No Upgrade with Gold (Empty first class seats)
Dec 1, 2018, 6:13 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2018
Posts: 12
No Upgrade with Gold (Empty first class seats)
Hello Fellow Flyers,
Had a rather unpleasant experience yesterday with American and wondering if someone can offer some insight. I currently have Gold Status and was flying from Charlotte, NC to Mexico City (over 500 miles). I asked the Gate Agent if there were any first class seats available and was told yes, but that I would have to use my 500-mile upgrades to pay for it. Even if the seats sat empty, they would not upgrade me to first class unless I paid using 500-mile upgrades. After dealing with a rude and unhelpful gate agent, I finally conceded to sit in the main cabin. When boarding the plane I again asked the Flight Attendant if it was true that they would let the seats in First Class sit empty rather than upgrading someone with Gold Status for free, they confirmed this was true. Is this really the case??
Had a rather unpleasant experience yesterday with American and wondering if someone can offer some insight. I currently have Gold Status and was flying from Charlotte, NC to Mexico City (over 500 miles). I asked the Gate Agent if there were any first class seats available and was told yes, but that I would have to use my 500-mile upgrades to pay for it. Even if the seats sat empty, they would not upgrade me to first class unless I paid using 500-mile upgrades. After dealing with a rude and unhelpful gate agent, I finally conceded to sit in the main cabin. When boarding the plane I again asked the Flight Attendant if it was true that they would let the seats in First Class sit empty rather than upgrading someone with Gold Status for free, they confirmed this was true. Is this really the case??
Dec 1, 2018, 6:17 pm
#2
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: New York City + Vail, CO
Programs: American Airlines Executive Platinum, Marriott Bonvoy Ambassador Elite
Posts: 3,226
Yes, this is true. Fly Delta if you always want space available upgrades.
Dec 1, 2018, 6:26 pm
#3
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: New York
Programs: AA Exp / Marriott Titanium / Hilton Gold / Hyatt Globalist / United Silver
Posts: 958
Hello Fellow Flyers,
Had a rather unpleasant experience yesterday with American and wondering if someone can offer some insight. I currently have Gold Status and was flying from Charlotte, NC to Mexico City (over 500 miles). I asked the Gate Agent if there were any first class seats available and was told yes, but that I would have to use my 500-mile upgrades to pay for it. Even if the seats sat empty, they would not upgrade me to first class unless I paid using 500-mile upgrades. After dealing with a rude and unhelpful gate agent, I finally conceded to sit in the main cabin. When boarding the plane I again asked the Flight Attendant if it was true that they would let the seats in First Class sit empty rather than upgrading someone with Gold Status for free, they confirmed this was true. Is this really the case??
Had a rather unpleasant experience yesterday with American and wondering if someone can offer some insight. I currently have Gold Status and was flying from Charlotte, NC to Mexico City (over 500 miles). I asked the Gate Agent if there were any first class seats available and was told yes, but that I would have to use my 500-mile upgrades to pay for it. Even if the seats sat empty, they would not upgrade me to first class unless I paid using 500-mile upgrades. After dealing with a rude and unhelpful gate agent, I finally conceded to sit in the main cabin. When boarding the plane I again asked the Flight Attendant if it was true that they would let the seats in First Class sit empty rather than upgrading someone with Gold Status for free, they confirmed this was true. Is this really the case??
Dec 1, 2018, 6:28 pm
#4
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: DCA
Programs: UA US CO AA DL FL
Posts: 50,262
What do you mean "you conceded to sit in...?" You paid for a Y seat and agreed to sit in the cabin you paid for because you were unwilling to pay for a seat in F/J using 500-mile stickers which AA gives out as a freebie in the first place.
If you read the program rules, you will see that AA only gives freebie UG's to Gold and Plats for flights of <500 miles. Yours was longer.
If you read the program rules, you will see that AA only gives freebie UG's to Gold and Plats for flights of <500 miles. Yours was longer.
Dec 1, 2018, 6:28 pm
#5
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Arizona
Posts: 5,689
You should be in delighted you had a chance to upgrade with gold. Gold has been devalued to aluminum status.
Dec 1, 2018, 6:31 pm
#6
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: AA Executive Platinum/Million Miler, Marriott Titanium Elite-Lifetime, Hilton Gold
Posts: 3,212
Correct. I'm having a hard time understanding why you didn't want to use or buy 500-mile stickers on a flight this long. It's nearly impossible to upgrade as a Gold on any flight, let alone a longer flight like this, so I would have jumped at the chance to upgrade.
Also, how exactly was the gate agent unhelpful? It sounds like she explained how to upgrade if you wanted to.
Also, how exactly was the gate agent unhelpful? It sounds like she explained how to upgrade if you wanted to.
Dec 1, 2018, 6:45 pm
#7
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: New York City + Vail, CO
Programs: American Airlines Executive Platinum, Marriott Bonvoy Ambassador Elite
Posts: 3,226
AA will do cabin rolls in the event that the main cabin is oversold and there are seats in premium economy, business or first class, but it doesn't sound like this is the case.
Dec 1, 2018, 6:46 pm
#8
Moderator: American AAdvantage, Travel Safety/Security & Texas, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: AUS / GRK
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Posts: 13,488
Dec 1, 2018, 7:11 pm
#9
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: DCA/RIC
Programs: HH LTD, AA LTG
Posts: 1,015
OP, this is how AA works, and has before Duggie came in to wreck it even. Should coach have have been oversold you may have gotten an upgrade for free, depending on how many other Golds and Platinum's on the flight with higher priority . But since it wasn't they do not do that for Gold or Platinum's. As others have posted, it is next to impossible on long flights to get upgraded as a Gold using your upgrades. You should of used them if you had them.
Dec 1, 2018, 7:19 pm
#10
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Live: IWI; Work: DCA/Everywhere; Play: LAS/SJU/MLE
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Dec 1, 2018, 7:44 pm
#11
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: SLC/HEL/Anywhere with a Beach
Programs: Marriott Ambassador; AA EXP 3MM; AS MVP, Hilton Gold, CH-47/UH-60/C-23/C-130 VET
Posts: 5,234
Hello Fellow Flyers,
Had a rather unpleasant experience yesterday with American and wondering if someone can offer some insight. I currently have Gold Status and was flying from Charlotte, NC to Mexico City (over 500 miles). I asked the Gate Agent if there were any first class seats available and was told yes, but that I would have to use my 500-mile upgrades to pay for it. Even if the seats sat empty, they would not upgrade me to first class unless I paid using 500-mile upgrades. After dealing with a rude and unhelpful gate agent, I finally conceded to sit in the main cabin. When boarding the plane I again asked the Flight Attendant if it was true that they would let the seats in First Class sit empty rather than upgrading someone with Gold Status for free, they confirmed this was true. Is this really the case??
Had a rather unpleasant experience yesterday with American and wondering if someone can offer some insight. I currently have Gold Status and was flying from Charlotte, NC to Mexico City (over 500 miles). I asked the Gate Agent if there were any first class seats available and was told yes, but that I would have to use my 500-mile upgrades to pay for it. Even if the seats sat empty, they would not upgrade me to first class unless I paid using 500-mile upgrades. After dealing with a rude and unhelpful gate agent, I finally conceded to sit in the main cabin. When boarding the plane I again asked the Flight Attendant if it was true that they would let the seats in First Class sit empty rather than upgrading someone with Gold Status for free, they confirmed this was true. Is this really the case??
As others have said, AA doesn't upgrade golds or plats for free and its been that way for as long as I can remember -- and I confess I used to have actual stickers that you would put on a boarding pass.
There are some advantages to that. For example, you earn four 500 mile upgrades for every 10,000 miles. Since you're gold, I'm assuming you have at least 8-12 stickers in your account that can be used to upgrade you or your companion so you could have essentially upgraded for free -- you just needed to use your upgrades from your account. It can be hard for gold and plats to upgrade so this allows priority to those who value it.
Dec 1, 2018, 8:00 pm
#12
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: AZ
Programs: AA Exec Plat; Marriott Plat; HHonors Diamond; Hertz PC
Posts: 213
Welcome. And as others have said its always been this way with American. I think you should have used those stickers when you had the chance.
Dec 1, 2018, 8:05 pm
#13
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: COU
Programs: AA EXP, Bonvoy Ambassador, Hertz PC
Posts: 499
The part of this I don't understand is the GA saying "sure, we can upgrade you with your 500-mile upgrades" and OP finding that to be a bridge too far. What exactly did you think the 500-mile upgrades were for OP?
Dec 1, 2018, 8:28 pm
#14
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: PHX
Programs: Delta 2M DM, Southwest A List and CP
Posts: 1,102
Yes, getting an upgrade at the bottom tier status is hard regardless the airline, but DL F cabins are larger than AA's. For example, for A319/320/321 DL has 4 more F seats than AA.
Dec 1, 2018, 8:44 pm
#15
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Lifetime Gold here with 30+ e500's in the bank and trying desperately (without success) to use them over the last 5 years whenever I'm in the U.S. but have given up now. I rather book United and use my mid tier Gold for UDU and so far I'm 90% up front on my short west coast flights (YVR/SFO/LAX/LAS).
Since I don't live in North America anymore and with max 2 visits per year maintaining a higher AA tier has become unobtainable and quite frankly useless due to EQD requirement which is waived by UA for residents outside the U.S.
OP should have used that sticker if he had some in the account.
Since I don't live in North America anymore and with max 2 visits per year maintaining a higher AA tier has become unobtainable and quite frankly useless due to EQD requirement which is waived by UA for residents outside the U.S.
OP should have used that sticker if he had some in the account.
Last edited by skywalkerLAX; Dec 1, 2018 at 8:50 pm