I'm Plat Pro and my upgrade cleared on LIT-DFW at 100 hours which it usually does, no surprise there (short Eagle RJ flight). But when I went to select my seat I saw something I've never seen before and had a good laugh :

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...a65e973b45.png

My flight yesterday from PBI had 26 people on it - 5 in first and rest in coach on an E175. Haven't seen that in years.

Follow up: I sent AA a message and was pretty impressed that not only did they answer fairly promptly but called me after I noted that they really didn't answer my question, which was more about how the list works rather than my unique situation (their first answer was a generic "why others were upgraded over you" response but my question was more about why they did not follow their list). Basically they said it is complicated but after looking closer at this flight there were probably some given the upgrade over others out of order but that is done at the gate. I did not ask the gate agent about my status on the upgrade list as I figure they have more important things to do than answer the same question from 50 passengers, especially when they have a list that is supposed to be what they point to when discussing upgrade order. I guess it does pay to be a squeaky wheel? Anyway, the AA customer rep was polite as was I and I appreciated their responding to my question. Being platinum I still will be on the bottom of the upgrade lists, considering I got 2 upgrades in 2018 and both were on small market, regional flights.

12/21:

DFW-ORD AA2418 (788). Did not clear, was #4 on the upgrade list at the gate.

ORD-BOS AA2682 (738). Cleared about 8 hours before departure.

I’m a PLT with about 3400 of rolling EQD (got the status through challenge).

The other parts of your post were well addressed, but nobody responded on this point, so: SWU and miles+copay are equivalent from a list order perspective.

Did they give you a reasonable answer in said prompt response?

Oh, so...I guess not. Well, hopefully their call cleared things up?

Are you saying the person on the phone actually confirmed that the gate agents didn't follow policy when processing upgrades? Most of us here seem to think it pretty unlikely that policy was violated, and even if it was it seems really unlikely that a customer service rep would call and volunteer that information.

In what way did being a squeaky wheel pay? Did they give you something?

So....you appreciated them responding...when they apparently just blew you off but did in fact confirm that they did the list wrong. I have to say, nothing in this story makes much sense.

I'm flying JFK-HKG on 12/25 connecting through LAX.
AA Platinum with > $6,400 EQD

AA133 - JFK-LAX - Full Fare Y - I think chances are slim / none
F6 A6 J1 D1 I1 Y5 B5 H5 K5 M5 L3 G5V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0 E0

AA133 - LAX-HKG - P Class - upgrade cleared over a month out, but have a friend traveling on the same itinerary with a linked record locator so will inherit my status, but hasn't cleared
F2 A0 J7 R7 D7 I7 W5 P5 Y2 B0 H2 K2M2 L1 G2 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0 E0

Update - J went down from 14 to 4 :(

12/25 AA2834 H-Fare DTW-DFW cleared right at T-100

SWU clear chance for US cities to/from EZE.
 

Happy Holidays!

I'm an AA EXP based in SF. My spouse and I plan to visit Buenos Aires during Veterans long weekend 2019. I still have 4 SWU on hand.
Based on your experience, just wondering which route is easier to clear SWUs. MAI-EZE, DFW-EZE or JFK-EZE (vice versa)?

Please help! Thank you.

I'm flying LHR>LAX Jan. 1, and there are currently 19 seats open in J. I'm pretty surprised our upgrades haven't cleared, given it's a holiday, and so many seats are available. I'd think that there won't be many business travelers likely to purchase last minute J on Jan. 1. Are folks seeing SWUs clear at the one-week mark in circumstances like this one, or is it all over the map?

I've never seen a magic "1 week" mark with regards to AA releasing C space, more like a magic 24-48 hrs before mark.

That said, for a route like LHR-LAX it's not surprising you haven't been cleared yet in spite of a wide open J cabin. AA's upgrade algorithms typically don't differentiate between a holiday and normal day IME.

Flying ORD-LHR last week, J cabin was showing wide open, only 5 of 28 seats booked for weeks out and of course zero last minute paid J travel at this time of year. No C space until around 30 hrs out when it went to C7 of course.

First year making EXP and looking forward to using the 4 SWUs.

Just booked a vacation for wife and I in April 2019 for the following segments. Want to use SWUs on the flights marked with asterisks below:

DEN-PHL
PHL-FCO*

FCO-ORD*
ORD-DEN

Nothing showing available at booking for SWUs on those legs, and EF has 0 C available (although seat map shows 16 biz seats unoccupied/unblocked on both long haul segments).

Anyone had any luck with getting SWUs cleared on either of those legs (for two people)? If so, how soon? And I have yet to call EXP desk to request the upgrades on those flight segments as I just bought the tix and they've yet to be "ticketed". As soon as they are, I plan to contact and request to be put on waitlist.

Thanks!

I've been looking at SFO-CDG flights for 2019 in March, May, June, late August---my usual flight dates, more or less. AA is showing only stuff like SFO-LAX upgrades as available now. Couldn't find a single international upgrade available at booking, except for a couple of CDG-PHL in Jan. Is anyone else having this problem? I would
like to book and be done now, especially since a couple of friends have offered me their expiring SWU's, as well.