headinclouds

The DCA-CMH route has the very nice E-175 regional jet. I have been using my BA status to get main cabin extra for no charge. I have not been using my AA PLT status since I find the main cabin extra section more comfortable than the 1st class section of this plane. BA status dropped to OW ruby, so if I want main cabin extra, I need to use my AA PLT status. But I don't want the automatic upgrade. Can one decline the request for the upgrade in the booking process?

JJeffrey

There's no way to decline the upgrade that I know of in the booking process, at least not online. You should be able to call AA after you book and remove yourself from the upgrade waitlist.

njvandy

The upgrade request is automatic and you can't opt out at the time of booking. You need to call or send a DM to AA on Twitter asking them to cancel the request. It should take 30 seconds if you choose the latter option.

Uzzar

So you would rather be sitting in a 18" wide seat (shoulder-to-shoulder with a stranger), rather than in the A" side of an E175?? At worst case you would be in a 20" wide F seat, with 36" pitch. The only reason I would ever do this is if I was traveling with someone and the upgrade chance was not good for 2.

JJeffrey

I completely agree, no way is MCE more comfortable than F on a 175, much less so much more comfortable that I would turn down a free upgrade. But to each their own.

Herb687

To each his own, indeed. This just shows why it was stupid for AA to make the change to auto-requested upgrades.

Upgrades should not be auto-requested. Nor should they be free. Those who actually value upgrades and are willing to spend something for them (something in this case can be the old 500-mile "stickers") should have the first crack at those upgrades.

Giving a comp upgrade to a pax who neither wants nor cares about the upgrade harms the person behind him on the list who wants the upgrade and is willing to use a sticker to pay for it.

I love the F seats on the A side of E75 but if I was given a choice between two MCE Y seats to myself or an F seat on the 2-seat side with an occupied seat next to it, I might opt to stay in Y too.

ijgordon

I think even the bulkhead in F is more comfortable than any MCE seat... (Which isn't necessarily true on all mainline aircraft).

enviroian

This is the only reason I could think why the OP was inquiring

njvandy

Only way I could see this is if I was on the same flight as a boss or client and didn't want to have to explain to them how they aren't paying for my first class seat

javabytes

E175 MCE bulkhead has miles of legroom, more so than any FC seat including the bulkhead. So I can understand that.

WeekendTraveler

Seat 8C has tons of legroom. I totally understand the OP.

nineworldseries

Unless my seat is 1A, I pretty much try to avoid the E175 at all costs. I can't imagine that the MCE would be more comfortable in any way.

Antarius

I disagree. You design software for the 99% of cases, not the 1% edge case. The number of people who decline upgrades will be a rounding error trending towards zero; in these cases, having to call in makes sense.

Even then, by default aren't the requested upgrades no-split? Best case, both clear, worst neither do. Extreme worst case, if one does get upgraded, I've never seen anyone decline an upgrade if you walk back and ask someone to swap.

enviroian

Almost completely agree though 2A/3A are good too if only for the solo seat.

javabytes

The software was already designed and built for this "edge case", which until recently was not a 1% use case at all. With 500 mile certs, lower level elites had to decide whether to request an upgrade, and so too did PP/EP traveling with a companion... and knowing that if a companion upgrade was not requested, the elite might not want one either. The already-built checkboxes, defaulted to a pre-selected state, are a perfectly viable solution and even to this day would continue to deflect calls.