DeltaFlyingProf

I had a very frustrating situation today. I have a confirmed first class ticket in the afternoon. It's an I class fare and same day confirmed can only be done if there's I class available.
I'm fine with that, though I think AA should have more flexibility (maybe as long as there's D clas?)
In any case, only 1 seat in J was available. So I go standby.
At the gate, I am #1 on standby. There are people on the upgrade list.

Results: The GA upgrades one paid economy passenger and offers me a seat in Y. I refused.
It was explained to me that I would have had to be confirmed on the flight before they look at my standby. They do the upgrades to first before they look at standby, even if your standby is for first.

If this is really the correct procedure, I'm not going to buy any more domestic first tickets. I pay 3x the amount of the Y ticket and end up worse off than if I had bought the Y ticket and done a SDFC the day before in economy and then I would have most likely been at the top of the upgrade list like I usually am.

If you want more of my money, AA, process first class standbys BEFORE doing upgrades!

BThumme

As frustrating as it is, that is the correct procedure. I also agree AA needs to be more flexible for switching, that's why I moved back to United.

DeltaFlyingProf

I just had the AC agent who had explained the procedure as I describe in the firs post, come to me and apologize. Apparently no, it is not the correct procedure. She said I should have been 'RF' and not 'RV' and should have gotten that seat.
So if someone else knows this well and knows how to avoid being in the wrong standby category, please let us know.

BThumme

It's the correct policy. AA upgrades confirmed passengers first, then processes standbys. Processessing standbys is usually the very last thing AA does, and by the time you were processed, the upgrade was cleared and you were offered a Y seat.

3Cforme

If you want to SDC into any open F seat irrespective of paid class, fly Delta: that's Delta's policy, not AA's.

Catbert10

It's the correct policy for the GA to process Y->J upgrades before processing standbys into Y. The OP is saying that standbys into J should have been processed before Y->J upgrades, which has been my (limited) experience.

AANYC1981

I was flying ORD-LGA very recently and on the bubble for the UPG. I ended up missing it because they took two FC stand by passengers. Based on the amount of seats available and my position on the UPG list I should have gotten the UPG, but since they took the two paid FC stand bys I was out of luck. GA confirmed this because I went to check on my chances and she said there are two people not on the UPG list that will make you miss the UPG.

869

Yeah, I've seen that happen...Showed up for a recent LGA-DFW flight and was early, so I SDFC to earlier flight since there was a decent Y seat open. End up like no. 3 or 4 on The List with only one seat open. In the process of SDFC, agent mentioned to me that no one would clear because they had a full fare F who is CK that was ticketed on my original flight but wanted the seat on the earlier. Of course, that makes zero sense but it wasn't my seat to lose so I just went on with my day. Ultimately watched the lady who was #1 go up and ask for the upgrade as boarding began only to be told no with the same nonsense explanation.

Anyways, I agree that AA makes it really difficult to make day-of changes after buying any discounted F fare and it can be extremely frustrating!

mvoight

I am confused. If you are doing a SDFC, they you are confirmed into the flight.
If you are #3 or #4 on a list, then you are doing standby, not SDFC.........or am I missing something?

arlflyer

Was wondering the same thing.

My understanding was that a flight change was a flight change and standby was standby, very different things. AA.com uses the term "confirmed flight change" and then on the same page delineates it from standby.

869

Sorry to confuse, I was booked in Y on that one and wanted to get home sooner. So I SDFC into Y and then fell to 3 or 4 on the upgrade list. Was just telling the story about the BS the GA was telling customers about the upgrade situation. I don't know who took the last seat in F but they were not on the upgrade list.

tismfu

Agree that the policy needs tweaking:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29182003-post687.html

ibrandsguest

I had the same thing happen to me; I had a paid first class ticket and wanted to go standby, but the gate agent upgraded a coach passenger and then offered me a coach seat. I refused.

AA's customer service gave me some compensation for that and apologized. I don't think that what happened to me was the correct procedure (and I think that AA admitted that it was not correct when it offered compensation to me).

There is another thread on FT about this situation (late November) and I believe that some posters said that the agent is using an incorrect PALL code or something if s/he processes upgrades for coach passengers before clearing FC standbys.

DeltaFlyingProf

I won't fly Delta because Delta kept lying to me for years until I left so they couldn't lie to me anymore. I don't trust them as a business entity, given the amount of lies they tried to feed me.

DeltaFlyingProf

As I've posted before your post, an AAngel came to me to apologize, confirming it had NOT been done according to the book. We're not talking about doing a standby with a Y ticket and then wanting to be upgraded as an ExP before Plats. We're talking someone with a paid first class ticket (discount, but still first).
Right.
Tweaking, or it has been tweaked and needs to be applied properly.

You experienced the same thing I did.
Your experience with customer service seems to confirm what the AAngel told me after she did some research. I will complain and see if I will get some official apology (and possibly compensation).

In summary, it seems that a lot of agents do things incorrectly. Could jonNYC chime in? Maybe he can confirm what should be, if he has access to that info.