Do platinum members get upgraded at T-48 is seats are available? Any instances where you get upgraded later?

Most upgrades happen after that window. If there are only 2-3 seats left, AA is going to hold onto those as long as they can in case someone decides to purchase an op-up, books the flight late, or someone needs to switch from another flight during IRROPs. Usually, flights get cleared down to J4 and then AA holds them regardless of whether it is within the window

So if we are at T-72 and there are two first seats, do get too excited as it may not happen at T-48

If there at 2 seats left at T-72 then I’d be willing to bet that there are several EXPs who haven’t receiving their upgrades.

What route/time of day/day of week is it?

Mia to BGI Tuesday eve. 3/28.

That’s a leisure route so if I had to guess, a lot of people are buying F outright. I wouldn’t hold my breath for that one

So I'm at T-48 for DFW to CLE, 2 FC seats left, app is still selling upgrades for $205. Same story on most flights this year; as an EP I'll be #5 or worse at the gate. Chasing EP is now pointless.

Yep. If you're out of a Hub like DFW, CLT, PHX, etc, don't count on too much unless you have uber amounts of LP's stacking up each month. I fly out of PHX as my base and if it's to any other hub or leisure route, forget being higher than 3 or 4 on the list and typically no seats available on leisure. :rolleyes:

All these stories are crazy to me as I’m just a low LP PPro and gotten 3 flights already in the next qualifying year out of Charlotte. One of them being to DC.

:rolleyes:

If only there were more to EXP than domestic upgrades. Oh, wait there is...

I know this is the upgrade thread but I am constantly amused by how much emphasis people put on domestic upgrades as the indicator of the value EXP status. For me its easily in the bottom third of the ranked list of EXP benefits I care about

And "chasing" status has always been a fool's errand, IMO.

I fly out of PHX too, I have a bare minimum amount of LP for an EXP (200,200 LP last year), I mostly buy web special awards (so I'm at the bottom of the EXP pile) and the occasional basic economy ticket, and I get upgraded well over 50% of the time, almost always a few days before my flight. I don't keep records but I would guess that my upgrade rate is 70% or so. I did miss an upgrade on PHX-LAX last week but I'm already upgraded on my basic economy LAX-PHX flight on Tuesday.

I've also been upgraded (twice!) on CUN-PHX; it doesn't get any more leisure than that. I was 0-2 on PHX-CUN though.

3/25/23, AA2682 ORD-BOS (8:45p late flight)

Two PNRs each with two people - one with an AA plat and an AA gold, one with an AA plat and AS MVP Gold. Each plat only requalified for 2023 gold ~40k LP. All in V class fares.

Upgraded T-48. Managed selecting 2A/2B/2E/2F.

5 people on the WL day-of with 5 seats remaining, all upgraded.

Welcome to DFW!

I've been EP for 10 years so it's not just being in DFW. I know the routes where I have not expected an upgrade- where there's a million EPs on the route or leisure routes where people buy FC. The point is that they've been monetizing the upgrades cheaply rather then using them to drive loyalty, so upgrades are now rare on most routes. That combined with needing 250k LP for SWUs makes EP a bit pointless.

LP are so easy to get though. They have actually made it easier to get SWU than last year, with the LP bonuses and the removal of the segment requirement.