I have never had a problem swapping my premium seat with a companion. It would be courteous to let the FA know when you board that that's what you're doing so there is no awkwardness when he/she tries to match the manifest to the passenger in the seat.

LGA-ORD cleared at 100h window on Nov 11 (Veteran's Day) so probably low business travel
ORD-LAX also cleared at 100h window on Nov 11
*EXP* about 200kLP

Over the weekend:
Friday 11/4 BOS-CLT (738) 9 and 10 out of 27 on the upgrade list, 0 cleared
Friday 11/4 CLT-AVL (CRJ900) Upgraded at PlatPro window
Sunday 11/6 AVL-CLT (A319) 4 and 5 out of ~15 on the upgrade list, 2 cleared
Sunday 11/6 CLT-BOS (A321) Forgot to pay attention - something like 6 and 7 out of ~25, I believe 0 cleared
*Plat Pro ~130K LPs traveling with partner on same PNR

This Friday I'm taking a red-eye (!) connection (!!???) LAS-CLT-PHL.

Both were showing J7 yesterday.

I got upgraded at or about the EXP window for CLT-PHL (AA1809) and it still shows J7 and there are 13 open seats in F.

For LAS-CLT (AA2591) it is still J7, I was not upgraded, and there are still 10 open seats in F.

No idea why they haven't processed upgrades for the cross-country flight yet, when J is also wide open.

__________________

Update: Earlier today the flight went from J7 to J0 and according to Expert Flyer every F seat is taken. But the coach map is wide open. There are only nine seats unavailable, 8D-F and all of row 36, plus my own MCE seat (11D). I didn't get upgraded, which surprised me a lot, but stuff happens.

Second Update: When I checked in there was 1 seat for sale in F (I wasn't able to check EF) and I was #1 on the list. I cleared and I think one other person did also.

DEN-CLT, A321, Tuesday mid-afternoon, cleared at ~26 hours prior to departure. I purchased the flight at around 48 hours prior to depature.

I changed my Friday MIA/PHX flight to a later flight Friday (paid a small refare of $75) as the later flight was pretty wide open in F versus the earlier flight I was on there was only 2 seats left. Still waiting to be upgraded. We shall see. I hate to think I paid $75 to be put on a later flight and then no upgrade.

First time lately as an EXP that I missed two upgrades from CLT to the Carribean, on the A320 with the small F cabin. Both times I was #2 out of 15-20. Flights were sold out relatively early as well, and I was also on an award ticket, so this may have played a role.

A similar thing happened to me last week that I found odd. Flying Caribbean-MIA-DCA and upgraded at the 100 hour mark for the first flight. MIA-DCA was J7 for weeks, through the entire upgrade window and up until 24 hours at which point it quickly went from J7 to J4 to J0. I was #1 on the upgrade list and didn't clear. 200 LP and EXP. I felt a bit better that #2 and #3 had EXP bag tags. Is there really that much last minute demand ex MIA? TOD upgrade was $500+ in the lead up to the flight so I wouldn't guess it was opportunistic app upgrades. Typically if it is J7 at the 100 hour mark, I am upgraded.

TPA-ORD for Tuesday early morning cleared at T-100, EXP

AA PP 174k LP

SNA-DFW - 7/43, 1 cleared on the plane
DFW-BNA - 15/43, 3 cleared at the gate

Now this was interesting. On the SNA-DFW flight, there was a woman who boarded ahead of me in group 1 that ended up sitting in 12D. She put her carry on in wheels facing out and did not tilt it on it's side. Thought that was a bit strange for someone boarding in group 1 and not seated in F (assuming she was EXP), but I didn't think too much of it. A bit later in the boarding process a gentlemen came up and told her she was in his seat. She made a comment about being in the wrong row and then moved to 11D. Few minutes later another gentlemen came up and told her she was in his seat. She seemed really confused and grabbed her phone to check the app. After checking the app she realized she was actually in 5A, grabbed her things and moved up there (still loading her carry on the same way up front). I was pretty confused about this because I have always either heard the GA paging the PAX prior to boarding or coming and personally speaking to them on the plane to let them know they've got a seat up front. Seems like she was upgraded with no notification (or was oblivious to it). She was also on the SNA-BNA segment but noticed she was #8 on the list.

BNA-DFW - 5/22, no one cleared
DFW-ONT - 5/17, 1 cleared 10 minutes prior to boarding

PPro with 110K LP

HNL-PHX-YUM. Cleared both legs at T-72

BOS-PHL Tuesday 5:30 (A320) - Cleared at the EP window and there were 10 on the list, however two inoperable seats (one missing a seat back).

ORD-BOS Friday at 5:15 (738) - I was originally on the earlier E175 flight before SDFC’ing to the 5:15. Original did not clear until T-50 despite having 7 open seats. Wasn’t sure if this was due to the storms (holding back seats) or hoping for folks to bite at the instant upgrade. 15 on the list with one clearing.

My ORD flights next week both cleared at the window.

DFW LGA on Tuesday, EXP 365K LP, at 100 hours out 4 seats available in F per EF, overnight went down to 1 seat available at still 72 hours out. I am always #1 on the list at boarding if I dont clear prior so it appears bizzare that 3 people bought F tickets on Friday in the middle of the night. Maybe 3 CKs got upgraded but that seems improbable for a Tuesday flight for CKs who would likely be in F already. Upgrade offer was $562 from Y to F in the app when there were 4 seats and remained at the same price now with 1 seat available. Maybe 3 people paid $562 for a 3 hours flight, but that seems strange they did it in the middle of the night. Not sure what to think of it but glad I got a MCE seat.

PHX-LAX-YVR Monday. #13 of 31 on PHX-LAX. Not surprising on a Monday morning Flight. Full J before departure on LAX-YVR, A319 with 8 F, #1 on the upgrade waitlist. I boarded with group 2 and noticed 1A unoccupied. I sat at my assigned 9A seat. 5 minutes later, I got a push notification in the APP that my seat had changed to 1A. I moved up but had to wait a minute before the gate agent arrived with my new boarding pass. The F FAs device took a minute to update too.

AS 100K 0 LP

James

PPro with 190k LP. Was going over my yearly stats to see when will qualify for Executive Plat. I have been on 28 paid legs in the past year and got upgraded on 18 of them. This is mostly traveling with my spouse, and when upgraded it's almost always for both of us (she's Plat); of course if only one upgrade clears she gets it!. My backup program is Delta, where I'm a Platinum. I cannot remember the last complimentary upgrade. Have to say I'm pretty pleased. Will qualify for EP soon (which is new territory for me)- we'll see if any significant changes. I have only been upgraded once in my life on an award ticket- that's the benefit I'm looking forward to as an EP.