Finding Availability To Use SWUs When Already Assigned?
 

(NOTE: Looked for an appropriate existing thread on where to post this, but could not find one - please move if I missed it! :D)

So I've had pretty consistent luck using SWUs over the years with an EF subscription. The removal of the C inventory correlation this year was a real set back, but I've adjusted to using the AA.com tool with fair success.
Today I hit a snag and I have no idea how to adapt... looking to see if any other FTers have found a solution?

I've been rolling forward an LAX-LHR r/t for over a year now... as my guesses as to when the UK will more "open up" has been wrong each time. (Hence I'm not an epidemiologist!)
With each shift, I've simply done my research on possible dates on AA.com to see what similar flights had "system wide availability" - and then called the desk and shifted my flights, knowing space was available then and there.

Last month I assigned the last of my unused SWUs to a flight later this year.

As of today's UK "green list" announcement, I thought it would be wise to shift my currently booked trip to London set for later this month to something further into the summer.
When I signed on to AA.com - after a few infuriating minutes of searching, I found zero flights, of any type, listing availability. This lead me to the SWU FAQ on AA.com in which I noticed that availability will only be shown "if you have available SWUs."

So - I've lost EF... I have no "spare" SWUs sitting in my online wallet, and I need to search what options, if any, exist for shifting a confirmed ug flight to a later date. How the heck do I do that?

The best I can reason, I have two terrible options: 1) Cancel the flights in May that I'm NOT ready to give up yet on the off chance there is space in June or July on similar flights... so a big gamble, or 2) simply call the desk an exercise some poor agent, asking them to check combination after combination of dates, looking for confirmable space... (something I'm loath to do as I don't want to be "that guy" and, also, my experience is that agents seem to check about three flight options before shifting to the "well sir, we can add you to the wait list" line of thinking.)

Are there any FTer's out here that have hit the same problem? Is there a work around?
How does one see available space to make an informed decision on changing schedules?!


(Side note: I'm really surprised that AA.com stops showing availability when you use (or simply assign) all your SWUs... I would think they'd leave that indicator up for all of us as a reminder "if only I had more SWUs... better go spend more $ on flights so I can bank additional ones!" Seems like a lost advertising opportunity to an already identified group known to spend!)

TIA!

EF still works for searching "upgrade C" as opposed to "revenue C." You need to use the upgrade/award search tool, not the flight availability search tool, and you need to search by individual segment (C results for connecting itineraries are invalid).

Oh really? Man, that is GREAT news.... last I tried it, I was on the phone with an AAgent and they said I could no longer use EF's results for "C inventory" to determine SWU use, as AA had changed the designation to something else.
(This was back in Feb I think?)

Thank you dkc192!

The agent misspoke slightly, since what happened is that "C" inventory now includes both a paid fare component and an upgrade space component. So, in general, C availability overall doesn't fully equate to upgrade availability like it used to. But, dkc192 is correct that if you search using the Awards & Upgrades on EF, it will return the upgrade availability, not the revenue C space.

To save false excitement, make sure you look at each individual segment for C inventory in the upgrade tab. Otherwise you get results that don’t pan out when you call.

For what it’s worth a saved alert for me from Charlotte to lhr showed C as 1 this weekend and I called and was able to apply a systemwide