ElmhurstNick

Not very elite heavy on PHX-BOI, but also not a lot of seats. DFW-BOI has been an expensive ticket when I've tried to buy it, and I think they do sell a fair amount of paid F.

As of a year ago, BOI had some interesting pricing rules from the pmUS days, you could get a free stopover in PHX and buying up to F only cost about $189 for BOI-PHX-ORD. I'm not sure that's still in place now that there are DFW flights as well.

dave_261

No issues at all. Just board as a group (2 in business and 1 in economy), and then split up once on board. If you're inclined to tell the FA that you are swapping seats with your daughter so she can fly up front with your wife, feel free. Otherwise, they likely won't even notice (and even if they did, would not be a problem).

matrixwalker2012

Considering how the A319 is supposed to be the toughest aircraft to get an e500 upgrade on, I am surprisingly exceedingly lucky that of my last 6 flights on the A319, I got upgraded 5 times with e500s, and ironically, I have yet to be upgraded on e500s on any other aircraft, even the E-175 which should have the best odds, but no dice.

What's going on with my luck that I seem to only get upgrades on the A319 and nothing else?

flyingmusicianlax

Might have setting to do with AA getting smart about fleet utilization and mostly deploying the 319 on "thin routes." For example, CLT-SYR and LAX-BNA are going to typically be easy upgrades on the 319; LAX-DFW on the 321 are tough most days.

rbAA

Right, depends on when and where you're flying as I couldn't get any UPG's on DFW-YYZ-DFW flights. I stopped using ez-YYZ tickets last year in part because of the cut back in schedule and the A319's, as well as changing pricing of stopovers in the US.

Lucky you, however, you're still on an A319!

oysterhead43

Not true for BNA-LAX. In fact F often sells out. F on the afternoon BNA-LAX is almost always sold.

metallo

I've noticed the same for STL-LAX and even STL-MIA on the A319s. On those routes, AA has recently had a morning 738 flight and an afternoon 319 flight. The 319 flights are virtually always sold out in F before the day of departure, while the 738s are generally easy upgrades (certainly for EXP, probably even for PLT). The eight extra seats (or lack thereof) really make a huge difference for elite upgrades.

As for the OP's comment, I agree that this is purely route-dependent. The problem is that not all of the routes using the A319 are all that "thin."

The A319 flights on my routes (including the ones above) are definitely no longer easy upgrades. I've been trying to avoid these, or else I just pay for First. Despite the intimacy of the A319 F cabin, which should, in theory, mean better service (and it sometimes does), I'm just not impressed by the product overall and have a hard time stomaching paying more for it.

sdsearch

Perhaps because many more people than just me rarely bother requesting upgrades on an A319 as long as we have elite-access seats (exit / MCE) in economy?
Especially on BNA-LAX in the morning, which doesn't even have the full normal F breakfast (since it's double-catered from LAX). That one IMHO isn't worth requesting a 500m upgrade no matter which plane type they're flying that day, as long as I have an MCE or exit seat.

But you didn't state on what routes these A319s you fly are, vs the E175s you fly. Route matters at least as much as airplane (unless, perhaps, the airplane is a two-aisle international plane that happens to be being used for a domestic route, in which case the number of seats "up front" is so high that the odds may change considerably because of that plane type).

IADCAflyer

I have had not hot upgrade rates on the 319s. DCA-CLT has been a tough nut except early afternoon. MIA-IAH and back was a no go at all. Got upgraded the other day on the Shuttle - upgrade cleared at about T-4 hours.

salut0

@ElmhurstNick: Thanks for details. I'd be traveling NYC-BOI. I assumed that NYC-DFW or NYC-PHX were basically unlikely for an upgrade for GLD, especially since the priority changes, so I didn't even ask about those legs.

Reetmafreen

I went 3-4 on my latest SAN-DFW-BNA-DFW-SAN routing last week as a Plat. No upgrade fairy email on the outbound sectors, so opted to try standby on the DFW-BNA flight to at least get to my destination a little earlier. First time ever that I've missed standby as the flight was completely full (I was 3 of 11 and the two ahead of me cleared along with what looked like 2 irrops).

I retired to the AC for 2hrs to wait till my scheduled flight and then headed down to the gate before boarding. I then received my first ever battlefield upgrade. I travelled upfront. Pity my bag travelled in the back, so I got to swim upstream upon arrival to retrieve it.

Both return flights did get the upgrade fairy email around the 48hr mark, so a less stressful return journey.

JDiver

Since the upgrade priority has changed (effective 20 May 2017), we have added a Wikipost with the new upgrade priority listing and links to the existing thread on that topic and to Gary Leff's article.

/Moderator

factory81

I was looking at going to LIH in July, and wondering if anyone could share with me any thoughts they might have on (what I believe is) C fare class inventory available?

I am looking at trying to apply a SWU, and want to confirm right into first if I can.

Also, with the new AAdvantage program offering only 4 SWU, would you expect that SWU clear more frequently, given that there are less in the system for people to use?

3Cforme

More 'Will my upgrade clear?' stuff.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...idated-32.html

bse118

Just cleared a Y-->J miles + money upgrade - at booking - on SYD-LAX for a flight in early October.