TomorMatt

I am starting to resume heavy business travel for the first time since 2019. I usually qualify for executive platinum status, but the move to loyalty points has made this much easier. That said, I am rolling a donut on upgrades. I have been doing the LAX-ATL route frequently and that has only one non stop each day in both directions so a fair amount of CK / ex plat.

Could be I did not notice this as much a few years ago, but I am finding a fair amount of reasonably priced upgrade offers sometimes immediately after booking for a cost that is significantly less than the price for J just shown.

I have been buying those rather than take chances on an upgrade, but still watch the list to see if anyone clears and seems to be very spotty. Obviously AA has more incentive to sell the upgrade than as a complimentary upgrade, but only until people feel like the chances of a complimentary upgrade are so low that chasing status is not worth it. I have been pleased when I can purchase the upgrade at minimal cost, but makes be wonder if this is a widespread concerted effort to monetize the inventory and other routes are seeing the same.

js1993

It's a widespread concerted effort.

Raralith

It's a changing of the guard across all industries where the objective is not to do well and take pride in your industry but to make as much money as possible for your stockholders. I'm sure they ran the numbers and realized that they make more money with credit cards then they do with air travel because profit is profit and more profit the better. In the same vein, why give out free comps when someone'll be willing to pay $100? You obviously fit the mold as you pay for the upgrade. I fit the mold because the majority of my travel is for business, and the business pays for all my travel. With enough data, it all becomes a foregone conclusion.

born sleepy

DFW>PVR last week, my friend who has zero status was offered a $60 F upgrade. He took it. F on that flight was zeroed out for weeks 🙄 so I guess someone bailed?

I was booked on that one, had u/g waitlisted with a systemwide that otherwise was going to expire worthless, and until I had to cancel the day before due to COVID, u/g was still "requested".

Hell offer it to me next time, I'll probably take it, but EXP never gets these cheap paid u/g offers.

js1993

Yikes.

If AA offered $60 upgrades to EXP, then EXP wouldn't bother chasing status.

cmtlatitudes

AA's F pricing is out of control on some flights and routes. Especially around the holidays. Even with almost entire F cabins wide open.

$4500. one way tickets BGI back to the US. $3200 one way tickets SVD-MIA. These prices used to be reserved for the last seat on the plane or the last seat in F on a near sold out flight. Lately I've seen it with 6 of 8 seats open in F. AA's gotten very greedy this year.

It's so bad that I'm actually considering purchasing an economy seat. However, for the sole purpose of possibly being offered a reasonable upgrade soon thereafter. Wait a few weeks, cancel the ticket if nothing, and reevaluate. Worse that happens is a flight credit that goes toward a more reasonably priced F ticket down the road.

EXP100

More and more it might make sense to stop chasing status, book economy and hope there's a decent upgrade offer after booking, which there often is. I think this is what the airlines want.

PHL

I've said it a million times - comp upgrades are low on my personal ranked list of status benefits. How about free bags, International lounge access, free MCE seat selection? Those have more value to me so that, when I do purchase a coach ticket, I can at least fly in a decent (coach) seat, check bags for no charge if I need to and get access to lounges, including FL, on intl journeys. And sure, if an F upgrade offer comes through that's of value to me, I'll usually grab it rather than wait to sweat out the complimentary upgrade process to come through.

EXP100

It depends. I rarely check a bag and don't do much in the way of International flying. I can always buy up to MCE/DL Comfort if there isn't a decent paid upgrade offer or a decent F fare to begin with. I'm not saying status is worthless-it certainly is. The biggest challenge is with irregular operations. However, if I concentrated my flying on AA and DL (the only 2 real options out of MIA) I can always buy/get lounge membership.

Not sure what I'm going to do after re-qualifying for EXP status (only about 20L LPs away).

fotographer

on a recent flight with my daughter who has zero status, her upgrade offer was cheaper than mine as a EXP.. go figure

scubadu

Well, I mean that is a pretty common marketing tactic, really across all industries. I'm surprised that people are surprised by this. It's the same reason cable companies and cell phone companies provide better offers to potential new customers than to existing customers. Offering a lower upgrade offer to your daughter might reel her into "the system." You, as an EXP, are already in the system.

Regards

TomorMatt

I agree with this, but would note that those examples are a big dissatisfier for existing customers. That is one reason some phone companies like AT&T spend millions on advertising with the message that all offers are the same for both new and existing customers.

With the amount of personal data available I am sure most companies can create a very robust profile of their customer. I have often said that Google could probably predict my behavior better than anyone including myself. I could see a future where offers are customized knowing exactly how much each of us would be willing to pay for an upgrade.

I have had several instances recently where I passed on buying a business class ticket as the difference in price is way more than the incremental value I get from domestic business class vs MCE only to log in a few hours later and get a paid upgrades offer when added together for all segments is substantially lower than the fare offered when I purchased the ticket. Obviously I do not get the 11x LP multiplier on what I pay for the upgrade like I would if it were part of the fare, but with the new system I have no issue amassing LPs.

ER-One

There was a long thread about this not too long ago, but I cant find it.

My prerogative, then and now, is offer whatever you want for in-app upgrades until the EXP upgrade window opens.
From then, the offers have to go away. Either upgrade an elite or show the seat for sale without a discounted upgrade offer. If AA can sell an expensive close-in J seat, then good for them and they deserve the $.

I would think they are economically better off "delighting" me with an upgrade - so as to reinforce my non-flying, profitable, LP-generation habits - as compared to selling someone a $99 in-app upgrade.

js1993

The bean counters obviously have calculated otherwise.

PHL

This is particularly true because AA is not alone in this practice, so if their elite FFs want to jump ship, so be it. They'll find the upgrade grass field isn't any greener over there.