Pay to Upgrade Timing
 

Hi all, I paid for two PE tickets roundtrip to Lisbon. We leave August 2. I see an option to upgrade the long redeye leg of the trip from PHL to LIS to business class for $900 per person. A week ago it was showing me that option for $1800 per person. I would happily pay up to $500 per person for business class on the red eye. Has anyone had any experience with these pay to upgrade situations that might know if it will keep getting cheaper the longer I wait, as long as seats are still available?

No guarantee but doubtful.

I've only ever seen $500 offered at the kiosk upon check-in. I've never heard of an upgrade being that inexpensive in advance, but that doesn't mean it hasn't happened of course. If you want J, I'd buy it at $900 now. Remember that this is being flown currently by a 788, which has the smallest J cabin in the widebody fleet.

There's a chance it goes down more at check-in, but that's far from a guarantee. If I were you, I would not pay 900 dollars for J. You are already in PE, which IMO is very comfortable and certainly easy enough to sleep in. It's a 5 and a half hour flight, too.

I didn't realize is was so close

I'll tack my question on here since it is a similar one: Anyone know if AA does these offers for flights booked through a 3rd party (or would allow upgrades with cash + miles if space opens up)? Having our destination wedding in December and we get our 2 tickets for free, but it has to be in coach. Pushing the agency to let us pay the difference for F but they aren't budging (literally no clue why) and would prefer to lock in an upgrade rather than hope we can clear it with elite status.

I'm seeing 6 hrs 50 min from Philly to Lisbon!

This includes taxi time on both ends, but point taken actual flight time is likely more than 5:30. This route will almost surely be flown by an A321 XLR when they arrive.

Flightradar is quoting average flight time of 6:02 with a high of 6:46 and a low of 5:42 going back to the end of March

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/aa258

AA Group rates that earn the 1 per 20 comp coach tickets have never been upgradeable, from my group meeting planning experience. But it's been a few year, and AA may have come up with things to be creative and earn comp FC tix too.
If you are doing something similar with "a 3rd party" that's not AA, I have zero idea how they do their comp (rebate) tickets. Decent chance that the guests tickets bought so you can earn your free tickets may not earn miles, or have other restrictions attached ("bulk fare") in exchange for a comp program for you two.

I don't believe these are comp group tickets as nobody else is buying flights through the agency, this is part of a promotion where we get tickets down there if our group has so many room-nights. The agency is letting us essentially take our pick of (realistically priced) tickets across several airlines, so not sure if they will be wholesale tickets or the equivalent of booking through Expedia.

Yeah but you have to sit in the seat for taxi on both ends. And obviously the main reason you upgrade is for the seat. Including the fact that you have to board before the door closes you will be in that seat for about 7 hours, maybe more.

At $900 this is a no-brainer...just saying.

A no brainer to do it or not to? Lol

At 6' myself, I'd be happy of just enjoying PE and not having spent $900 for what is still a half night sleep (7hrs - taxi time - announcements - meal service - landing/take off = 5 hrs of sleep at most)

LAX-Europe at 10hr+ ?...maybe I'd consider pulling the trigger at $900. PHL-LIS (a relatively short flight)? No.

Maybe at $500 or less. And everything is possible. Nobody here has a crystal ball here to tell you whether the offer will drop to $500. IMO, they won't as $900 is already a discount compared to the original $1800.

YMMV