Similar Situation... scheduled on AA 263 (DFW - PEK) on 4/3. Currently J2, but 16/26 seats open. Now this is the 788, and it is most likely going to go to the 20 seat config. But even with that, it would be 10/20. I know the seat map isn't accurate.. but really 8 folks who haven't selected seats? I am hoping the the poster above, I will get a surprise.

My mistake... 4/3

Welcome to the new American Airlines.

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I'm not sure whether AA has changed something recently (and if they did, they probably have good reason for doing so), but I've noticed flights with far fewer "seats for sale" than actually available inventory. Now, this does happen quite often for certain reasons (Y being oversold is probably the most common), but I still don't know what the story was for a flight I took last week.

I wanted to book J but couldn't -- it was J0, despite 6 seats open on the map, and Y didn't seem to be oversold. I wanted that particular flight, so I called the EXP desk to inquire further, and a very competent agent confirmed that the seats were, in fact, unsold, but the inventory seemed to be restricted (he checked a few different routings involving the flight, and the inventory didn't change based on routing, so that wasn't the reason either). The agent thought it was very strange and postulated that "yield management" may be restricting inventory due to the MAX8 issue.

Fast forward to the gate, where all 5 pax on the upgrade list were cleared (plus one non-rev, I assume) into the six seats, which were still available (the inventory changed to J1 a few hours before the flight but never to J6). I'll take the freebie EXP comp upgrade but definitely would have paid for this 5 hour flight in J, had the inventory been available when I booked.

AA 104
 

AA 104 JFK-LHR on a Saturday in May 2019: upgrade Y->J using SWU cleared 4 weeks before departure.

I assume there is low demand for business travellers on Saturday night.

Got the notification from EF, and AA EXP desk quickly processed the upgrade.

AA 135 - LHR-LAX on 4.8 Y->J cleared today via SWU. Was booked into W - looks like that may have been full and flight was J7

Not sure if this counts or not. Cleared HNL-DFW (28 Mar) into PE at the Gate. Initially it deducted 9 stickers for the upgrade but by the time I had landed they were all back into my account. Not sure what that was about.

My SFO-LAX comp UG was cleared T100. This seldom happened on this route (include LAX-SFO). Usually at the gate.

Curious to know — what time are you usually flying this route? I'm on it regularly and, outside of LAX-SFO on a Monday at 8am, I rarely don't clear at T-100.

Wait List Notification?
 

I'm gold and flying to LHR this weekend. No SWUs, so I requested a miles & copay upgrade about a month ago, and was put on the wait list. EF still showing J3, so I'm hopeful for the upgrade. Is there any way to see online to confirm that I'm still on the wait list? Conversely, there's no "upgrades" button on the reservation in the app like usual, and the "Upgrade your trip" section of the website itinerary is blank - should I worry that I'm not really on the list?

When I am uncertain whether I'm on the list, I call--and each time I have been told that yes, I am.

Indeed it is strange if you do not see the 'Upgrade' icon next to 'Seats' under the trip locator on the Mobile App.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...72e4efc876.jpg

Something new for me this year.

EXP with nearly $20,000 EQDs from last year, already approaching 50,000 EQMs and $9,000 EQDs for 2019.

Booked a trip with wife to FCO back in January for Apr 7 returning Apr 21. Got us C upgrades at booking on flight out using SWUs, but was wait-listed for return (FCO-ORD) on 787-8. For two months Expert Flyer has shown plenty of availability in C, so I figured no problem on the 21st return for using two more SWUs. Then last week I did a quick check, and noticed a plane change to the 787-8 retrofit with Premium Economy, and that our seats had changed (MCE on original plane).

Now the plane change isn't what was new. It was that whomever reassigned passengers with the new layout decided to put my wife and I into the new PE section rather than back in the MCE part of economy. Not complaining, just found it interesting and wondered if anyone else has had the same experience.

Also as expected with changing to a plane with 8 less business class seats, the # of available seats nearly vanished. Now down to 5 open, so still good odds on that return to ORD, but not as good as the 15 that were available before!