Awesome!! Will be on the lookout for PE on for my May+ trips to HKG!! Nice!! Booking the April trip in 24-48 hrs.

What are the chances of me getting upgrade to J on AA 719 fco to phl may 28 if I requested my upgrade back in feb. btw I have no status. My guess is not a chance in hell. There are 6 seats in J open but they are only selling 1 on their website.

Your guess is an accurate one.

Confirming PE seating on LAX-HKG-LAX route. Booked flight today and PE is being sold as MCE. Outbound in two weeks and returning first week of May. Nice!!

LAX-HKG
 

Cleared SWU Y->J for upcoming flight AA 193 LAX-HKG next month (about 3 weeks in advance). EXP with about $17K in spending in 2017.
I had selected that date as the J cabin looked fairly empty at booking.

However, I did not receive any alert from EF (as I understand that EF does not continuously monitor "C" fare bucket for upgrades).

Cleared SWUs today for PE->J on AA 48 DFW-CDG on 4/17 and the return on AA 49 on 4/26.

As is often the case, my record went into "Couldn't display" mode. Fortunately the EXP desk is much more proactive in fixing that than the the regular desk was when I did mileage upgrades as platinum.

Hello all, new to the AA boards. I am Qatar Plat, OWE and am flying NRT-ORD-NRT in Economy (seats are booked in M, K) soon and am wondering, as a non AAdvantage Member, am I completely out of the running for an upgrade, or if I could still make a request as OWE. I have only ever flown AA domestically in the US and I have been told that I show up as AA Exec Plat, but I know its not exactly the same and that I wouldn't have SWU. Any insights on what I'd be eligible for or what I could do in terms of a Y- J upgrade would be great. As a non-AA OWE, if seats remain (although I doubt it for ORD-NRT), where would I fall in the pecking order for an op-up? (or are the chances basically nil?) And finally, I would assume I wouldn't be able to use QR miles right? Thanks in advance!

On long haul flights, AA doesn't offer any type of free elite op-up to business (except in the very rare instances where coach is oversold and they need to move a few folks from Y to J, but the chances of this are so slim that it's not even worth discussing).

Without a SWU, the only way you can request an upgrade is with AA miles and copay, 25k + $350 each way. You're correct that you can't use QR miles to upgrade on AA.

The only other possible option is a LFBU kiosk upgrade, which are basically upgrade offers for cash if there are still business seats open on the day of departure (after all upgrade requests have cleared). If space is open, these are typically offered when you check in online or at an airport kiosk, although in the past at NRT I have seen signs offering this in the Admirals Club as well.

UPGs aren't as easy as they used to be!
 

This sums up my experience to a T. I'm 3 for 13 this year (am DFW based, but flying to non-hub cities in most cases and many times on slower days of travel, Wed afternoons, Saturdays, etc). Used to hit 75-80% (was LGA/JFK based), now end up 2-5 on the list in most cases and have been as low as 10-15. My bigger frustration is lack of interest by in-flight staff in any thank you/recognition for EXP. Used to be very nice and offer to help me as they can (occasionally would give me full bottle of water, etc). Yesterday "No fresh food on plane!" was answer when I inquired about the cheese plate...and they seem annoyed I asked. I wonder if the flight attendants are as frustrated with the "New American" as the travelers. Will likely settle for PP next year as same day flight changes are the only real thing of value anymore. SWUs that used to once be useful are now down to 4...and nearly impossible to use except for DFW to Abilene type routes!

2 SWUs cleared for me and my wife for our flight NRT-ORD 4/7 roughly a few days in advance. Never received an email from AA. Alas it was my first time using SWUs, I was just happy they cleared. FWIW about $18k spent over the past 12 months.

My ORD-CDG just cleared yesterday for outbound flight on 5/3.

It's been a long time since I was elite, but I recently qualified to Platinum and wondering about my chances in general on a particular route of DFW-BDL. I don't have specific dates in mind yet, but just wondering if that's generally a route that I could hope to upgrade on with a companion. I have high EQD for a Plat (about 12K right now) but don't know if that's a heavily traveled route by EXPs/PPs such that my EQD won't even be a factor. Appreciate any advice.

With all due respect, you shouldn't even think about comparing BOS vs. BDL. Granted DFW is always tough for upgrades, but you'll have a much better success rate flying to smaller, lower-demand airports (e.g. BDL) as opposed to one of the toughest elite-upgrade routes (e.g. BOS-DFW, AUS-DFW, LGA-DFW, etc.). The upgrade will likely still be tough as you're still down a bit on the totem pole but I can't comment on that specific route given I've never flow in or out of BDL.

i had planned a last minute weekend trip to san juan and every single one of the 4 UPGs cleared at window and then today the entire island was hit with a power blackout lasting up to 36 hours, so i cancelled :(