carlosdca

Glad to hear that the gate agents can process upgrades with Miles and copay.
The times I made my mind last minute and try to upgrade with Miles and copay at the gate, the gate agents told me that it was not possible that they cannot do it that I had to do it with customer service over the phone, who in turn told me that they cannot do it either because the flight is already under airport control

MIAFlyer

I have heard both sides of this story... that the gate can't (won't) do miles and co-pay upgrades because it takes too much time because the ticket has to be re-issued - as well as the story that SWU were ok, but miles+co-pay were not. Have had other examples where both transactions were completed in a few minutes. Not sure how that makes a difference since they both come from the same inventory, but perhaps one does take longer than the other to complete. My biggest issues have always been at GRU where I strongly suspect they followed their own order of upgrades. Once at GRU was told at the gate "no upgrades", could see the C space on ExpertFlyer, called the EXP line and got the upgrade completed. Gate agents were furious and spent at least 10 minutes trying to undo the completed upgrade. Not sure if there is a domestic v. international distinction for the time/effort needed to process.

Hope this helps,

burg_rtw

Oh ... the outstations are always fun with the upgrade games. As there is no screen as in the US showing the list in most of them, I have witnessed weird clearings ahead of the list on the app. At GRU and other locations. Once it was clear it was a friends and family situation, as the non-rev that cleared suspiciously was greeted by the purser with a smack on the lip ... regardless of the travel instrument (rev, non-rev, etc) I think that crew should act professionally and not as if they were in a private party.

lrdpenn

The only case I may have seen this was on a transcon JFK-LAX earlier this year.

1 seat open in F
1 person on the J->F upgrade list, not cleared

GA cleared a standby employee into the F seat, did not clear the upgrade.

I cared since I was #1 on the Y->J upgrade list and last to board (and saw everything) and if everyone was moved up correctly, I should've gotten a J seat.

Not 100% clear-cut case...maybe the F seat didn't recline, maybe the J passenger asked not to be upgraded or was a no-show, etc.

LowValueCustomer

I've seen this as well (here a comp upgrade, not instrument upgrade) - gate agent for 1357 MIA-JFK on 9/5/22 skipped my wife (on same itin as me, and I cleared before boarding), evidently upgrade the GA's friend instead, with whom the GA was intimately chatting/giggling at length before boarding started.

There were 2 F seats, and the GA upgraded me but not my wife (we certainly did not authorize a split itin). I went to the gate and asked the GA why my wife wasn't upgraded, and the GA said something nonsensical about waiting to process the last F upgrade until boarding was complete. I told her that's fine; we'd hang out until then to ensure both upgrades could be processed, but she insisted that doing so would only slow down boarding; and promised us that she'd upgrade my wife if the last F pax didn't show up (for clarity, there was no other confirmed F pax, all I can think of is that perhaps someone was on standby? But certainly not the GA's friend, who was already boarded, so had he been somehow invol bumped from a different flight, she could have simply processed his F seat when she processed my upgrade rather than putting him in Y).

We believed her and agreed to board (yeah, go ahead and make the joke - I absolutely set myself up for this, particularly given that this was MIA). Upon boarding, I of course traded with my wife. However, the GA predictably printed the list without my wife on it (the flight attendant who came back to do the upgrade showed me this and shrugged), and lo and behold, it was the GA's friend who was approached and invited up to F.

coke cans and winglets

I really hope you filed a complaint, I would be livid. That type of employee corruption should be a zero tolerance policy…

LowValueCustomer

I did; wife got some perfunctory amount of miles ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

AAdamE

how did you know they were non-revs?

985X

I was the only pax on UG list. Also I have resources that checked the flight info and verified that they were indeed non-revs.

GundamWing01

ive always wondered how you and others on FT are able to see who exactly clears off the upgrade waiting list. what tools are used besides your "resources"? expert flyer doesnt give that info besides availability in J/F. and the AA app certainly doesnt show this. so how can people see that number XX vs XY on the wait list got upgraded? what other tools?

Antarius

There are no complimentary upgrades from J to F as part of the AAdvantage program. Any J-F movement requires an instrument (SWU etc.) Or an op up.
Unless someone in J requested an upgrade, they wouldn't be moved to open space for Y-J upgrades. As there is an open seat, Nonrevs can clear standby to the highest cabin, which was F.

In this case, IMO, the process was followed.

ryan182

ehh no. Think you missed this part:
1 seat open in F
1 person on the J->F upgrade list, not cleared

LowValueCustomer

In my case because I personally watched the guy get upgraded from Y a row back from me

PHL

Is this really still a common thing in the outstations, particularly Latin America? Flying JFK-GRU-JFK in a few months. Glad I paid for biz on the way back, otherwise this is making me think that our miles+copay upgrades would never have cleared had we gotten to the gate with C inventory available. It will be a 777-300 by the time I fly and the F cabin is 4/8 booked. Maybe those seats will be the new friends and family gate upgrade now.... Or maybe they roll up the J pax to make room for friends & family....

Regarding the furious agent, was there any apparent evidence that she was holding your seat(s) for friends/coworkers/nonrev? Or did they just not like being overridden by corproate?

carlosdca

There is a lot of garbage said on this forum about "non-rev" travel.
The evidence here usually seems to be:
- a lot of hearsay (my elite friend told me, all elites know this, etc.)
- assuming the upgraded person was a non-rev because of a myriad of silly reasons (they were friendly with the GA or they cheek kissed the FA).
(This one in particular reaches ridiculous lengths)
-refusing to accept alternate explanations:
The upgraded person was an AA employee on positive space or paid ticket
The upgraded person was not a non-rev but someone on IRROPS, decided to pay ticket last minute, etc.
You are simply not that important and there can be a last minute show up with 5 times EQD (LP) more than you.
Others (that vary by anecdotal case)

Also, all the flawed reasoning behind this appears to result, in great part, from ignorance on how non-rev travel works:
-Non-rev travel is always on standby.
-Yes, non-rev travel allows to travel in First Class if available. A non-rev on standby to Y, can jump directly to F (skipping J).
- If you are an elite in Y on the upgrade list to J, there is no space in J but there is a seat in F, yes the non-rev will get the F seat not you.
- Upgrading someone at the airport (GA job) is not as easy as clicking a button and giving the upgrade to your chatty pal. It does not work like that.

Not that it does not happen. But most of the anecdotal experience here is based on wrong assumptions and falsely conclude that there is monkey-business. Of course, the ones reporting that a non-rev took their upgrade seat are always 100% sure of it and won't even try to consider other scenarios. Be it (shrugs).