AA Gate Agent Refuses to Upgrade EXP using SWU into Business
 

I'm an EXP flying from LAX-LHR, and I was waitlisted for Business using two of my SWUs. When I arrived at the airport, I was told that Mrs. Tripelite and I were #1 and #2 on the Business upgrade list and there were two seats available. If still available at the gate, they would upgrade us. We arrived at the gate, and the gate agent told us that even though the waitlist showed us #1 and #2 for Business, he would only upgrade us from Economy to Premium Economy, because we can only upgrade one class of service.

I politely explained that Business is considered one class above Economy or Premium Economy, and that an SWU is an upgrade to Business from either cabin. He said "the rules have changed" and told me to "take it up with corporate". I asked him who was getting the Business seats, and he indicated that he was upgrading #3 and #4 on the list, because they were in Premium Economy. I again politely tried to explain those are not American's rules, and the waitlist screen shows that we are ahead of them. He said the "screen is wrong" and again told me to "call corporate" and talk to them (of course, boarding was about to start). I did not take the PE seats because they would have placed me and my wife apart and put us in seats with no underseat storage and no screens in front of the seat, all of which are dealbreakers to her. So here we are in Economy on a 10 hour flight to start our anniversary trip, although I was #1 on the Business upgrade list and there was space available.

The SWUs I was using expire at the end of July, and there's no way I will be able to use them before then nor do I have an upcoming flight that I can apply them to by then. I'm on track to 300K Loyalty Points this year, and I'm not feeling very loyal right now.

So, what do you think I should do at this point? I have already sent a note online to AA Customer Service. If this happened to you, what should AA do to make it right?

Extension of your SWUs for at least 6 months, and 25k miles for your inconvenience of traveling in Y.

No kidding, that is freaking pathetic and makes me livid just reading about it.

If customer service blows you off with your email complaint (which they probably will) then I would call AAdvantage Customer Service (not the normal EXP line) and lobby hard for an extension at the very least. It should be easy to pull up the waitlist record and see that you were skipped over by an awful GA. If you're still not getting anywhere then you might try reaching out to Jon or Gary and see if a little publicity won't help.

Sorry that this happened to you - especially on a super-long flight like LAX-LHR and on a special occasion.

This sort of thing is why I won't book a ticket where I'm planning to use a SWU unless I can confirm it at booking.

I would insist on another 6 months on the SWU's plus some amount of miles as compensation.
I generally would never do this, but the way you describe the situation, I would also put in my email that the gate agent should be fired.
(Not that it would happen, but this seems pretty egregious to me).

Bill

For the future, I suggest taking screenshots of the upgrade list or photos of the list on the airport monitors to support your case. Good luck.

I was skipped over on a long haul international flight because the GA didn’t want to bother having the FAs bring out the aisle chair to move me (I’m in a wheelchair but very mobile and could move very easily). We had plenty of time. AA’s response was “too bad, so sad.”

OP, something similar happened to me on one of my LAX-HKG flights pre-pandemic. We were #1-2 on the list, and they started upgrading at the gate from below us because #3-4 were in PE. AA has possibly some kind of hidden bs rule there to prioritize PE in the upgrades. I was so fuming, but thank God there were more seats available, and we also got upgraded, otherwise it would have been a major incident....

If there was such a rule to prioritize PE, wouldn’t it be in the upgrade list algorithm so that PE pax would show above Y? Then again, this is AA IT we’re talking about, so…

If that really was the reason, I hope you made a DOT complaint. I might consider a lawsuit too. AA should be be discriminating against people in wheelchairs.

Upgrading W to J first before Y to J sounds perfectly fair, but it’s not in any of the public-facing rules. I call shenanigans. Hopefully you get some comp for it.

Maybe @JonNYC can verify policy on this?

Perhaps AA has stealthy gone the way that DL has gone with the GUCs, just didn’t make an announcement :eek: (mostly joking…).

That is beyond annoying, though, that the GA seemingly made up rules.

I would follow JJeffrey’s advice.

The only other thing I can think of is if they are trying to clear PE first to sell any gate upgrades from Y to W?... Otherwise, I guess just normal ignorance and shenanigans from rogue GAs...

In addition to asking for a customer service gesture, I would politely ask for the GA's name and 'take it up to the corporate' to ensure he/she gets properly retrained.

There is no need to try to go to any other party to clarify policy as some others have noted. AA's policy is that SWUs are used for upgrades from Economy or Premium Economy to Business, or from Business to First. You were #1 and #2 on the upgrade list because you had priority, according to AA's policy, over the passengers who were seated in PE, for whatever reason (status, rolling LPs, etc.).

You should absolutely talk to AAdvantage Customer Service, explain the situation, communicate if you can with someone in writing, and at the very least get an extension of the expiring SWUs.

Did they ever actually disclose policy on ordering the upgrade list for SWUs? We know how it is supposed to work in practice, but is it actually published anywhere?

edit- yep. https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-p...e-upgrades.jsp

That is not the policy. If PE were prioritized, they would be #1 and #2 on the list. No changes to that effect have been announced.

I had a similar thing happen, only to Hawaii on 500s. (More on that here)
Got the "one cabin upgrade" line at the gate, and then Customer Relations backed it up. (Screenshot of their response in the thread)
Eventually, a party with more pull at AA than I got me in touch with the media relations team, and they admitted that there was an error, apologized, and issued compensation.