I once had a situation where I got upgraded without asking, then found they had taken stickers from my account. They replaced them. Another time they were oversold in Y but undersold in F, so as a lowly gold I got a complimentary opup (domestic). In the LUS days they would backfill all the elites but still go out with F not full if there weren't enough elites on the flight.

in the pre-Parker era, I had it happen twice on int'l fights, but I wouldn't count on it happening now.

I was OPUP in May as a Plat (3 month promotion with my employer), when they needed my Y seat for a family to be able to sit together. I just smiled and thanked the GA. She smiled back and thanked me for my business. I don't expect this to happen again for at least another decade.

I know that I was making a joke.

Jeez uptight folks!

This is the sensible way that AA does it. Unlike United, which will sell upgrades at check in at constantly changing low prices (FT term is TODs - Tens of Dollars), when there is a long list on the upgrade list.

I flew a non-premium transcon this weekend (upgraded at booking using 15K + 75) and there were two empty seats, so I guess I would have cleared with 500s anyway. Who knew.

I was op-upped pretty often when I was Gold, but you won't be upgraded if the flight isn't overbooked.

The flight will go out with empty first class seats. I've flown a flight (obviously, over a decade ago) with 15 empty first class seats and my butt in the 16th. Needless to say, I got amazing service and had wonderful conversations with all of the FAs on the plane.

--woodstock

Years back I was flying a late night CLT/MIA flight and the only one in F. A bunch of young guys offered the F FA cash $$ to sit in F. She politely declined but could have made a little bit of money.

I never knew you had that option at booking. Good to know. ^

Yes you can upgrade with a combination of cash and miles and will clear before any complimentary upgrades. I assume miles/co pay clear like elite upgrades-status and then rolling 12 month spend. IIRC it includes up to three segments. A good deal for transcons when you might not want to pay the upgrade lottery, particularly if you aren't EXP. I'm debating for a SFO/PHX/MIA trip I have in January.

Non revs will be put in First. You will not be upgraded.

MCO-PHL went out 9/16 in F the other morning.

As a person who flies non-rev occasionally, the flights that have lots of empty F seats are the ones I try to get on(as you pointed out). But I have seen a couple off peak flights that went out with really light loads in F.