EXPLAT

So I just made Executive Platinum, yippee.I didn’t get upgraded on a flight, Boo
OGG-PHX 787-9 - 1 traveler w/100k Loyalty Points
What could be the possible reasons?
I picked a flight that had 10 of 30 F seats available.
t-104 hours, 2 upgrades processed
t-92 hours, 2 upgrades processed
t-32 hours, 3 C upgrades offered up (BXP1 or copay and miles)
t-28 hours, no change
t-26 hours, 4 upgrades processed, C upgrades no longer available
2 F seats remaining for sale or for gate upgrade

350zrx330

Did your new Status registered in your reservation since you mentioned you just made EXP.

EXP100

Could be the OP had higher LP EXPs ahead of him, particularly on a route like this one.

JJeffrey

What number on the list were you once the upgrade waitlist appeared on the app?

And how do you know upgrades were being cleared at T-X hours and not just last minute purchases?

deeruck

How do you know there were 10 F seats available? Was that based on the seatmap? There may have been pax without seats assigned.

dw

Plus that’s a route people may have waitlisted using systemwides (especially since a lot of people still aren’t going international and may have some to burn) or miles.

Also, as the above poster pointed out, seat maps aren’t particularly indicative. I’m assuming that wasn’t live F availability from expertflyer you were looking at since EF can’t show more than 7.

Centurion

This is a funny route that often has has equipment changes with a wide body and lay flat seats that is swapped out with a domestic f seats. The wide body moves between Maui and Honolulu. Also there are a lot of non revs on this route fly First. You can look at the schedule OGC-PHX and HNL-PHX over months and you will see the wide body equipment move between these two routes

Uzzar

Not that there are any clear indications of shena, but maybe belongs in that thread:
Lost upgrade / upgraded seat shenanigans? [master thread]

platbrownguy

Sounds fishy to me. 100k is pretty high. Might not be top few on DFW-ORD, but certainly ought to be top 10 on a leisure route.

My bet is OP's status just hadn't refreshed in time. Also curious what OP's rank on the upgrade list was though.

VegasGambler

How do you know that all those upgrades processed? You can't see the upgrade list at (for example) T-104hr.

Also when you say that there were 10 first class "seats available", I assume that you were just looking at the seat map? (since EF won't tell you more than 7) An empty seat does not mean that there's something available.

Once you are on the upgrade list, if your status changes, is AA's IT smart enough to re-rank you, or do you keep your same spot in the list?

EXP100

Presumably the OP is viewing the seat map and when he/she sees a seat become unavailable the assumption is that someone got upgraded. But there's no way to tell and more than likely someone with a purchased J fare went in and chose their seat. As noted seat maps on aa.com can be unreliable. Consequently, the number of seats available for upgrades would be limited.

I would imagine on that route there's no shortage of higher end leisure travelers willing to shell out big bucks to get out of the hell that coach has become, particularly on a flight to/from OGG. In more so if there's lie flat seats, which AA will advertises on it's website.

Alternatively, these may have been upgrades that cleared by SWUs or copays. There's just no way to know. I would say any route to HI depending upon a complimentary upgrade even as an EXP is risky. Shell out the money for J or PE if a widebody.

EXPLAT

it does show EP on the App but not sure how to see if it’s on the ticket. I am on the upgrade list but only 1 seat is left.

dw

Agreed- Between regular leisure travelers, and people going for special occasions (weddings, honeymoons, anniversaries, etc)-- there's a fair amount of people who will shell out for F to Hawaii. Not to mention, there's also a subset of people who will pay for the extra space/social distancing these days.

I was just there earlier this month-- on my flight over (on AS), I got the distinct impression the majority of the F cabin had paid (including myself and my SO). One bridal party alone had paid for 6 of the 16 seats.

markiedawg

Flew this route recently for a really quick trip home. OGG to PHX cleared at time of booking, about a five days out. EXP.

PHX to OGG on the on the other hand was a different story. while the (unreliable) seat map was showing at least 20 open seats all the way up until 10 mins before boarding, i didn't clear and was number 3 on upgrade list. AC rep mentioned something about premium economy being way oversold...perhaps they were holding lie flats for those folks? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ no lie flat to hawaii, but it was nice to get some sleep on the red eye back.

EXPLAT

Thanks for everyone’s comments thus far. I have a paid PE ticket so it won’t be too bad, just surprised that with 100k LP’s, that I couldn’t get an upgrade with 1/3rd of the cabin open.

EF was showing 7 available. I can’t imagine that people wouldn’t pick their F seat until the last minute. There were 3 C purchasable upgrade seats available but I didn’t use a BXP1 at that point as I thought my new EP status would be good enough. Lesson learned.

(What’s the use of earning EP if I just need to use a BXP1, anyway. Lot less hassle to just keep my lifetime Platinum status and use BXP1’s.)

I have 7 more of these round trips to take over the next month and a half. I’d like to get this figured out, in case something’s wrong.