On a lot of flights I will happily be an EXP "walking to the back" but $200-$300 richer for not taking AA's buy up that might not even get me more than a $3 beer or bag of chips.

I like flying in F as much as the next guy but domestically there are a lot of cases where it's simply not worth it.

I have never been offered an upgrade through the app either.

Chance of upgrade for award vs revenue flight
 

Hey all so still a total newb to airline status but there’s a route with a really good award price in both economy and first for a change. I expect to have gold and an outside chance of plat by this trip so instead of redeeming for first I kinda wanna roll the dice on an upgrade (the route is New Orleans to CLT to Buffalo NY) going on a Tuesday night.

so my main question is— would buying a refundable economy ticket put me ahead of an award economy ticket for upgrades? I know on United you can see fare classes but not sure if the AA app can show that or you need a desktop browser

No, with AA the waitlist is sorted by status then rolling 12 month LP. So there's no advantage to being on a paid ticket vs award ticket.

Very well said and could not agree more. Many FTers suffer from an almost maniacal obsession with flying up front, even when its economical irrational. Like you, I like flying up front too, but not if it requires me to spend irrationally and though I can afford it, I actually expect some level of value in return for my money.

One of the things I find most disappointing (and perhaps surprising) is that I sort of thought (hoped?) when the US carriers began actually selling domestic F seats for money (vs. comp upgrades/miles) they would actually invest in the product and improve things like food and wine/spirits/beer, etc. Instead, it almost seems to be going the opposite way; the quality (and even actual availability, depending on flight length) seems to be going down, particularly in terms of food quality (and wine, which is my adult beverage of choice).

I would be willing to open my wallet wider for a better domestic F product, but not so much for what they are currently offering. In that case, an exit row works fine for me (and my wife brings better snacks anyhow!)

Regards

325K LPs. 1 for 5 in the last week.
2/21 JFK-CLT precleared a day or two early
2/21 CLT-TPA #4
2/26 TPA-PHL #1
2/28 MDT-CLT #1
2/28 CLT-TPA #1 enroute to CLT. #5 when arrived in CLT

Never presented an option to purchase upgrade in app or on website, for any of the flights.
Where are people finding this option? Is it similar to the “click here if your plans are flexible” when the flights are close to capacity, and they are looking for volunteers?

For me it is right at the top when I click on the flight in the app. "Upgrade your flight for as low as $54 . . ." - not worth it for a 90 minute gate-to-gate flight by any stretch, but that's the offer I had until a couple of days ago for our flight today.

Today the conundrum - I've apparently chosen the most popular TLH-CLT flight there is. Considering putting in the offer for $675 for the volunteer list and seeing what happens. Downside is the next flight departs after 8:00 and we've got a 90 minute drive to final destination. Plus no MCE availability right now (only 3 on the whole 50 seat plane to be fair) & ERJ145, so economy-only on this flight. So signs are pointing to "no" for this, but almost $1400 does look pretty attractive.

Thanks for the pointer. I am wondering if my flights are not showing upgrade offers since they are generally pretty full.

For your conundrum, I've put in a few times for those, and not once have they materialized. For $675, I would most likely give it a go. And its an ERJ145. All seats are bad. Also... how does $675 turn into $1400?

2 people - flying with my wife today. Also why I chose convenience and probably won't volunteer us for the later flight. The late arrival is not conducive to marital harmony. I'd disagree "all seats are bad" on the 145 - for me it is more like "all seats are good".

Ha! Understood. I guess my statement about the E145 seats is I don't believe there is much (any?) difference between a MCE seat or a "standard" seat? Flew on one earlier this week, and they all looked relatively cramped.

There's 3 in the exit row - we found it to be quite nice and plenty of leg room in January when we traveled this same route. And the complementary whiskey is always nice. And when I'm solo the 145 has a lot of the main thing I like in an airplane seat - the single seats on the left of the aisle. I mean, nobody sitting next to you in first is the best, but nobody sitting next to you in economy is also good.

In any event and getting back to topic a bit, return flight on Sunday for us still has 5 F seats for sale, so there's at least a little bit of hope.

#1 with 1 seat left for sale (for the last several days). Boarding in about 7 hours, and still not upgraded. Around 330K LPSs. What happened to T-100 for EXP?
Connecting flight cleared a few days ago (ERJ175 - there were 12 seats available)

As an EXP you can clear at anytime starting at T-100 right up until the gate.

But that has never meant that just because seats are available within T-100 that AA will process upgrades. Far from it.

With only 1 seat left up front it's not surprising at all that AA hasn't released any upgrade space yet. If there's still 1 seat left then the upgrade will be processed at the gate or just before.

Just arrived to airport, and of course, now 0 seats left and still #1 on the list. Another swing and a miss.

​​​​​​….yet nowhere was I offered to pay for an upgrade

Today's flights:

• HND-LAX, Friday, 8:25pm (AA26), 788: SWU did not clear, but ended up with a no-cost upgrade to W, so that was fine
• LAX-DEN: Friday, ~6:30pm, E75: cleared at 100 hours