crichar

Hi guys,

I was wondering if this is normally and if anyone else has seen this?

recently i flew from sfo -> jfk on a 321t and so like normal biz upgrades went to first then econ upgrades went and filled up biz..

now there were like 8 or so people on the upgrade list with like 6-8 first seats still open.. so instead of upgrading them they filled them with standby passangers which i though was kinda strange .. sure if they bought the upgrade or was originally on that class i can see that but they literally just want straight down the standby list..

i would have thought it would be keep moving up the upgrade list people and backfill those seats with standbys

Anyways was just surprised as i have never seen this before.

AlwaysAisle

My understanding is that on 3-class service flights an upgrade list contains both passengers requesting upgrade form Biz to First and from Econ to Biz. Once from Biz to First upgrade was processed and still seats left in First likely means all remaining passengers on upgrade list were from Econ to Biz upgrade passengers.

My understanding is that AA does not do double upgrade. Which means got upgrade from Econ to Biz using 500 miles certs or EXP/PLAT-PRO complimentary upgrade then asking to use miles to upgrade from Biz to First. This don’t happen.

Also, seems you indicated from Biz to First upgrade was processed first, then standby passengers were processed into First. Do you know this for the fact? I thought if there was F fare passengers trying to standby on a flight, that standby passengers are processed before upgrade passengers.

crichar

No I do not know for a fact but judging by how they started at 1 kept going until there were no seats left.. and then walking through first was like a photo shoot i am pretty sure that they were not originally first.. though i can not be certain.

i just wish there was a way to pay for biz from econ instead of having to use upgrades lol

andersonCooper

You could buy up at the gate.

T/BE20/G

The standby passengers who were cleared into First were most likely non-revenue passengers. If all eligible J to F upgrade requests have been processed, nonrevs will be cleared into F seats if they desire. American doesn't give comp upgrades to J passengers to make room for more Y passengers to upgrade into J, nor does any other airline as a matter of standard policy.

Centurion

This is so wrong... I do not know where to begin. It is common practice to move overbooked into next class of service. Example BA on a regular basis oversells world traveler plus in many markets and you get bumped into biz. I can not think of a 3 class of service equipped airline that does not do it including aa.

wetrat0

This thread is about upgrades, not an overbooked situation. AA does not move (paid or upgraded) J passengers to F to make room for Y-to-J upgrade requests. If Y were overbooked, AA would move J passengers to F and Y passengers to J to make room for the overbooked passengers.

There's a huuuuge difference between someone who has no seat because the plane is overbooked and someone trying to use a 500-mile upgrade...

And as others have explained, the standby passengers were most likely non-rev and as such are entitled to F if it is available.