arollins

This past Thanksgiving my spouse and I went to WAW via LHR. Tickets where bought 01/15, split PNR and applied SWU immediately after purchase and split. Spouse clears SWU on 08/15, not me. Day of trip, I was #4 on a the upgrade list and only 2 seats available.

dpham4

Yes, she is gold status. I was banking on AA holding upgrades back and releasing them all once a certain date rolls around, but I always knew that might not be the case. Our return from Paris has 7+ upgrades still available after we cleared, but I evidently the MIA-LHR flight is business heavy travel.

For clearing at the gate, do you know if they will wait until the last minute to clear? Or will they clear as each cancellation happens? I imagine with EXP status having been waitlisted since August my companion and I would be #1 and #2.

arollins

Clearing at the gate most likely will occur around boarding time. For international flights they like get those out early. Good luck.

smilee

As the other poster said phlwookie - BA Charges $$$ for an assigned business class seat in J.

I personally wouldn't think your upgrade chances are grim but they are uncertain. In fact on my last system wide upgrade, I took the last two available seats, and after I applied my SWU, they were no longer willing to even sell the J seats. Weird.

The system wide upgrade on American Airlines is somewhat problematic. They don't publish wait lists, and they sometimes hold back 30+ seats until just a couple of days out then run a massive upgrade sweep. And even then they sometimes place couples not together.

VickiSoCal

connecting doesn't matter

Mike in MSP

EXP newbie.
Looking to use a SWU for AA 153 on Feb 26.
AA.com says no SWU availability but there are 12 seats available in J.
Anyone have an insight on what my odds are?

AAExpDFW

Seat maps are in no means a view of available seats to sell.

Reviewing EF, they are only selling 4 J seats. So the flight is very full...depending on when you bought your ticket and added yourself to the list, I wouldn't expect seeing it clear until possibly at the gate.

jktraveler

Flew RT, cleared both times, right before departure (pretty much at the gate). Few upgrade seats usually show up a day before departure.