MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

This is the slow march to fully monetizing the F cabin. CKs will still get complimentary upgrades (although some are already paying to be up there) and that's about it. EXPs probably will get reduced pricing. The days of copays are coming.

LovePrunes

could also be the "upsell" that's already been announced, that of people from bad economy to preferred seating, the kind that's been rolled out recently about earning credits for. Hoping it's not TOD upgrades but...

MrAndy1369

I remember as far back as 2011 being asked at the kiosk if I wanted to upgrade to F for $99 SJC-DFW, then $119 for SFO-DFW in 2012 (which was operated by a widebody 767). I thought this was a practice AA already did?

USFlyerUS

It's supposed to be upfaring which today requires calling Reservations and paying a $50.00 fee if the ticket was booked by a TA. I fully support this enhancement if I can now do this online.

UAPremierGuy

AA currently offers to upsell when there are no elites on the waiting list for an upgrade. IF AA moves to the UA model of TOD, as a person in a UA dominated airport, there will no longer be any reason for me to stick with AA over UA. My signature shows the difference in my upgrade percentage this year. Granted, I am a Premier Silver with UA vs an EXP with AA, but even last year as a 1K, I had a very low upgrade percentage. If AA goes the way of UA, AA can kiss my loyalty goodbye, and I, like many others here on FT, will become a true free agent.

itravelalot

Take a look at the Delta thread on first-class monetization: First Class Monetization, or FCM: The Definitive Thread

Most of the FCM offers are insane.

American is such a pathetic airline, outside of its Flagship First dining. When was the last time American innovated as opposed to copying whatever Delta and United do first?

enviroian

The bistro bag??

UncleDude

The Initiated and still manage to apply the "Ignore Pre-Departure Beverage Service"

scubadu

I don't think my feeble mind will every firmly grasp the utterly bizarre and unceasing obsession with "PDBs" around here...

Of the things I currently care about in this game, PDBs wouldn't even make my top 25...

Regards

xliioper

This is the way the DL system works. The booking class gets modified, but underlying ticket does not. The downside is that if you have to change your ticket you completely lose the value of the upgrade purchase. The DL system seems to have been changed around May 2017 and the upgrade offer no longer appears to take into account your original booking class/fare. It looks to simply be fixed price points for each route that varies with the current bucket availability in the FC classes. Depending on what you originally paid, it can actually either be cheaper or more expensive to upfare (DL waives change fees when upfaring to a higher cabin). They also offer cash buy-up's on award tickets now (but they still don't earn any miles). The shorter routes seem to start at about $70 for an upgrade (I have a DTW-BWI flight in a few weeks and the current offer is $74 each way with lowest DL FC bucket fully open -- Z9).

Gig103

On Delta, sometimes it is the difference, and sometimes it isn't - and when it isn't an upfare it can be cheaper or even more expensive than an upfare. Of course the app makes checking FCM easy but not upfaring.

I will say that on Delta the upsell, if done more than 24hr before departure, gives MQD and MQM of the premium cabin. I wonder if AA will do the same, or if they'll just treat it as a 'seat upgrade'. Knowing Parker's reputation, it will be the latter.

JDiver

In the FlyerTalk Glossary. From the upper blue menu bar, select Help, them Glossary.

FCM: First Class Monetization (especially pertinent to Delta)

TOD: Tens of dollars (used by UA flyers to refer to upgrades sold more cheaply to those without status than available to those with status)

AAdamE

I forgot the technical term but yes, upgrades at the kiosk is a thing, but only there. What would be different is the option to upgrade after you purchase a ticket on aa.com, in the app, or offers through email, etc.

enviroian

Kiosk? I can't ever seeing or using one at AA. Is that their version of easy chicken?

USFlyerUS

To clarify, I don't believe this enhancement is an "upgrade" such as what has been offered via the kiosks for a while. It's an option to "buy up" to the higher cabin. I expect the "buy up" option to be the difference between what first is at the time and what was paid for the coach ticket. This could easily be $400+ but might be worth it depending on the flights in question. However, all of this is speculation. It's probably best we all wait and see what is actually rolled out.

And for the comment above about PDBs, I don't get it either. It's a quick drink served in a plastic cup that many times you barely have enough time to drink. It's great to get but hardly worth all the posts about it.