May 22, 2017, 6:21 am

FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides

Last edit by: JDiver

Chances of Upgrade Request Clearing

NOTE: Be aware of recent (20 May 2017) upgrade priority changes.

"New Upgrade Priority as of 20 May 2017

(Upgrades were prioritized by elite status and then time of request until 20 May 2017)

Elite status
1. Concierge Key
2. Executive Platinum
3. Platinum Pro
4. Platinum
5. Gold
Upgrade type
1. Miles and copay award upgrades and systemwide upgrades (SWU)
2. 500 mile upgrades on purchased tickets
3. 500 mile upgrades on upgrade eligible awards)
Elite qualifying dollars in the past 12 months
Booking class
Time of request"

See Upgrade Priority Changes to Status, Rolling 365 Day EQD Spend May 20 2017

U]Link[/U] to Gary Leff, View From the Wing 16 May 2017

Updated 22 May 2017 by JDiver
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2017 Chances of Upgrade Clearing and Availability (consolidated)

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Oct 15, 2017, 4:20 pm

#706

JBauer

Join Date: Feb 2007

Location: Malibu, CA

Programs: AA CK / Marriott Worthless Ambassador

Posts: 1,158

Inherited Priority?

I’m CK. Flying with wife and child

10/21
aa 136
lax to lhr

10/29
aa 109
lhr to lax

EF shows around 20 J seats available.

Week out and SWU hasn’t cleared. My request is tied all 3 together. Does my family inherit CK priority? Or should I split us up and get maybe 1 or 2 seats for my wife? Is requesting 3 hurting my chances?

thanks.

Oct 15, 2017, 10:02 pm

#707

billgrates3

Join Date: Jun 2006

Location: SFO/OAK

Programs: AA EXP 3.4MM, BAEC, UAMP, Skyteam (<10k) HH Gold, IHG Plat, Hertz Gold, GE/TSA TT

Posts: 2,723

Quote:

Originally Posted by JBauer

As CK you should be ok for all 3 if there are really that many seats in J. If you split the PNR now, you can't put your family back on yours for the return, making their return upgrades much more difficult. So I'd say, don't split.

Oct 16, 2017, 7:38 am

#708

JonNYC

Suspended

Join Date: Mar 2001

Location: FIND ME ON TWITTER FOR THE LATEST

Posts: 27,730

Quote:

Originally Posted by JBauer

...Is requesting 3 hurting my chances?

To that part of the question, I say "yes."

That said, you should take this up with the CK desk certainly for the outbound at this point and get guidance/assistance from them (instead of counting empty seats on a seat-map, respectfully.)

Oct 16, 2017, 10:46 am

#709

JBauer

Join Date: Feb 2007

Location: Malibu, CA

Programs: AA CK / Marriott Worthless Ambassador

Posts: 1,158

Thanks

I appreciate your advice, I just called in and they said there are 19 seats on the outbound in 22 seats on the inbound available. The representative seem to think it was not a problem and that we would be cleared and told me to stick together. But she did say at the gate they lose my status so that could become problematic. If it goes to the battleground

Oct 16, 2017, 12:36 pm

#710

travellerK

Join Date: Jun 2010

Programs: AA EXP, Hilton Honors Gold, National Executive Elite

Posts: 406

Quote:

Originally Posted by travellerK

Can anyone help me out here?

I am currently EXP, though my flying dropped off the second half of the year and I am only at around 40K EQM this year so far.

Either way, I am planning a trip to Tokyo in a couple of weeks (partially so I should at least keep Platinum status). Because it is shorter trip than usual, my company's travel budget is tighter and I essentially have the choice of flying back on JL in PE or using flying AA NRT-LAX-JFK using an SWU. The NRT-LAX route was immediately available for upgrade. The phone agent assured me that the LAX-JFK segment (AA32 on 11/2) would surely clear before the flight. Based on this thread I am not so confident.
Does anyone have any input?

Thanks,

I called today and was told that there are 8 seats currently open in J (2 1/2 weeks out). Does anyone know the implications of this?

Oct 16, 2017, 2:14 pm

#711

Stripe

Join Date: Jun 2005

Location: AUS

Programs: AA Exec Platinum/MM, DL Gold/MM, Hilton Diamond, Accor Platinum, Hertz Presidents Circle

Posts: 6,977

Quote:

Originally Posted by JBauer

And that is the problem. Unfortunately the agent is correct about that. (I guess you CK's get unusually knowledgeable agents.) In any case, you would do well to stick together at this point.

Oct 16, 2017, 2:54 pm

#712

ss2000

Join Date: Aug 2015

Programs: AA EXP, AS MVP Gold, Hyatt Diamond, SPG Platinum

Posts: 142

Not sure if its the right place but I saw some SWUs available on DFW - HKG route on Dec 12/13

Oct 16, 2017, 10:05 pm

#713

lightbulbs

Join Date: Jan 2015

Programs: Alaska Gold 75K, AA EXP, United 1K

Posts: 472

Quote:

Originally Posted by travellerK

I called today and was told that there are 8 seats currently open in J (2 1/2 weeks out). Does anyone know the implications of this?

Tough to say this far out. This route gets a lot of last minute bookings and I've seen many seats disappear in the last few days before a flight, especially if loads are high on other flights as well. I'm guessing most of those seats will be sold, but the slightly good news for you is that using a SWU will now put you ahead of EXPs waiting for UDU sticker upgrades.

Oct 17, 2017, 2:39 pm

#714

iadisgreat

Join Date: Jan 2002

Location: DCA/IAD/WAS

Programs: MAR AMB, WOH Explorist, AA EXP, UA 2P

Posts: 2,138

Well my FCO-PHL flight on 11/19 is somehow down to J0, so we will see what happens haha. Quickest I've seen a flight go from J7->J0 with no IRROPs.

TeddyBoomBoom likes this.

Oct 19, 2017, 10:41 am

#715

travellerK

Join Date: Jun 2010

Programs: AA EXP, Hilton Honors Gold, National Executive Elite

Posts: 406

I am considering scheduling a trip to Europe in January to use up my SWUs. It there a time period/location where they tend to be wide open that time of year?
If I search now, it won't help me, because I can't purchase until the meetings are confirmed.

Oct 20, 2017, 2:52 pm

#716

TravelLawyer

Join Date: Jun 2005

Location: ORD (formerly SAN)

Programs: Hilton Diamond; IHG Platinum; Bonvoy Gold; AA Platinum Pro and United Premier Silver (DH = AA EXP)

Posts: 1,929

Quote:

Originally Posted by AtomicLush

Has anyone ever cleared NRT to ORD on AA 154 on a Wednesday (or midweek)? Looks like a really large plane with a tiny biz class and the biz cabin is already 1/2 full for my flight in 2 months. We're on separate PNR's EXP + PLAT.

I wanted to give you guys an update on my own situation. We subscribed to EF alerts for our flight, but no availability ever showed up. Also at around midnight, I manually check EF availability and seat map to see if anything changed (neurotic perhaps). During such manual check last night, I noticed that our economy seats were no longer occupied and were shown as open (with no seat changes in biz). I checked my AA app and sure enough I'd been upgraded (as PLT) and DH had also been upgraded (as EXP) with no seat assignments. Neither of us received emails that the upgrade cleared and EF never showed availability. We cleared 6 weeks out. Happy dance!

Oct 22, 2017, 9:48 am

#717

no1cub17

Join Date: Aug 2012

Programs: AA PLT, SPG Gold

Posts: 2,405

Wife and I are on a CR9 flight tomorrow, EF shows J1Y0, only 4/12 F seats taken but we haven't cleared and are now inside 48h. I assume the flight is overbooked in Y so why wouldn't we clear? Strange

Oct 22, 2017, 10:59 pm

#718

golfingboy

Ambassador: Alaska Airlines

Join Date: Nov 2008

Location: BWI

Posts: 7,390

Recently booked a trip to PEK in December... Any thoughts on the odds of LAX-PEK clearing on a Friday in early December?

I am hoping a new route plus with December being a slow month for business travel will help our odds of clearing into J.

788 with a small J cabin doesn't help much though.

Oct 24, 2017, 12:12 pm

#719

crwparsons

Join Date: Oct 2010

Location: CRW

Programs: AA-EX PLAT, Hilton Diamond, National Emerald Executive, Marriott Silver

Posts: 20

SWU request for May 2017

I wanted to see if anyone has ever requested a SWU/waitlist for travel - PHL-ATH and return in the past. I am planning on traveling 5/23/18 (PHL-ATH) and returning 6/03/18 (ATH-PHL) and I am going to wait list on both legs. Just wanted to see if anyone has had past success or any opinions and thoughts.

Thanks for the help.

Oct 24, 2017, 12:27 pm

#720

JY1024

Senior Moderator and Moderator: American AAdvantage & TravelBuzz

Join Date: Nov 2007

Location: BOS

Programs: AA EXP, Marriott Titanium

Posts: 10,419

Quote:

Originally Posted by crwparsons

This route isn't impossible to clear, but as you can imagine, it's heavily dependent on season, day of week, cruise ship schedules, school vacations, etc.

This far out, the seat map is a moderate gauge of availability. Looks like already over half full for your outbound flight and just under 1/2 full on your inbound flight. If you already have a subscription to ExpertFlyer, remember to set an alert in case any C inventory opens up between now and your trip.