Dec 17, 2017, 12:15 pm

FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides

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
1. Concierge Key
  - Executive Platinum
    - Platinum Pro
      Platinum
      Gold
- Upgrade type
  1. Miles and copay award upgrades and systemwide upgrades (SWU)
    - 500 mile upgrades on purchased tickets
      500 mile upgrades on upgrade eligible awards)
  - Elite qualifying dollars in the past 12 months
    - Booking class
      - Time of request"

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)

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Sep 19, 2018 | 5:00 pm

#586

gizayabasu

Join Date: Dec 2015

Programs: AA EXP, UA Silver, Marriott Plat, SPG Plat, IHG Plat, Hilton Gold, Hyatt Discoverist

Posts: 81

Quote:

Originally Posted by enviroian

Yep.

I DO mind waitlisting but all the AA apologists will say I’m being dramatic or that annoying “YMMV”.

SWU redeemability at booking has dropped considerably.

Yeah, that's why I have doubts about "it will clear for sure." Makes no sense that they've halved the number of SWUs you get but there's less availability.

Sep 19, 2018 | 5:19 pm

#587

adambadam

Join Date: Jul 2006

Location: California

Programs: AA EXP, lowly UA 1K; Hyatt Diamond, SPG Gold, Hilton Gold; National EC, Hertz PC

Posts: 2,227

Quote:

Originally Posted by gizayabasu

Yeah, that's why I have doubts about "it will clear for sure." Makes no sense that they've halved the number of SWUs you get but there's less availability.

They took out huge chunks of their premium capacity. Not too crazy really.

Sep 19, 2018 | 5:27 pm

#588

bse118

Original Poster

Join Date: Dec 2010

Location: DEN

Programs: AA EXP, AA Million Miles, Hilton Diamond

Posts: 2,925

This weeks flights:

DEN-CLT, Sunday morning, A321 - cleared at ~26hrs
CLT-MCO, Sunday afternoon, A321 - flight cancelled due to Florence more than 24 hours in advance (before the upgrade cleared)

So rebooked myself DEN-DFW-MCO - with both flights in first

MCO-DFW, Wednesday morning, A321, cleared at 100hrs
DFW-DEN, Wednesday afternoon, A321, did not clear was 4th on list

So I'm counting that as 3 for 4.

Last edited by bse118; Sep 19, 2018 at 5:47 pm Reason: typo

Sep 19, 2018 | 5:36 pm

#589

enviroian

Suspended

Join Date: Nov 2003

Location: Wesley Chapel, FL

Programs: American Airlines

Posts: 31,464

Quote:

Originally Posted by bse118

This weeks flights:

DEN-CLT, Sunday morning, A321 - cleared at ~26hrs
CLT-MCO, Sunday afternoon, A321 - flight cancelled due to Florence more than 24 hours in advance (before the upgrade cleared)

So rebooked myself DEN-DFW-MCO - which both flights in first

MCO-DFW, Wednesday morning, A321, cleared at 100hrs
DFW-DEN, Wednesday afternoon, A321, did not clear was 4th on list

So I'm counting that as 3 for 4.

How is your upgrade percentage for DFW-XXX flights?

Sep 19, 2018 | 5:47 pm

#590

bse118

Original Poster

Join Date: Dec 2010

Location: DEN

Programs: AA EXP, AA Million Miles, Hilton Diamond

Posts: 2,925

Quote:

Originally Posted by enviroian

How is your upgrade percentage for DFW-XXX flights?

Don't have a specific % number for yah - but I don't feel like it is any worse (or better) than my other hub connections.

Sep 19, 2018 | 6:20 pm

#591

enviroian

Suspended

Join Date: Nov 2003

Location: Wesley Chapel, FL

Programs: American Airlines

Posts: 31,464

Quote:

Originally Posted by bse118

Don't have a specific % number for yah - but I don't feel like it is any worse (or better) than my other hub connections.

I would think your upgrade chances would be pretty good out of here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Grande-4_Airport

Sep 20, 2018 | 8:36 am

#592

bse118

Original Poster

Join Date: Dec 2010

Location: DEN

Programs: AA EXP, AA Million Miles, Hilton Diamond

Posts: 2,925

Quote:

Originally Posted by enviroian

I would think your upgrade chances would be pretty good out of here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Grande-4_Airport

Nope - only service there is on CR2s

Sep 24, 2018 | 11:57 am

#593

aztimm

Moderator: American AAdvantage, Travel Safety/Security & Texas, FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Sep 2006

Location: AUS / GRK

Programs: AA, HHonors, Hertz

Posts: 13,968

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlightNurse

When I was looking for a trip to PVG I was seeing more open seats on the LAX-PVG_LAX route then through DFW.

Thanks for the feedback!

I just got an Expert Flyer notification today, and logged into my booking...was unavailable, so I called. They said the upgrade cleared for the LAX-PVG segment. They have to re-issue and I'll get another email. I did ask about the return, and they said the cabin is pretty open, but this is for late Nov travel, so anything can happen.
Always nice to start a trip in an upgraded cabin ^

(if anyone else is interested, EF is showing C=5 for this date, shoot me a PM)

enviroian likes this.

Sep 24, 2018 | 1:15 pm

#594

bse118

Original Poster

Join Date: Dec 2010

Location: DEN

Programs: AA EXP, AA Million Miles, Hilton Diamond

Posts: 2,925

This week's flights:

DEN-CLT - complimentary - A321, Monday midday, cleared at ~30 hours
CLT-LHR - Y--->J SWU, - A333, Monday early evening (AA730), cleared off the waitlist at ~4 hours before the flight

(Normally wouldn't bother ugrading such a short TATL, but I've got a long day of further travel on the other side of it)

For the record - still 100% on SWU's (and other intl upgrade instruments) during my years as EXP. Over just the last five weeks - I've cleared LAX-HND, NRT-DFW, and CLT-LHR off the waitlist.

aztimm and fotographer like this.

Sep 25, 2018 | 10:52 am

#595

infinite97

Join Date: Jan 2015

Location: PDX

Programs: AA EXP, HHonors Diamond, Avis First

Posts: 99

I have multiple international flights ahead, can anyone provide any insight?

09-29 - 2577 / 70 - PDX > DFW > FRA - miles upgrade waitlisted

EDIT: my DFW > FRA upgrade cleared last night around 11 hours before departure. Missed the PDX > DFW, though. Ugh.

10-06 - 71 / 2528 - FRA > DFW > PDX - miles upgrade waitlisted

EDIT: my FRA > DFW upgrade cleared early this morning, ~60 hours before departure. DFW > PDX cleared ~24 hours out

10-10 - 6088 / 108 - PDX > LAX > LHR - SWU waitlisted (2 passengers together)

EDIT: PDX > LAX segment cleared at 100 hours, LAX > LHR cleared today ~30 hours before the flight, had to split PNR

10-17 - 135 / 6044 - LHR > LAX > PDX - SWU waitlisted (2 passengers together)

Thanks

Last edited by infinite97; Oct 9, 2018 at 5:28 pm

Sep 25, 2018 | 12:08 pm

#596

flyingeph12

Join Date: Jan 2012

Programs: AY+ Plat, Marriott Plat, Hyatt Discoverist

Posts: 2,846

Quote:

Originally Posted by infinite97

I have multiple international flights ahead, can anyone provide any insight?

09-29 - 2577 / 70 - PDX > DFW > FRA - miles upgrade waitlisted
10-06 - 71 / 2528 - FRA > DFW > PDX - miles upgrade waitlisted

10-10 - 6088 / 108 - PDX > LAX > LHR - SWU waitlisted (2 passengers together)
10-17 - 135 / 6044 - LHR > LAX > PDX - SWU waitlisted (2 passengers together)

Thanks

2577 (9/29): J3 D3 I3 Y7 B7 H7 K7 M7 L7 G7 V7 S7N7 Q7 O7 E0
70 (9/29): J7 R7 D5 I3 W1 P0 Y7 B7 H7 K7 M7 L7G7 V7 S7 N7 Q7 O7 E7
71 (10/6): J6 R3 D0 I0 W3 P0 Y7 B7 H7 K7 M7 L7G7 V5 S1 N6 Q5 O2 E0
2528 (10/6): J5 D0 I0 Y7 B7 H7 K7 M7 L7 G7 V5 S1N6 Q5 O2 E0
6088 (10/10): J7 D7 I7 Y7 B7 H7 K7 M7 L7 G7 V7 S7N7 Q7 O7 E0
108 (10/10): J2 R1 D0 I0 Y7 B7 H7 K7 M7 L7 G7 V7S7 N7 Q7 O7 E5
135 (10/17): F2 A0 J7 R7 D7 I7 W0 P0 Y7 B7 H7 K7M7 L7 G7 V7 S7 N7 Q7 O7 E0
6044 (10/17): J7 D7 I7 Y7 B7 H7 K7 M7 L7 G7 V7 S7N7 Q7 O7 E1

I think you have a decent shot at the DFW-FRA upgrade on 9/29, and maybe the return on 10/6, although too early to tell with that one. 108 looks like it will be tough, especially since there are fewer J seats on the 789s. I think 135 will also be tough, but more J seats so your chances might be better there.

infinite97 likes this.

Sep 27, 2018 | 5:46 am

#597

IADCAflyer

Join Date: Sep 2000

Location: DCA/IAD

Programs: AA EXP; 1W Emerald; HHonors Diamond; Marriott Gold; UA dirt

Posts: 8,962

Here's a question on upgrades. I know the pecking order is by FF status level and then the first divider within a given status level is your rolling 12 month EQD spend. My question is what does AA view as view your EQD spend? I know you can get $3000 or even $6000 in EQD spend credit by hitting certain spend levels with the Barclays cards (at least with the silver card). So, if you spent $4100 in a 12 month period on AA flights and you happened to have spent $30,000 in credit card (yielding you a $3,000 EQD credit), does the upgrade queue and system view your EQD as being $4,100 or $7,100?

In other words does AA system know your butt in seat EQD is $4,100 or $7,100?

Sep 27, 2018 | 7:25 am

#598

econometrics

Join Date: May 2011

Location: DFW

Programs: AA EXP, LT Gold

Posts: 3,158

Quote:

Originally Posted by IADCAflyer

In other words does AA system know your butt in seat EQD is $4,100 or $7,100?

Credit card earned EQD is counted just like BIS EQD. So, in your case, AA would see $7100.

Sep 28, 2018 | 8:31 am

#599

car_wash_guy

Join Date: Nov 2017

Programs: AAdvantage

Posts: 26

Quick question:

I recently became Platinum Pro, and booked a flight to MCO with my 2 kids. Being only 2 weeks out there weren't many options for seats together so I choose some economy and some MCE seats, but luckily all together.

I'm not seeing an option to request an upgrade? Neither when I booked or now. Is it just because it's automatically requested or something else? Thanks

Sep 28, 2018 | 9:05 am

#600

snardy

Join Date: Oct 2016

Programs: AA Platinum

Posts: 29

I am flying today on AA 163, DCA-LAX. I see two empty seat available in J, but they still have not processed my 500 mile upgrade request. The flight begins boarding in 6 hours.

What are my odds? I'm flying on a paid Y fare, PLAT status, $9600+ spend YTD.

Is there anything I can do to get them to clear my upgrade? Does PLAT customer service have the ability to process it?