Dec 17, 2017, 12:15 pm
Last edit by: aztimm
Chances of Upgrade Request Clearing
NOTE: Be aware of recent (20 May 2017) upgrade priority changes."New Upgrade Priority as of 20 May 2017
(Upgrades were prioritized by elite status and then time of request until 20 May 2017)
- Elite status
- Concierge Key
- Executive Platinum
- Platinum Pro
- Platinum
- Gold
- Platinum
- Platinum Pro
- Executive Platinum
- Upgrade type
- Miles and copay award upgrades and systemwide upgrades (SWU)
- 500 mile upgrades on purchased tickets
- 500 mile upgrades on upgrade eligible awards)
- 500 mile upgrades on purchased tickets
- Elite qualifying dollars in the past 12 months
- Booking class
- Time of request"
- Booking class
- Miles and copay award upgrades and systemwide upgrades (SWU)
- Concierge Key
See Upgrade Priority Changes to Status, Rolling 365 Day EQD Spend May 20 2017
Link to Gary Leff, View From the Wing 16 May 2017
Updated 17 Dec 2017 by aztimm
Chances of Upgrade Clearing and Availability (2018 master thread)
Sep 1, 2018 | 6:12 am
#541
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 15,192
An EXP on an award ticket is behind CK/EXPs on paid tickets, but still ahead of all other elite groups.
Sep 1, 2018 | 9:49 am
#542
Moderator: Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 13,641
Sep 1, 2018 | 3:32 pm
#543
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New York, NY
Programs: AA EXP & 1MM, SkyTeam Gold, *A Gold, Hilton Gold, Starwood Gold, mother's favorite son
Posts: 333
Help: Best time of day for BOS-LAX & LAX-HNL?
Wondering if a wise mind can help?
Im Plat Pro but live in Australia so I have no experience of domestic upgrade odds, last-minute J demand, or general load factors on these routes.
Two of us are traveling with one-year old lap infants, so the upgrade makes a HUGE difference. Need to book BOS-LAX midweek Tue, Wed or Thu, Oct 23-25 and LAX-HNL on Fri, Sat or Sun, Oct 25-27. Can take any day or flight time. Just want to maximize chances of at least one of us clearing.
My intuition tells me Wednesday evening might be a solid bet for the transcon (or Wed morning?) and Saturday evening might be best for Hawaii. My eyes dont detect a consistent pattern on Expertflyer, but yours might.
a) does a lap infant decrease my chances?
b) any experience with what time of day clears best for Boston to LA?
c) is LA to Honolulu a good bet, as a leisure route? Would OGG be better? When do elites leave for vacation, and when shouldnt I?
Any help appreciated. Thanks!
Im Plat Pro but live in Australia so I have no experience of domestic upgrade odds, last-minute J demand, or general load factors on these routes.
Two of us are traveling with one-year old lap infants, so the upgrade makes a HUGE difference. Need to book BOS-LAX midweek Tue, Wed or Thu, Oct 23-25 and LAX-HNL on Fri, Sat or Sun, Oct 25-27. Can take any day or flight time. Just want to maximize chances of at least one of us clearing.
My intuition tells me Wednesday evening might be a solid bet for the transcon (or Wed morning?) and Saturday evening might be best for Hawaii. My eyes dont detect a consistent pattern on Expertflyer, but yours might.
a) does a lap infant decrease my chances?
b) any experience with what time of day clears best for Boston to LA?
c) is LA to Honolulu a good bet, as a leisure route? Would OGG be better? When do elites leave for vacation, and when shouldnt I?
Any help appreciated. Thanks!
Sep 2, 2018 | 10:48 am
#544
Join Date: Jun 2009
Programs: AA EXP. HH DIAMOND.
Posts: 258
Sep 2, 2018 | 11:42 am
#545
Join Date: May 2011
Location: SBA
Programs: DL Platinum, UA Silver
Posts: 328
Wondering if a wise mind can help?
Im Plat Pro but live in Australia so I have no experience of domestic upgrade odds, last-minute J demand, or general load factors on these routes.
Two of us are traveling with one-year old lap infants, so the upgrade makes a HUGE difference. Need to book BOS-LAX midweek Tue, Wed or Thu, Oct 23-25 and LAX-HNL on Fri, Sat or Sun, Oct 25-27. Can take any day or flight time. Just want to maximize chances of at least one of us clearing.
My intuition tells me Wednesday evening might be a solid bet for the transcon (or Wed morning?) and Saturday evening might be best for Hawaii. My eyes dont detect a consistent pattern on Expertflyer, but yours might.
a) does a lap infant decrease my chances?
b) any experience with what time of day clears best for Boston to LA?
c) is LA to Honolulu a good bet, as a leisure route? Would OGG be better? When do elites leave for vacation, and when shouldnt I?
Any help appreciated. Thanks!
Im Plat Pro but live in Australia so I have no experience of domestic upgrade odds, last-minute J demand, or general load factors on these routes.
Two of us are traveling with one-year old lap infants, so the upgrade makes a HUGE difference. Need to book BOS-LAX midweek Tue, Wed or Thu, Oct 23-25 and LAX-HNL on Fri, Sat or Sun, Oct 25-27. Can take any day or flight time. Just want to maximize chances of at least one of us clearing.
My intuition tells me Wednesday evening might be a solid bet for the transcon (or Wed morning?) and Saturday evening might be best for Hawaii. My eyes dont detect a consistent pattern on Expertflyer, but yours might.
a) does a lap infant decrease my chances?
b) any experience with what time of day clears best for Boston to LA?
c) is LA to Honolulu a good bet, as a leisure route? Would OGG be better? When do elites leave for vacation, and when shouldnt I?
Any help appreciated. Thanks!
I cant speak to the LAX-HNL part of the question, but I can tell you that even off-peak, BOS-LAX is a nearly impossible upgrade if you arent a very high spend EXP or CK... Lots of paid F on that route in addition to a high elite concentration.
Of any of them, the 12:28 P.M. and 2:52 P.M. flights are probably your best chances with Wednesday being the best day.
Sep 3, 2018 | 4:30 pm
#546
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: COU
Programs: AA EXP, Bonvoy Ambassador, Hertz PC
Posts: 499
Hehe, yeah that's cause guys like me (18k EXP) figure we're hosed otherwise and shell out the $75/15k to jump you on the list ;-) I pulled that move successfully twice this year on that LAX-DFW route. Pretty much any mid- or transcon with a lie-flat I'll go ahead and ask for the miles/copay waitlist right after I book.
Sep 3, 2018 | 5:34 pm
#547
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: COU
Programs: AA EXP, Bonvoy Ambassador, Hertz PC
Posts: 499
No status, a family member requested mileage upgrades for me for a PEK-LAX-BOS flight three months ago. LAX-BOS cleared immediately, the PEK-LAX leg cleared now at about a week before for me. There are at least 15 seats still available in J, so I guess they decided I'd waited enough?
Sounds like you always book well in advance, and thus benefited from the old system where the list was ordered by booking time. I'm right at your level of spend, but usually book very late; my upgrade success doubled when they changed to EQD. Currently at ~82% for the year.
Sep 4, 2018 | 5:59 am
#548
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 15,192
You can request a miles/copay upgrade for anyone really (with the miles pulled from your account). If you're not traveling together then the waitlist position will always be based on the status of the passenger, not the person who's account the miles are pulled from (nothing in the previous post indicated the passenger inherited the gifter's status, just that the upgrades cleared).
Sep 4, 2018 | 8:11 am
#549
Join Date: May 2011
Location: DFW
Programs: AA EXP, LT Gold
Posts: 3,158
You can request a miles/copay upgrade for anyone really (with the miles pulled from your account). If you're not traveling together then the waitlist position will always be based on the status of the passenger, not the person who's account the miles are pulled from (nothing in the previous post indicated the passenger inherited the gifter's status, just that the upgrades cleared).
https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-p...am-updates.jsp
AA Adds New Companion Upgrades Policy 5 May 2018
Sep 4, 2018 | 9:11 am
#550
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 663
How do you check a particular flight upgrade waitlist? Interested to know about Oct 13 DFW-HKG and Oct 20 HKG-DFW
Sep 4, 2018 | 9:33 am
#553
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: SFO
Programs: AA EXP, SPG / Marriott GLD, HHonors GLD
Posts: 523
No. AA is a lot less transparent about these lists than UA or DL. You won't be able to see the list (and your position on it) until T-4 hours
A friendly AAgent on the phone line or in the club may be able to give you an idea of how it's looking but I've never seen them tell me straight up how many are in front of me.
A friendly AAgent on the phone line or in the club may be able to give you an idea of how it's looking but I've never seen them tell me straight up how many are in front of me.
Sep 4, 2018 | 12:13 pm
#554
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: SNA
Posts: 18,599
Planning to go to Toyko for Thanksgiving. No SWUs available for last 5 months I've been monitoring. Seats occupied in business to and from LA are below. Thoughts on chances if we just buy now?
Sep 4, 2018 | 1:17 pm
#555
Join Date: Dec 2016
Posts: 1,485
it's great. My departure flight cleared. Now just waiting for returning flight. Still quite a lot of opening with 11 days to go.