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Premium Economy Upgrade Request for EXP & CK [$0 for a limited time]

Premium Economy Upgrade Request for EXP & CK [$0 for a limited time]

Old Oct 27, 2018, 4:49 pm
  #31  
 
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Originally Posted by JonNYC
For CK/EP to get the comp upgrade to PE, they -must- make the request specifically and at the gate and basically would be best to stay in the gate area once requested.

No specific request, no PE upgrade. And staying in the lounge 'aint gonna work either, for this.
I can guarantee you many of the CK/EPs awaiting an SWU made a request for PE specifically at the gate (my friend certainly did with a few others), and the GA basically told them no "we've never heard of such a thing/not going to happen" even though there were 13 seats available. And they all stayed at the gate watching NRs clear into the PE seats. No, did they not go to back to the lounge.

So you're saying... the GA should have accommodated the request and they should have been cleared into PE?

Last edited by no2chem; Oct 27, 2018 at 5:04 pm
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Old Oct 27, 2018, 5:54 pm
  #32  
 
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Originally Posted by C17PSGR
Non-revs get whatever is left which can be really good or really bad. That's part of their compensation package and I don't begrudge them.

Looking at an upcoming LAX-HKG flight for a long weekend that I'm only taking because the fare is decent and I have plenty of SWU's. I'm only taking the trip because (well-if) I have the SWU's and see lots of J availability. I have over 30k in annualized spend so assume I'll be near the top of the upgrade list but ...never know who is buying at the last minute.

As to revs, can someone clarify whether an EXP booked in Y with a SWU pending can get upgraded to a vacant PE seat if the SWU doesn't clear?
I'm fine with non-revs getting whatever is left. But if CK/EP are supposed to get at-gate upgrades or at least LFBU sometimes, then its not OK for NRs to be ahead of that, and for GAs to lie about not accommodating CK/EP PE upgrade requests at the gate.

My suggestion is that if your SWU does not clear before check in, to call to cancel the upgrade request (it's pretty much impossible to remove once checked in). Then you can check in and -maybe- you'll be offered LFBU. Then you can re-add yourself back to the upgrade list.
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Old Oct 27, 2018, 7:08 pm
  #33  
 
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upgrade to PE is not an official policy, even paying with SWU...

what will end up instead if EP gets clear into PE and have SWU deducted, they will complain about to customer service about spending an SWU and not in J.

i thought the load to HKG is supposed to be low and easy to clear? how are these people become CK if they are flying economy?
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Old Oct 27, 2018, 7:19 pm
  #34  
 
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Originally Posted by pbd456
upgrade to PE is not an official policy, even paying with SWU...

what will end up instead if EP gets clear into PE and have SWU deducted, they will complain about to customer service about spending an SWU and not in J.

i thought the load to HKG is supposed to be low and easy to clear? how are these people become CK if they are flying economy?
It's not an official policy. But if Y is overbooked they should be moving rev from Y->PE before clearing non revs into it. And it seems there is "some" policy for upgrading CK/EP (see this thread
), its just scattered all over the place (try googling for if EPs get upgrades, for example).

BTW, IMO I think from AAs perspective this makes sense. PE is relatively new, and without trying AA PE, many might not think PE is any different and be willing to spend the extra $ on it... So here, I think it makes a lot of sense for AA to allow CK/EPs into PE over NRs.

As for HKG, depends on the date - some days J can be quite full, other days quite empty.

As for CKs, plenty of CKs fly economy occasionally, as spend is not a condition for being CK. I suspect some CKs may never actually pay for revenue J but AA has decided that they should have CK (maybe they are heavy influencers of corporate travel purchases, like a EA for a huge company, for example).

Last edited by no2chem; Oct 27, 2018 at 7:24 pm
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Old Oct 27, 2018, 7:22 pm
  #35  
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Originally Posted by pbd456
upgrade to PE is not an official policy, even paying with SWU...

what will end up instead if EP gets clear into PE and have SWU deducted, they will complain about to customer service about spending an SWU and not in J.

i thought the load to HKG is supposed to be low and easy to clear? how are these people become CK if they are flying economy?
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Old Oct 27, 2018, 7:54 pm
  #36  
 
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Originally Posted by no2chem
I guess there is one other explanation for this group other than being NR, it could be a bunch of passengers displaced from some other cancelled flight. But I checked all asia bound flights in AA yesterday, none of them were seriously delayed or cancelled.
Just because the Asia flights were on time doesn't mean these passengers weren't displaced. They could easily have been connecting passengers that had a late inbound causing them to misconnect.

Originally Posted by no2chem
It's not an official policy. But if Y is overbooked they should be moving rev from Y->PE before clearing non revs into it.
Y isn't overbooked. Non-revs are not confirmed reservations and don't get compensation if they miss the flight. Non-revs get the best seats available after all confirmed passengers have been accommodated in their confirmed class of service. AA isn't going to OpUp a Y passenger to PE just to place a non-rev in Y. The only time they will Op-Up a Y passenger is if there is another confirmed passenger they need to accommodate. The issue of whether SWU can be used to Y->PE is another discussion, which so far appears to be agent discretion and no formal AA policy. But right now your suggestion that Y was overbooked is completely wrong.
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Old Oct 27, 2018, 8:06 pm
  #37  
 
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Why are there so many non-rev pax getting on last second for this flight??? Is that a normal load for this group on a T-PAC flight?
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Old Oct 27, 2018, 8:08 pm
  #38  
 
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Originally Posted by Lux Flyer
Just because the Asia flights were on time doesn't mean these passengers weren't displaced. They could easily have been connecting passengers that had a late inbound causing them to misconnect.



Y isn't overbooked. Non-revs are not confirmed reservations and don't get compensation if they miss the flight. Non-revs get the best seats available after all confirmed passengers have been accommodated in their confirmed class of service. AA isn't going to OpUp a Y passenger to PE just to place a non-rev in Y. The only time they will Op-Up a Y passenger is if there is another confirmed passenger they need to accommodate. The issue of whether SWU can be used to Y->PE is another discussion, which so far appears to be agent discretion and no formal AA policy. But right now your suggestion that Y was overbooked is completely wrong.
Well, I guess you don't have to believe me, but they were NR, ok? And if they weren't NRs, then I guess Y was really overbooked by a lot

And hey, the claim they were overbooked in Y was given several times.by lounge agents and the GAs. So I'm not making things up. And there appears to be a non-official policy to upgrade EPs/CK, see above .

Last edited by no2chem; Oct 27, 2018 at 8:50 pm
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Old Oct 27, 2018, 9:01 pm
  #39  
 
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When this same issue popped up a couple of weeks ago, I thought the consensus was that nonrevs dont show on the upgrade list. In that case, the people at the bottom of the list were clearing from J to F. That's definitely not the case here since there aren't that many seats in F.

so ... if these aren't non revs, who were the people at the bottom of the list? Did CX have flight problems and move J pax over to AA? Maybe those pax were confirmed in Y but on standby for J since they had J tickets with CX
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Old Oct 27, 2018, 9:13 pm
  #40  
 
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Originally Posted by C17PSGR
When this same issue popped up a couple of weeks ago, I thought the consensus was that nonrevs dont show on the upgrade list. In that case, the people at the bottom of the list were clearing from J to F. That's definitely not the case here since there aren't that many seats in F.

so ... if these aren't non revs, who were the people at the bottom of the list? Did CX have flight problems and move J pax over to AA? Maybe those pax were confirmed in Y but on standby for J since they had J tickets with CX
I don't think there was a consensus in that thread. I think one guy claimed he was a NR and never appared on the upgrade list .which might be true if he only requested Y travel.

And no, CX flights yesterday out of LAX were not siginificantly delayed and none were cancelled.
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Old Oct 27, 2018, 9:38 pm
  #41  
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There's a difference between overbooked and oversold, but if Y had been oversold, why are there empty seats in Y on the final seat map?
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Old Oct 27, 2018, 9:49 pm
  #42  
 
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Like many AA benefits, the upgrade request will be inconsistently and subjectively implemented. Of course, you don't mention that.
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Old Oct 28, 2018, 6:31 am
  #43  
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Originally Posted by jcatman
Like many AA benefits, the upgrade request will be inconsistently and subjectively implemented. Of course, you don't mention that.
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Old Oct 28, 2018, 11:59 am
  #44  
 
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Originally Posted by no2chem
Well, I guess you don't have to believe me, but they were NR, ok? And if they weren't NRs, then I guess Y was really overbooked by a lot

And hey, the claim they were overbooked in Y was given several times.by lounge agents and the GAs. So I'm not making things up. And there appears to be a non-official policy to upgrade EPs/CK, see above .
I wasn't saying I didn't believe you about them being NR. I was responding to the point where you said they couldn't be displaced passengers because all Asia flights were without significant IRROPs.

They might be claiming that, but the fact non-revs got on that flight, and went out with many seats empty means it was not oversold.

The last reference to that non-official policy was in July, 3 months ago. That policy could have very well changed if AA reevaluated theirs stance, or the GA could have not been aware of the policy, or they were but willingly ignored it. I highly doubt they would ignore the policy in order to displace 13 passengers from the better seats as that would raise a ton of red flags. Yes I can see a gate agent doing it for 1 or 2 friends who are non-rev as that would fly under the radar pretty easily, but not 13 passengers. So either AA has changed the policy or the gate agent was unaware of this "unofficial policy". The problem with unofficial policies is they can be changed without ever making an announcement about it, leading to confusion such as this. The solution is that it should be written as an official policy if that is what the practice is. That way there is clear expectations for both the gate agents and passengers. As of right now, there is no way to definitively say whether what the GA did was a violation of AA policy, or if you were correctly denied placement into a PE seat because there is no official policy dictating how it should be handled.
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Old Oct 28, 2018, 12:06 pm
  #45  
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AA needs to add tabs on the upgrade list

Y to J
J to F (if applicable)
Y to PE (if applicable)

Would solve so much costernation.
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