Yeah, as one of "those people" travelling on a company paid tickets, under a Y (occasionally W) only policy; earning LPs on upgrade purchases has nothing to do with if I buy an upgrade or not.

Standard domestic F isn't worth paying money for, and a few measly additional LPs isn't going to change that.

On the other hand I will (and have) happily purchased $350 Y-->J upgrades on long-hauls. Excellent value for the comfort upgrade. LPs are irrelevant to the reasons I purchase the upgrade.

In fairness, this new change hasn't really rolled out yet though so it's hard to say if it will or will not impact your luck in the upgrade lottery.

The fact that you won't do it out of pocket, doesn't mean others won't (including leisure travelers), which again, could impact your upgrade chances.

Obviously, I don't know this for sure but time will tell. Honestly, I suspect most people that wanted a paid upgrade probably took it if they wanted it whether it gave them LPs or not, so we'll see if this change really impacts things that much (it might not).

Regards

I don't know that it makes zero sense. Some of my clients only allow economy/premium economy travel within the US, and I am definitely more likely to buy-up to first given that the spend now counts towards LPs. To me, status (and LPs for that matter) is not only about complimentary domestic upgrades. At the same time, I tend to agree this isn't likely to move the needle much. Time will tell.

But what we don't know is the algo that determines what your upgrade offer is. As an EXP will I get a better offer? The airlines are conditioning us to pay for upgrades and have added this carrot as top status still gives you some other perks like discounts on AC membership, EXP desk, better handling of irregular ops but yes the biggest benefit is being taken away albeit slowly.

I know everything is YMMV but it's hard to see it as 'the biggest benefit' unless you're a CK and could hang your hat on an upgrade clearing. Even at EXP level it strikes me as a nice to have, unless you're really putting time into game planning your flights for upgrade potential. Especially given the deterioration in cabin service standards on short hops, there's not a huge amount of difference in 8A and 4A on a 738 between MIA and CLT imo.

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.

I bought one for a Mar 1 flight, so I guess I'll guinea pig this and report back.

Normally my upgrade percentage has been quite good, and I don't care too much as long as I've got an exit row, but figured a cheap transcon lie flat was worth the test.

Agreed. In my case, as I've said before:

....

Complimentary upgrades apply to less than half of the flights I take. Absolutely not the biggest benefit in my case. Far from it.

But earning LPs might be relevant to some who would purchase the upgrade. I am in agreement with Drwaz99 here, especially if the LPs earned mirror the earn rate one's status. Informally, I've talked with other FlyerTalk members who have a similar sentiment.

Will this have a material impact on complimentary upgrade rate should one choose to pass on the upgrade offer? I suspect it wouldn't solely based on my casual observations of not being upgraded after declining the paid upgrade offer. There have been cases where I was debating the value of purchasing the upgrade versus taking a chance on a complimentary upgrade. Earning LPs at the EXP rate would have tipped the scales in favor of purchasing the upgrade.

So that was a lie. Granted, I re-read the release and it only stated "Earn miles on upgrades: Earn miles when you pay with cash to upgrade to a premium cabin." Which is what AA is providing [miles], but with their entire premise of "simplifying" status in LP, where all is equal, it makes no sense why they now differentiate "miles" and "LP", when they're marketed as one in the same.

Didn't receive additional LPs for cash upgrades for 3/1 and 3/3. The website says coming soon, so who knows when "soon" will be.

Ditto, no RDM or LP earned. Poor choice to roll this out for the "new qualification year" and not make it functional.

Also, confusion that the statement says "earn miles", nothing per se about LPs. So earn extra RDMs but no LPs? If this is true gonna be some unhappy campers. Not that will mean anything to AA Mgt.

That would be kind of strange. Pretty much the exact opposite of UA paid upgrades which earn PQP (UAs version of LPs), but not RDM.

Has anyone gotten their post February statement closing to February 29th CC spend LPs?

Got an email about the new AAdvantage year starting March 1st and noticed this:

The site is updated with the LP reward amounts:

15,000 - 1,000 LPs
175,000 - 5,000 LPs
250,000 - 15,000 LPs

At least now the 15,000 reward level isn't totally worthless when you already have status, as 1,000 LPs is better than 5 preferred seat coupons.

Good news about the 1K at 15K. The only reason I could see anyone taking the 5K at the 175K level would be if it is Feb 28, and they needed them to hit Executive Platinum. And I could never see anyone taking the 15K at 250K. For what, to marginally increase the odds of getting an upgrade for seats that are progressively getting harder and harder to obtain? I’d rather have the tangible RDMs, vs a few extra probability points.

A detail about the 1K bonus (at 15K level) is you can redeem for this year or next year (though the website doesn’t support the next year choice yet so they warn to wait if that’s what you want).

Where are you getting the reward figures for 175k and 250k? What I see is 20,000 LPs(25,000 for credit card holders at 175, and 20,000 LPs (30,000) at 250k

I think you're mixing up LP reward choices and redeemable mile reward choices.

He's talking about the LP choices at those levels.

Ah, I am indeed - thank you foe the correction!

I just unlocked the 15k level, and my first inclination was to just pick the 1000 LP and be done with it. But since I have until 3/31/2025 to make that selection, it would seem there is no rush, and if I find near the end of the 2024 year that I don’t actually need the 1000 LP, I can push them into the next year. And on the other hand, if I have an upcoming bonus-qualifying LP event and I am slightly below the 20% or 30% bonus threshold, I can perhaps use it to boost the earnings a bit there. Nothing life changing, but I like how AA makes this a bit of a strategy game to drive engagement with their program :)

I do like that much better, that's a fun option.

Answering my own question, everyone's favorite credit card hawker blog provided some updates on the Trip Credit changes.

https://viewfromthewing.com/why-you-...e-last-minute/

• AAdvantage members Trip Credit expires 12 months after the date of cancellation
• Non AAdvantage members Trip Credit expires 6 months after date of cancellation
• Only one AAdvantage member needs to be on the PNR for the 12 month trip credit validity

As Trip Credit validity is based upon the date of cancellation, its another reason to wait until the last minute to cancel a flight.

I guess, but 1K is so minimal... it just reeks of AA basically being impertinent lol

While 1K is minimal, for me it is the only thing that has any value at the 15K level. Every other offer there is worth zero.