embarcadero1

You need an education about how to give away SWUs?

Just call AA. I doubt you'll be able to use them. I've given away 10/16 or so in the past two years. No use at all. And I gave them to EXPs.

Antarius

not even sure why I'm bothering to respond, but here goes :

You have many many posters here who are posting pretty good success rates with SWUs clearing, albeit not at booking. Are we all collectively lying?


Last 2 years.
NRT-DFW
LAX-HKG
JFK-GIG
GRU-MIA
LAX-PVG
PVG-DFW
LAX-SYD
SYD-LAX

Do you really really were all making this up? Or somehow dont have things to do like you do that dictate when we travel? Or maybe occams razor - it's not a giant AA conspiracy with FT plotting to lie about SWUs. Look at the countless threads on FT about how useless SDFC is for connections and how bad milesaver availability is - if SWUs were that bad, wouldnt there be a similar furor?

They can be redeemed less easily than before but for a much better product. you may not agree that the tradeoff is worth it (and that's fine), but stating that SWUs cannot be used and are worthless is false.

GetSetJetSet

I should finish with close to 200k EQM this year so i'll have 6-8 SWU to burn. Was looking ahead to some possible bookings, C = 0 on every flight (direct or with connections) for the 6 week period I checked. I am not willing to risk flying in Y, so C at booking is essential. Guess i'll keep searching.

Antarius

This is a fair assessment. At booking C is harder and harder to find. On that list above, only 2 of 8 cleared at booking. But they all cleared for me.

Its not a perfect system, but to me, the benefit of a near 100% clearance rate at some point before departure to a 1-2-1 J with FL lounges greatly outweighs at booking clearing into 2-3-2 NGBC with admirals clubs.

GetSetJetSet

You would think a better compromise since they cut the # of SWU's in half would be the high clearance rate with the current J and FL lounges since only their top tier elites earn SWU at all, and 4 SWU only = 2 roundtrips. Would be a nice way of incentivizing loyalty. I imagine many of them would still go unused and AA wouldn't get crushed too hard. If people say 100% of their SWU are clearing anyway, then AA isn't losing $ by letting us clear at booking, but they take away our anxiety and make us feel more valued.

C17PSGR

Perhaps ... but at least one poster suggests that if they aren't available at booking, the poster will just buy a premium cabin ticket so it would be a bad business decision.

Since I've had all but a couple of SWU's clear over the past five years, I don't have a lot of anxiety although I understand your point.

GetSetJetSet

No anxiety when staring down the barrel of a DFW-HKG in Y? Haha. It just feels like AA is being a little petty. Open up some C space in advance so people can actual plan and used their hard earned benefits. Not likely though in this race to the bottom. I jumped from UA to AA because UA torpedoed their program back in 2012/13, now I'm stuck with AA because thanks to consolidation and the "copy everything Delta does" movement, it's unfortunately the best option in a limited field.

JDiver

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C17PSGR

Valid points

But ... as I've always understood SWU's, its a way for CK and EXP to be rewarded by being able to fly biz that would otherwise go unsold.

On certain routes DFW-HKG/LAX-SYD, AA regularly sells out the premium seats ... and could probably sell more. So with today's economy, those are hard routes to use SWU's and not sure its realistic to expect AA to open up SWU availability early on routes that can often sell out On the other hand, I'm 100 percent on LAX-HKG where there is more premium capacity.

ijgordon

AA only has one upgrade class into Business, C inventory. Sure they can make more of it available in advance, but then regular fliers can grab it with their mileage+copay upgrades (and maybe they do). So it’s probably better for the EXPs with SWUs that they make you waitlist (CX does this too, but also on awards). Then they can prioritize EXPs for those seats.

GetSetJetSet

Why not create a new fare class that only SWU's clear into? As for the earlier point, I get that some routes like LAX-SYD sell out, but on route that rarely to never sell out where people clear close to 100% of their requests eventually, why not throw us a bone with some advance C space?

HofstraJet

While I love the idea, that's asking for a lot from AA IT.

ijgordon

Exactly. There are no letters left and I don’t think AA is capable of going to 2-letter fare classes like both DL and UA have...
That said, I forgot that there IS (was?j supposed to be “expanded award availability” for EXPs, but I’m not sure of the latest on that. You would have to call to check in the past. I got it about a decade ago as EXP for my SWUs when ExpertFlyer wasn’t showing anything.

SAT Lawyer

econometrics