Antarius

All true, yet totally tangential to this thread. No one is saying, because they live far away passengers should be bumped or downgraded. Merely, if all paying and status pax are accommodated, then open space goes to non-revs. The lack of guarantee is what it is - good for some cases, bad for others, but everyone goes into it knowing the rules.

carlosdca

I am still not clear in what you are exactly proposing in order for AA run well its business

But it seems what you want is:

1) Change the long standing perk for non-revs entitled to fly F when it is available. Instead, they will get the economy seat. (BTW, wouldn't all those GLDs and PLTs that could not get YOUR MCE seat- when you moved up to J - and are sitting in row 43 be also furious that a non-rev got an MCE seat!!??)

2) Once the upgrade process is complete, AA should start rolling up cabins in order to:
2a) accommodate non/revs in Y
2b) accomdate all pax in Y whose SWU/miles+copay upgrade did not clear.

This implies that any time there are open F seats, J pax will be op'd up to F (for free, no upgrade instrument required).

I think the consequence of 2) is that eventually, nobody will start paying for F, as J op ups will start becoming VERY common. Then AA will kill F for good.
Then you are still stuck in Y.

!!!!!!!!!! right?

justhere

So because none of the J pax were willing to pay for any upgrade to F, you're upset that the airline has a benefit program that sometimes results in an employee getting a perk? Or put another way, you're aggrieved that a business isn't giving away stuff for free? Stuff that they've determined isn't in their best interest to give away in the long run?

Next time I go to see a movie, if I find out an employee saw the same movie in Imax for free, I'm going to complain to the movie theater that i shouldn't have to pay more for what I want, I should just get it for free if they didn't sell out the show.

Obviously you don't like this particular benefit that is afforded to employees and is pretty much standard for the industry. Fair enough. You are certainly entitled to your opinion. But to let it bother you seems petty and selfish. There are lots of companies who offer perks that customers have to pay for. Should those companies give away those perks to customers for free as well?

xooz

And as someone who had a small business where I valued employees and kept them for decades, I would never condescend to call them "hired help". They are what made the business and they did in fact get treated with benefits that were not available to long standing customers.

D3Kingg

OP American Airlines offers tremendous value between the US and mainland China. I often see roundtrip fares for $400 between LAX and PEK. Air China charges $1100 roundtrip between IAH and PEK.

Flying nonrev is not as great as everyone makes it out to be. To be honest it's stressful and nerve wrecking. Sometimes the flights are full and I am stranded for hours or days. Sometimes there are seats available but the Captain will not board nonrevs for weight balance whether it's fuel or cargo. Sure I have flown first class and business class hundreds of times. So what ?

Beachfun71

trooper

A fury? lol. Seriously? I was ..... mildly irritated (at most) by the claims of apparent heart attack level stress that "non-revs in premium cabins" seem to cause others.... Where you see "fury" in what I wrote escapes me....

lbbzman

What is frustrating is when a flight will leave J7 U0 and then be filled with nonrevs in J. I understand that AA has decided to make this business decision, but it is still frustrating.

Cheers,
LBBZman

Often1

Why is this frustrating?

J7 means that one could have purchased a J seat if one wanted to (or likely upgraded into J through one of the supported means).

If the suggestion is that AA start handing our freebies, that simply undermines the premium brand. On the other hand, if one is booked into J, has a seat and receives the J hard and soft product, one should not be concerned about who paid what for the other seats.

moondog

I agree with you 100%. While I'm not a big fan of AA J, it's not especially difficult to understand why they want to monetize it.

Basically, nonrevs don't pay for tickets, so putting them in J or F when seats are open is basically revenue neutral. But, giving EXPs freebies creates expectations that they can ride in a premium cabin without paying for it.

Antarius

U inventory is not free.

To me, J7 U0 is a missed revenue management opportunity. If you cant sell them, may as well monetize some of it somehow.

nachosdelux

this is the curse of the seniority system. it is better to be senior at a mediocre airline than junior at a good one, generally speaking.

moondog

I have never encountered a situation where J seats were open, and I was denied an upgrade with an instrument, though I'm sure there are cases of gate agents hooking up employees.

My gut tells me that some people in this thread believe they should be upgraded without supporting instruments instead of doling out the good seats to non-revs. This makes no sense to me from the standpoint of the airline.

Dave Noble

It isn't a missed revenue opportunity it is a was to avoid having a missed revenue opportunity with people using U class rather than purchasing a business class ticket. J is ( in most cases ) an expensive booking class; I7 might be different

It seems that tehre are some customers that would howl if AA failed to provide a benefit that is documented, but don't think others should get the benefits that they are due

nancypants