May I ask: to what routes/destinations have you tried to use SWUs?

This week:

Wednesday tpa-dfw upgraded at the 96 hour mark
Wednesday dfw-lax upgraded at the 96 hour mark
*however, above plane broke so I got the last seat left on the next flight to Lax. I went from 1A to 24E in one swift move. That was painful.
Tomorrow lax-phx upgraded at the 96 hour mark
Tomorrow phx-tpa flight is now zeroed out since it had 6 empty seats earlier this week. 8E it is.

I am looking to book and request SWU upgrades for my sister on JFK-DEL and back. She has no status with AA.

The flights we are eyeing (end of October and early November for the return) are wide open appearing, with 40+ seats in J open.

Anyone have experience on the ease of clearing these?

Anecdote of one but I flew JFK-DEL in April - cleared SWU at booking about 3 weeks before the flight.
(Didn't fly the reverse.)

FWIW ...(not much)

I've used 15+ SWUs on JFK-DEL for myself and friends/family since the route was launched, never failed to clear (though sometimes not until ~T-36).

Assuming the equipment remains 77W, you should be fine.

Do you need to be at the gate when your upgrade clears (to avoid losing it)?
 

I am #1 on the waitlist today for an upgrade, and there are two seats available.

Do I need to be at the gate at :40 before departure (or whatever other time upgrades are cleared) in order to get the upgrade; if I am not at the gate, will the gate agent just give my upgrade to someone lower on the list?

Thanks!

It depends. Best practice is to be at the gate to watch for any monkey business. Most agents are good, but some will screw you over.

First ever battlefield upgrade on AA. Welcome after coming off a domestic redeye.


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...12a018f30.jpeg

PHX-PHL-BOS tomorrow. PHL-BOS cleared (at the window of PHX-PHL flight) for my companion and me.

still waiting to see if the PHX-PHL leg clears. 10/20 open seats left in F, < 36 hours before flight.

First time getting upgraded on Alaska. EP with about 220,000 rolling LPs

BMI - DFW E175 - upgraded at T-100
DFW - DEN A321 - no upgrade #7 of 51!, 3 were upgraded
DEN - SEA (Alaska 737-900) - upgraded at 24 hours just after check-in. Most on the upgrade list were upgraded to "premier" or whatever AS calls there MCE but 2 were upgraded to first from coach as door closed.
SEA - DFW A321 - no upgrade #4 of 30, 0 upgraded
DFW - BMI E175 - upgraded at T-100

Yeah, it looks like seats on more and more routes are being held back for cheap buyups or last minute bookings. On ORD-MIA-ORD routes, up until recently AA would save only 4 J seats at T-100, but now I'm seeing way more (7+) being held back much closer to flight time. When did your ORD-CLT seats get released for upgrades (if any were left)?

I finally got the upgrade at T-24.

My wife & I just had our SWUs clear for our PHL-CDG flight tomorrow. Cleared at around T-24. Don't know exactly when they cleared as it was during AA's system issues and we never received a notice that they cleared.

Our return flight in 3 weeks is not looking too good as only 1 J seat left, but PE should be fine for the return, it's the outbound flight we want the lay flat seats for sleeping.

Just got the miracle EGE-DFW at T-12 - totally shocked. Usually at gate at best. Route in the summer is beyond tough as only aa flight 1/2x a day and the dreaded 319

managed to clear LAX/SYD ~13 days out with over 70% of the cabin booked out. noticed it cleared on the app. still anxiously awaiting the return flight, but i am still shocked that it cleared that far out and with almost every J seat booked now