There was a time not to long ago when as an EXP you could count on an upgrade rate of 75%-80% better. As far as upgrades 4A will always rule over 8A even if the lazy FA stares off into space during boarding. Not to mention the number of times it's taken nearly an hour for take off in MIA when storms are present. I'd far rather spend that time in 4A. That being said AA (and other airlines) are conditioning us to pay up if we want to be up in front of the plane.

Highly debateable / individual travel patterns based whether domestic upgrades are the biggest benefit. Most visible, maybe.

But personally, it's #8 or or #9 on the list of status benefits before I get to domestic upgrades as important.

I don't fly transcons. Longest domestic flight I'm ever on is CLT-DEN. MCE is perfectly fine. On the other hand I do fly a lot of international longhauls in Y and partner segments abroad. Domestic upgrades are irrelevant to those, but lots of other benefits are.

Was that time last year? Because I ran something like 85% success on domestic upgrades last year. (edit to add: with rolling LPs around or less than 250k)

Point is this is hardly a uniform matter.

Given the obsession I see at the gate and ACs about upgrades at least for EXP and maybe PP yeah it's the number one benefit. A benefit that will eventually have some kind of copay. GLDs and to a certain extent PLTs have found upgrades tougher and tougher since the upgrade process got changed a few years back so they've been out of that race for awhile. It your PLT then the biggest benefit is free MCE.

Paid Upgrades Counting Towards LP, When?
 

As previously announced AA will begin to award LPs for cash paid upgrades, a great move IMHO. I questioned whether this will be for paid upgrades for flights beginning March 1 or for paid upgrades purchased after March 1. I looked on aa.com and just saw a note that this enhancement was "coming soon." Any insight? Also, will the LPs be awarded when the upgrade is purchased or when the flight gets credited? Finally, if you purchase an upgrade and need to make a flight change due to irregular operations and get seated back to coach will you still get the LPs? The AC has told me that these paid upgrades are refundable in the event of irregular operations and you get stuck in Y.

Can only guess until they announce it. But I'm assuming March 1, too. Complimentary upgrades are going to get even more rare once these upgrades start earning LPs.

I have a trip the first week of March (4 segments) that I did at least a half dozen times last year, and was very successful with getting upgraded (bad time of day/bad destination always helps :)). It will be interesting to see how it plays out for this trip.

Has AA stated how many miles / LPs will be earned on these upgrades? If it's flat 1 LP/$ then it's basically a rounding error, but if it's a full 11 LP/$ that EXPs get on airfare then I could see it having some impact.

I would suspect that people who buy upgrades are doing so due to wanting to travel business class as opposed to wanting to buy LPs

My thought was only based of my own thinking. People are already gobbling up the cheap ones. However, in my case, with being able to get a decent MCE at booking, not being able to earn LPs (and with a somewhat okayish shot at a complimentary upgrade) I've passed on quite a few in-app upgrade offers. Now that they'll earn LPs at some point, I'll definitely bite more often - especially if they'll earn at the same level as our status (yet to be seen, still).

No, but anything is better than nothing in this case and could be a tipping point for some (me included but I also could be a super minority with this line of thought).

In your case, then yes, if you buy the upgrades, then the number of complimentary ones that you get are indeed likely to diminish

Report back afterwards please. I have a trip LHR-PHL on 07Mar that I upgraded with miles (25K) and copay ($350). It will be nice to get 3850 LPs if that actually happens.

I didn't think this applied to these types of upgrades. I thought it only applied to all cash upgrades.

That’s my understanding as well

Oh. My bad. Well, I'll let you know if it does happen.