My first ever ‘will I get upgraded?’ post
 

Just for reference I wanted to share my 500 mile upgrade experience for all of 2018 as it goes to show that Gold status can actually be quite beneficial if you live and travel in the right markets (such as CLT). I think Gold status is often seen as kind of worthless (and it is for some people) but I personally don't see any need for me to push for Platinum with my current travel trends.

In 2018, I cleared 100% of my upgrade requests and my husband also cleared as my companion 100% of the time that I requested for him. I try to purchase first class tickets on longer domestic flights so these were all shorter flights.

That I can recall, I was upgraded on the following routes:
ORD-CLT
CLT-ORD
GSO-CLT
ORD-FNT
GRR-CLT
MSN-CLT
CLT-MSN
MKE-CLT
CLT-MKE

On the very few flights I ended up in economy due to there being no first class cabin and/or not requesting an upgrade, I was able to get a free exit row or bulk head seat at the 24 hour mark.

Moral of the story - CLT offers a great opportunity for upgrades to AA Gold members. On the negative side of that we still get stuck with mostly LUS planes that are looking pretty worn.

I'm very happy as an AA Gold! (even if not real happy with AA at the moment...but that is another story)

Welcome to the world of upgrades. There has to be the proper inventory for upgrades...likely to occur closer to flight date. Seats are probably still just earmarked for sale rather than upgrade at this point. Hope you get it!

Flying LAX-LHR (AA136) tomorrow in PE. I applied my SWU and am on upgrade standby but now it is less than T-30 and my seat is still 15D. There are 17 available seats in the J seat map AND the "Systemwide Upgrades" link on the Book Flights page shows availability between PE and J. Wondering why my request hasn't cleared yet - maybe related to the system updates they're doing? Any others with similar experience?

You should be calling the EXP line...

Both 108 and 136 tomorrow are showing C7 at the moment, so your waitlist should have cleared. You should definitely be calling them.

upgrade on DCA-LAS
 

I recently got platinum status on AA. Is that likely (if you were guessing; I realize there's no certainty) to be sufficient to get an upgrade, using 500 mile upgrades, on a mid-week DCA-LAS flight? I am guessing it is not; there are plenty of higher status folks. But I have no idea. Thanks,

I would say not likely at all. you have a lot of paid F on that route. Looking at next week, Tuesday is sold out and Wednesday has two.

It is impossible to judge from one flight to the next. On the one hand, F is fairly cheap on the route and many people will either purchase that or buy up. On the other hand, with the shut down, there is less travel by both government employees and businesses doing business with the government.

What are my chances getting SWU on DFW to HKG on 1/18/19 (Friday).... Is it pretty busy route with a lot of elite members
Currently see 13 seats available on Business Class ( when booking for $)
When called agent said they can only Wait list, but she also said there is possibility since they have seats available.

Can't even give you a remote idea without knowing your status

If you're Executive Platinum using your own SWU, your chances are 72%.
If you don't have any elite status on AA and are using a SWU gifted by someone else, then your chances are 17%.
In either case, your chances are much higher if you use the SWU than if you don't. @:-)
Good luck! :)

Sorry, I forgot to include those details.
I have Gold status with AA and will be using gifted SWU from a friend (he is EXP, if it makes any difference)