Knocked Off Upgrade Due To Companion upgrade
 

When I saw the new policy to upgrade a companion, I wondered how this would work. Today, I was #2 on psp-dfw. The person in front had another companion at #14. #1 was called, list reshuffled and now am #3 and no upgrade. 👎

Nothing has changed with the policy other than now you don't need stickers. The upgrade waitlist is still sorted the same way it was before.

I'm guessing #1's companion also had status (but lower) and the GA just fixed it so that the companion leveraged #1's status. Nothing wrong with that. Unless you set it up properly beforehand a lower status companion will be split on the waitlist even on the same PNR. As someone that frequently travels with lower status companions I've been through that many times.

But again this has nothing to do with the new changes of no longer needing stickers.

That's how it is supposed to work under the new system. Companion gets the sponsor's status for day of departure upgrades.
Seems like shenanigans when you can see the order, but the agent actually did this correctly.

That's how it worked under the old system as well.

I am EXP and traveling (award ticket if that matters) with a companion in late May; we're on the same PNR. Will he get upgraded along with me? Although I guess I should call and tell AA that I'll take one F seat if only one is available.

It does matter that it is an award ticket. Only EXP’s can be upgraded on award tickets.

Note: I was incorrect on my above answer, on an upcoming award ticket, the two of us were both upgraded and I'm EXP and my spouse is PPro.

I think EXP can sponsor one companion on an award ticket?

Yep, no different than paid tickets.

I had no idea of this. Too bad I don't have a companion.

Works great for me! Wife gets upgraded with me, and her BA Gold status gets us FF check-in and Flagship Lounge access on domestic flights.

Yes, that just happened to me so that is correct. On an award ticket, we were both upgraded. I'm Exec Plat and she is Plat Pro.

Be glad that loophole hasn’t been closed…I *think* Delta requires companions to be SkyMiles members (with # in rez) to be eligible for upgrades.

Interesting. So it is different than Alaska where you and companion have to both get upgraded as a group, or get skipped. AA upgrades individually.
Got upgraded before boarding, and then companion got upgraded after boarding. Only realized that (cause nobody on the plane realized companion got upgraded) because FA was trying to sort out seat situation for companion, checked app and it showed companion's seat had changed (funny how AA shows a seat in "Main Cabin Extra" as a special thing, and then when you move to first it shows "standard" seat). FA up front was talking to GA to sort it out, they realized only one person's tablet had the correct updated seats (I showed them my companion's upgraded seat on my app, as my companion doesn't use the app), FA was saying they could ask someone who was in the bathroom to change seats so the current person wouldn't have to move (more seat changes than just my companion) and GA commented that wouldn't be fair, as he had paid extra for Main Cabin Extra (I'm guessing FA up-front doesn't think the first few rows of economy are anything special).

Not quite. The PNR has to be split in order to upgrade you individially. That's true on both AA and AS (passengers in the same PNR must be in the same class of service)

The difference is that AA will automatically split your PNR at some point (when it goes to gate control, I believe) and AS will only split if you request it. So you can still be skipped by AA during the upgrade window (before it auto-splits) if you have a companion, and only one seat is opened. This would be less obvious to you since you can't see the list so you won't actually know for sure that someone below you on the list got upgraded.

Which method is "better" is debatable. As I'm sure you know, there is a huge thread on the AS forum complaining about being skipped due to companions. And there is a huge thread here complaining about the unintended consequences of auto-splitting. There is no perfect solution here.

Ah, I did not know that. But it does seem like it is one of those things people have a preference on (my companion didn't want the PNR to be split), so probably best they have a checkmark to ask people if they want to do it or not.