Though reservations will tell you otherwise, Transcon LAX-JFK and JFK-LAX now fly with mostly empty firsts. They no longer upgrade paid business class passengers to first when free seats are available in first. Instead they fly with the cabin empty unless the entire flight is oversold. This leaves elites whose businesses/personal life do not allow booking of business class seats to much more limited chances of upgrading to business class, I am stuck in coach on an upgrade wait list with 6 empty seats in first class. I am livid.

I know maybe this seems petty but I am a Platinium with around 7000/year spend. I thought I would get the upgrade. I could happily fly Delta on my LAX-JFK routes to see family. Kinda bummed to miss that terrific Flagship lounge and get stuck in the regular Admirals club lounge (much advertised avocado toast bar totally missing).

It's been that way for over a decade......nothing new.

I prefer to connect through JFK and my romantic partners have all been less impressed if they connect through PHL. Help me out here AA, I need to romance someone with an LAX trip to Europe and going through PHL doesn't cut it.

Circa 2016 they filled first class. I did very well commuting back in forth in June. Now I am stuck in coach. ugh.

That's why AA lost the corporate contracts from Credit Suisse et al......between the lack of investment in the 763 over 10 years and the operational nightmare they are....Delta was the clear better option. I said it before, but I would be hating my job if I was in corporate sales for AA based in NYC......there is no positive story to spin to customers these days.....most people are smart enough to know that touting BA/IB is not something to brag about.

I am starting to think AA is digging their own grave in NYC, with the ominous posts from JonNYC about "more to come".

Agreed. Pretty much the only time I will actually purchase transcon F from JFK on AA is when the fare is cheaper than J, which I've found to be the case not infrequently. There are just more corporate accounts that limit travel to J than those that permit F.

Besides what AANYC1981 explained above, you have access to FL lounges (not dinning) on transcon J. As it's a short flight for me I personally don't care about the small difference between J and F for this route.

That's what I am afraid of and need to move my TATL travel to another airline. CDG, MXP etc. for my limited vacation time and AA now asks me to take a connection via PHL, CLT or LHR.

In an old thread which I started, AA fills FC with non-revs...so they don't go out empty.

If the upgrade was so important, why didn't you pay for it at the time of booking?

Agreed PHL and CLT just don't cut it!

I'm not living in the NYC area anymore but LAX, JFK, MIA are far better airports to start a journey ... as opposed to a trip. Unfortunately, they're not the best connecting points. PHL and CLT just seem like places to change planes ... no reflecting on the cities, just the environment of the airport.

All I can say is that there are some very, very, very gullible people in this Forum.

Here's something interesting...though this post is mostly about the JFK cuts...have you seen that the E-140's coming back from storage have started to re-appear at LGA? Several routes have now converted.

Most people could care less where they connect, its price and schedule that matter....... Aside from airports with operational issues, I have never heard anyone say I'm so happy i connected at :JFK, ORD, PHL or CLT for that matter.