May 16, 2017, 12:53 pm
Last edit by: Prospero
As of May 20, 2017 upgrade prioritization is:
Elite qualifying dollars* in the past 12 months
- Elite status
- Concierge Key
- Executive Platinum
- Platinum Pro
- Platinum
- Gold
- Upgrade type
- Miles and copay award upgrades and systemwide upgrades, Business Extra? (SWU)
- 500 mile upgrades on purchased tickets (including EXP complimentary UDU)
- 500 mile upgrades on upgrade eligible awards (including EXP complimentary UDU)
- BXP Business Extra upgrades
Elite qualifying dollars* in the past 12 months
- Booking class (in order, J, D, I, W, P, Y, H, K, M, L, V, G, S, N, Q, O, T)
Time of request
*Your 12-month Rolling EQD value is different from your Year-to-Date (YTD) EQDs, which is used to track your progress toward elite status. It includes your EQD earned from reaching qualifying spend thresholds on eligible AAdvantage® AviatorTM MasterCard® cards.
Link to EQD earning Help Desk thread on FlyerTalk.
No- or lower status companion and effect on upgrade position
WAIT LIST, SAME PNR: Prior to upgrade request going to airport list- SWU, Miles & Copay, Business Extra: lower status passenger "borrows" higher status. (BX is unsure, stated as least of priorities, likely to up D-24 only)
- 500 mile / UDU: lower status passenger "borrows" higher status
- Award travel: lower status passenger "borrows" higher status
- 500 mile / UDU: lower status passenger "borrows" higher status
WAIT LIST, SEPARATE PNR: Prior to upgrade request going to airport list- SWU, Miles & Copay: lower status passenger DOES NOT "borrow" higher status under any circumstance
- 500 mile / UDU: lower status passenger "borrows" higher status IF PNRs "linked"
- Business Extra upgrade instruments
- Award travel: lower status passenger "borrows" higher status IF PNRs "linked"
- Award travel: lower status passenger "borrows" higher status IF PNRs "linked"
- Business Extra upgrade instruments
- 500 mile / UDU: lower status passenger "borrows" higher status IF PNRs "linked"
AIRPORT LIST, SAME PNR:- SWU, Miles & Copay: lower status passenger "borrows" higher status. (BX is unsure, but is least of priorities, likely to up D-24 only)
- 500 mile / UDU: lower status passenger "borrows" higher status
- Business Extra upgrade instruments
- Award travel: lower status passenger "borrows" higher status
- Business Extra upgrade instruments
- 500 mile / UDU: lower status passenger "borrows" higher status
AIRPORT LIST, SEPARATE PNR:- SWU, Miles & Copay: lower status passenger DOES NOT "borrow" higher status under any circumstance
- 500 mile / UDU: lower status passenger "borrows" higher status IF PNRs "linked"
- Business Extra upgrade instruments
- Award travel: lower status passenger "borrows" higher status IF PNRs "linked"
- Business Extra upgrade instruments
- 500 mile / UDU: lower status passenger "borrows" higher status IF PNRs "linked"
NOTES:- Traveling companion 500 mile upgrades (even for those pax using UDU) "stickers" must pull from higher status passenger's account.
- Lower status passenger previously "borrowing" higher status may require human processing at the airport to re-establish "borrowed status" linkage
(Companion information thanks to DW)
- SWU, Miles & Copay, Business Extra: lower status passenger "borrows" higher status. (BX is unsure, stated as least of priorities, likely to up D-24 only)
Upgrade Priority: Status, Upgrade Type, Rolling 12 Month EQD Spend
May 19, 2017, 11:36 pm
#121
Join Date: Jul 2016
Posts: 152
Polite in your face, EXPs!
May 20, 2017, 3:47 pm
#122
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
The off topic posts regarding the miles+copay vs SWU upgrade priority have been moved to http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...solidated.html.
/Moderator
/Moderator
May 20, 2017, 4:41 pm
#123
Join Date: Nov 2010
Programs: AA EXP (owe), BA Silver (ows), AB Silver (owr), WN A+/CP, IHG Spire AMB, Avis First
Posts: 1,414
Of course, if there's only one open F seat, only the top spender wins... And it's probably a CK.
May 20, 2017, 5:59 pm
#124
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: AA exp, Marriott Amb
Posts: 224
My guess is that there are going to be a fair number of $5k EXPs getting screwed by this change. If we assume CK is around $50-60k then a totally random guess for revenue distribution for EXPs once you remove all the people that aren't going to hit the EQD numbers this year would be 50% $12-$15k, 30% 15-25k, and the other 20% above 25k.
May 20, 2017, 6:00 pm
#125
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: San Jose, CA
Programs: CX Diamond, AA CK (quit 2018), Starwood Platinum, National EXC Elite
Posts: 283
My guess is that 50K puts you in CK territory, but there are probably are a lot of low EQD EXPs for various reasons as well. If I had to guess, you probably could put the median at 14k and go from there...
Of course, if there's only one open F seat, only the top spender wins... And it's probably a CK.
Of course, if there's only one open F seat, only the top spender wins... And it's probably a CK.
May 20, 2017, 6:06 pm
#126
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: FIND ME ON TWITTER FOR THE LATEST
Posts: 27,730
Specifically excluding the airless aspect for the time being (a more direct path to CK based on spend, $60k or so, + or -) ; you can find a member with $50K, $60k, $70k, $80K or greater annual spend who is never considered for CK.
And in the very same year find a member with less than $60K who does get CK.
All because it's based on member profitability -not- total spend.
(And of course all this excludes CK nominations for influencers, etc, where the $ component is irrelevant.)
And in the very same year find a member with less than $60K who does get CK.
All because it's based on member profitability -not- total spend.
(And of course all this excludes CK nominations for influencers, etc, where the $ component is irrelevant.)
May 20, 2017, 6:39 pm
#127
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: San Jose, CA
Programs: CX Diamond, AA CK (quit 2018), Starwood Platinum, National EXC Elite
Posts: 283
Specifically excluding the airless aspect for the time being (a more direct path to CK based on spend, $60k or so, + or -) ; you can find a member with $50K, $60k, $70k, $80K or greater annual spend who is never considered for CK.
And in the very same year find a member with less than $60K who does get CK.
All because it's based on member profitability -not- total spend.
(And of course all this excludes CK nominations for influencers, etc, where the $ component is irrelevant.)
And in the very same year find a member with less than $60K who does get CK.
All because it's based on member profitability -not- total spend.
(And of course all this excludes CK nominations for influencers, etc, where the $ component is irrelevant.)
May 20, 2017, 6:44 pm
#128
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: FIND ME ON TWITTER FOR THE LATEST
Posts: 27,730
Understood. My gripe is lack of transparency. So I book a $5700 ex SJC-LAX-HKG round trip in J, 3 months out and the same flight is available 1 week in, at the same price, and that's not AA profiting? They had my money almost 3 months earlier than the last minute guy, and were earning interest. Surely that's an example of 'profiteering'.
May 20, 2017, 7:32 pm
#129
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: San Jose, CA
Programs: CX Diamond, AA CK (quit 2018), Starwood Platinum, National EXC Elite
Posts: 283
May 20, 2017, 10:42 pm
#130
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2014
Programs: Top Tier with all 3 alliances
Posts: 11,669
So, how many EXPs will be on the waitlist for complimentary upgrades on any given flight, I guess that this will really vary by route, but I am pretty sure many leisurely routes or routes between a medium hub and a non hub will have maybe 0-3 EXPs on the waitlist. I almost always clear even when I do same day flight change, so I am not too pessimistic about this...
May 21, 2017, 6:41 am
#131
Join Date: Jan 2015
Programs: Alaska Gold 75K, AA EXP, United 1K
Posts: 472
So, how many EXPs will be on the waitlist for complimentary upgrades on any given flight, I guess that this will really vary by route, but I am pretty sure many leisurely routes or routes between a medium hub and a non hub will have maybe 0-3 EXPs on the waitlist. I almost always clear even when I do same day flight change, so I am not too pessimistic about this...
May 21, 2017, 8:39 am
#132
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2014
Programs: Top Tier with all 3 alliances
Posts: 11,669
I still think though that many low EQD EXPs are leisure flyers, flying mostly leisure routes where the upgrade competition will be lower, so they will be ok. I have been on such flights where I cleared at T-100 and then the F cabin was still half empty.
May 21, 2017, 9:49 am
#133
Join Date: Nov 2010
Programs: AA EXP (owe), BA Silver (ows), AB Silver (owr), WN A+/CP, IHG Spire AMB, Avis First
Posts: 1,414
. Which means trying to preserve timestamp almost doesn't matter anymore...
May 21, 2017, 9:57 am
#134
Join Date: Nov 2010
Programs: AA EXP (owe), BA Silver (ows), AB Silver (owr), WN A+/CP, IHG Spire AMB, Avis First
Posts: 1,414
Specifically excluding the airless aspect for the time being (a more direct path to CK based on spend, $60k or so, + or -) ; you can find a member with $50K, $60k, $70k, $80K or greater annual spend who is never considered for CK.
And in the very same year find a member with less than $60K who does get CK.
All because it's based on member profitability -not- total spend.
(And of course all this excludes CK nominations for influencers, etc, where the $ component is irrelevant.)
And in the very same year find a member with less than $60K who does get CK.
All because it's based on member profitability -not- total spend.
(And of course all this excludes CK nominations for influencers, etc, where the $ component is irrelevant.)
Also, what I don't get is why there are so many CKs requesting domestic upgrades. Maybe they were just nominated or something, but I always assumed that to get to high CK spends you're probably paying for domestic F (for work-related travel) and upgrades are only relevant during leisure travel. Same for high EQD spend EPs. The rest of us are stuck with domestic Y only travel policies.
So really, the majority of the competition between EPs will be against business travelers who have heavy spend due to international J travel but have domestic Y policies, I think...
But seeing several CKs on the upgrade list recently, seems to contradict... Maybe I need to figure out how to get one of these nominations
.
May 22, 2017, 6:55 am
#135
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: I 35 south bound, finally stopped
Programs: LT Plt, 4mm, *A GLD, burned out medical provider, executing our estate plan
Posts: 1,665
Using the divide base miles by 5 rule upthread I am approaching 11k EQD since Aug 2016. Lots of flying coming up. I will say for me the divide by 5 rule underestimates the 2016 miles when compared to 2017 and EQMs are listed, but some of the 2017 is paid J on partners domestic which may confound the calculation. Also my little group of travelers (13) on Business Extra has never even tweaked a CK offer, but I didn't expect it to.