no1cub17

Interesting indeed. Are we really surprised though? LCC has copied literally anything and everything from UA and DL, so why not TODs too?

JonNYC

This is when AA first started selling upgrades-- a little over 10 years ago:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-obsolete.html

mvoight

AA has clearly publish it will not sell upgrades until elites requesting upgrades have taken care of. This certainly would be something that contradicts AA's stated policy and that should not be the response. That might be the canned response, but if that happens I would take it further.

Mark_T

Except it doesn't say that, it says that it will sell LFBU if it has seats left over after accounting for those on the list, it doesn't say that those on the list have to be actually upgraded first.

I'm not sure why this is getting so much attention now, this hasn't changed in a long time and certainly isn't new.

People have been buying LFBU hours before those already on the upgrade list are actually cleared for as long as the LFBU has existed....

oneant

Just to reiterate here, my Plat 500-mile upgrade request was not successful, and LFBUs were sold to me for my wife and sons at 24hrs out via online check-in.

We are about to land DEN. I won't, but I would love to stand up at the front of coach and announce that the others on the upgrade list were not processed because AA marginalized their loyalty and status and sold three seats to non-elites at check-in. I will be ready to hand out like maybe 2 rolled up American Ways (my pitchforks and other angry mob supplies were confiscated at TSA).

May all the greedy misers overseeing RM @ AA get served the wrong entree the next time they go out to dinner.

oneant

A quote from that original link:
AA has obviously changed this policy as is evidenced by my experience over the past 24 hours.

no1cub17

Cool - so when did AA start selling upgrades out from underneath elites a la UA? Or are you saying that didn't happen in this instance?

rasheed

To summarize, this sucks. For years, AA has not been known to domestically FCM at non-full fare difference until after elite upgrades. I hope it was an inventory problem, and I think a confluence of AA holding X upgrades until way closer to flight time and someone changing flights who had an A or similar fare caused this problem. If I am wrong, then this is a even worse deal.

Assuming you have not yet written to AA, be clear and concise on what happened. I know you are upset (I would be upset too if a non-elite received any type of non-fare difference upgrade), but facts will win the most attention and maybe an actual legit response.

-Was on requested upgrade list for many weeks prior to flight.
-Include all PNRs
-Non-status wife and kids received LFBU/cash upgrade for $90 (which I will assume it is not the fare difference and is absolutely a common "2 segment of 500" non-elite price).
-Same booking date/fare basis
-It it appears AA did not accommodate elite members who wish to upgrade despite written policy as such.
-Did something go wrong with the upgrade system or has AA policy changed?

Still, congrats for upgrading your family. I really hope you get a satisfactory response. I think the bloggers might get a bigger response than you would, but frankly if AA's newer, longer X upgrades holdback is a cause, customers need to know that as they think about their options.

Rasheed

Mark_T

I still don't think you can prove that based on your experience.

There are numerous ways in which the last seat that they expected to use for your upgrade could get legitimately used by someone else in the last hour or so before departure.

The system has never guaranteed that all elite upgrades would be processed before they sell LFBU, nothing has changed there.

It has always been possible for something to happen between the sale of LFBU starting and the GA processing the elite queue.

Most of the time, nothing happens, sometimes it does...

Not perfect, no argument there, but most of the time it does seem to work just fine...

rjw242

It's happened on rare occasions for many years. This is nothing new.

oneant

I would understand the last hour or so. This flight was sold out in F with 0 seats available when I spoke with AA @ 6 hours to departure. Also, it wasn't just a single seat in question: I was able to purchase 3 LFBUs @ 24hrs out. There may have been others offered as well for all I know.

I think what bothers me the most here is that no one at AA--phone desk or in person--ever even acknowledged "Dude, I can totally understand how you feel. Really sorry this happened to you as it is definitely not the norm."

Instead, it was always an excuse about RM or their computer system.....how WOPR had control and they had to wait for it to finish playing TicTacToe before it would release options or something.

A little good customer service would have gone a very long way with me yesterday.

xliioper

There's some pretty cheap Y-UP fares on this route. Without knowing the original booking price and new ticket class, I don't know you can safely assume that the $90 price was not simply the difference between the coach price and the cheapest available Y-UP fare. If they were $100 tickets, then that's probably not the case. But if they were originally in the $200 range, then it's entirely possible (as I see Y-UP tickets in the $258 - $309 range).

oneant

These were not Y-Up fares. That was confirmed by the agent I spoke with at 2008 after checking in and purchasing the LFBUs at 2003.

ESpen36

Perhaps an IRROPS situation resulted in some full-fare F pax transferring over from another flight, thus eating up the F inventory on your flight before the upgrade could be processed?

RM is increasingly waiting until the last minute to clear upgrades in order to accommodate walk-up premium fares on day of departure, as well as IRROPS.

LINDEGR

Then what is the meaning of the word accommodation in the below from AA's own site??

Paid LFB Upgrades are only offered when premium class seats are available based on the number of passengers confirmed in the premium class and accommodation of any previously submitted upgrade requests.