The /s implied in my response. My "complaints" are always in the form of constructive feedback; I work in retail systems so I know that if I don't provide feedback AA won't have the data they need to prioritize a fix. I am pretty familiar with how the upgrades work, despite the goal posts moving a few times the last several years. I also worked for NWA many, many years ago and am familiar with how seats can be listed but not available. The issue is that the visibility to how the system works is opaque and leads to exactly this sort of confusion. The only data points we can see are the seat maps on AA showing what's open and what's not, unless you have a paid subscription to that service that lets you view more data (and not sure if this data point exists there). We can't see how many seats will be open for upgrades or left for sale until day of departure. I know they have their reasons but in leaving this opaque it could also allow AA some ambiguity in situations where they exploit this against "us". They could just as easily say "all of the 'available' seats in that cabin are not available for early upgrades" which makes the T-hours perk irrelevant, but obviously they don't want to say that and devalue the status. If they clarified something like "N% of available seats not sold by T-hours will be made available for upgrades". Either that or just get rid of the T-hours perk entirely. Using vague terms like "available upgrades" is just to cover their ... in situations like this but leads to customer confusion/frustration. I don't allow that sort of BS in my customer-facing solutions, neither should AA.

Getting miles in response to my "feedback" is for providing my time in giving them constructive feedback, not to make up for the perceived slight in my wife's situation. Putting my son on my listing is penance for her not getting upgraded this time, marriage is a partnership, right?

Yep, and there is a chance the wife+son gets skipped over and over and over and over again.

On my last flight, within the 12sh hours I could see the upgrade list, kid and I were #1 and 2 and I saw a single F seat open and the then #3 on the list disappear when the seat filled three times. And, after boarding, saw someone get pulled from the back to fill a empty F seat as well. For every person that gets this benefit (i.e. successful upgrade for them + companion), I wonder how many people end up losing their upgrade because AA's system rarely brings up 2 seats available at the same time.

Cleared SFO-JFK at T100. Weirdly, I cleared the complimentary upgrade despite having a BXP1 waitlisted. C Space never opened up till T24, which is even more odd given the cabin is 70% empty.

EXP. 250K rolling LPs.

HNL-LAX-LAS. 7/5 Red Eye.

LAS-LAX cleared T-100
HNL-LAX cleared T-12.

A bit OT, but can you point me to where I can find my rolling LPs?

The spreadsheet that you keep if you really want to know.

Okay thanks, I thought it was a data point that AAdvantage provides in some elusive location amidst my account info.

What gives better odds for an upgrade on DCA-LAX for a PlatPro or EP? AA metal or AS metal? (~220k rolling LPs)

Thanks!

Hello, I'm flying a roundtrip to Tokyo next year (DFW-NRT), AA61 on 3/15/2023, and AA60 on 4/01/2023. I'm planning to use upgrade with miles, but I chatted with agents and no space available.

If I waitlist, what is my prospect of clearing into C? We're party of 2. I'm EXP but that does not matter?. Thanks!

I think you're looking for the thread "Miles for Opinions"
🤣

That's so far out, no one can answer that question. Heck, even the equipment could change.

EXP matters as you'll be after the CKs in terms of priority. It's exactly the same as SWUs.

Traveling with family on Tuesday, 6 of us, all on one booking. I have AA Gold right now (none of the others have status), do I need to do anything to separate from the family to get on the waitlist? I wouldn't use it, but someone in my party could definitely use an upgraded seat if I clear, but not sure I will be auto-listed since I'm traveling with 5 others?

You would have to split the itinerary into 2 people and 4 people or 1 person and 5 people since 2 are the most that can upgraded. You can only do this via a phone call. As a gold your chance of an upgrade a fairly low so not sure if it is worth the effort or not.

I believe that what I'm about to say is true. If it is not, I hope someone will correct me.

However, I believe that if you keep everyone on the same itinerary, everyone will have one free checked bag, and everyone will have access to main cabin extra seats at 24 hours before departure. If there's not a good chance for an upgrade, it might be more beneficial to keep everyone on the same itinerary for that reason.

But who knows. Some flights upgrade golds, and some flights have concierge keys sitting in the back. It's hard to say.

Right, and I purchased the trip with my AAdvantage Silver card so everyone gets free checked bags and group 5 boarding, with it. I think I am going to wait until we are all checked in, have boarding passes, and checked our bags and then maybe see if the gate agent can split me off, if the waiting list isn't already long. It's PHL to Maui (through PHX.)