The AA agent you talked to on the phone is just making things up.

IF the flight ends up being oversold, then any complimentary upgrades (cabin rolls) would be handled at the airport/gate. At that point it wouldn't matter whether you booked through BA or AA.

This is not something that is handled over the phone. Also, if the notification you received is just that the flight may be oversold and AA may be looking for volunteers, then that doesn't mean much. AA sends that out on a lot of flights that ultimately are not overbooked.

Thank you for responding,
the call agent confirmed that the flight is oversold in the economy cabin.

She also said that the check in staff wouldn’t be able to upgrade me too as they use the same systems for upgrades and my ticket isn’t applicable.

I really hope she is not correct and I do agree with you it seems odd to exempt me from upgrades because I used a partner airline to book.

The agent was just confused and/or mixing things up when it comes to upgrades.

I'm guessing when you called and inquired about "upgrades" that they just assumed you were trying to upgrade via normal means (miles/copay or a SWU). That is the only way to upgrade in advance over the phone and the only thing that they've been trained on. In those cases it is correct that if you booked via BA an AA phone agent will not be able to upgrade you

But for day of departure oversold or irrops situations, AA has control of the ticket and an airport or gate agent can absolutely cabin roll ("upgrade") whoever they want regardless of where the ticket was booked.

However I really wouldn't get your hopes up, on a flight like LHR-JFK there are most likely lots of other higher status pax that would theoretically be ahead of you should they need to roll cabins.

thank for you, to clarify, when giving the complimentary upgrade for overbooking they consider status? I thought it was a first come first serve basis.

There are no more flights today so does that mean I’ll be placed on a flight tomorrow? (I’m only going for the weekend so I’m disappointed).

Btw sorry for all of the questions.

If the flight is overbooked then the airport agents handle the cabin rolls, they typically take status and fare paid into account although it can vary, there's no 100% set in stone process.

But it's definitely not first come first serve and it's definitely not something done over the phone just by calling in, which is what I was mentioning above re: agent confusion.

If AA determines that it needs to bump 5 pax up from economy to PE or business, then it's typically (though not always) the 5 highest status pax.

But I don't understand what you mean by no more flights today and hoping you'll be placed on a flight tomorrow?

thank you, I guess I’ll wait until I get to the airport. I’ve been advised to get to the check in/baggage desk 3 hours early.

To clarify, as the flight is overbooked the call agent said if necessary, I would be placed on another flight. It’s a week long holiday in the UK so it’s very busy and all the flights from LHR-JFK are sold out today (a part from Virgin airlines) so I’m quite worried.

Again I think there was some major confusion going on with what you were asking the phone agent and their responses.

IF the flight is oversold, and IF you volunteer to take a later flight (in exchange for $$, or a voucher), then yea, you would be placed on a later flight.

But if you don't volunteer then as a PLT the chances of you getting involuntarily bumped off your flight is basically 0%. Absolutely nothing to worry about.

Looking at the flight loads for tomorrow's LHR-JFK flights, both AA and BA, the morning flights are busy/sold out but there is still lots of room on the afternoon and evening flights. Again nothing at all to worry about.

Great, thank you so much for your help!
I’ll have an update with what happens soon

Back to topic of upgrade clearances...

Today's flights;

LGA-CLT, 738, Wednesday, ~11am: Did not clear (not a surprise) - was #3 of 24 at boarding
CLT-DEN, A321, Wednesday, ~2pm: Cleared at ~26 hours.

Was in a meeting when the upgrade cleared, so didn't get to pre-order my slop. Onboard was the choice of stuffed peppers or chicken enchilada (what a pairing - god forbid someone not like faux Mexican food...) which IMO are two of the worst entrees AA has going right now. Served with the boring Haagen Daaz option for dessert. So declined to eat onboard.

I am seeing continued success as a barely ExPlat.

Wednesday 10/23 LAX-OKC E175 Cleared at T-100

Friday 11/1 OKC-DFW 737-800 Cleared at T-26
DFW-BIL E-175 Cleared at T-100

#1/15 for zero seats TPA-PHL today. Didn't clear.
~320K rolling LPs

Today

AA 777 DFW-LAS (A321). #15 and 16 out of nearly 50 for 0 seats.

Took the paid upgrade for AA 1890 LAS-DFW on 11/04 as was J3 at 96 hours.

EXP approx 300k LP rolling

Anyone here had experience with upgrades on the JFK to Delhi flights. Want to apply a SWU to fly business mid/late January. Just curious to know do these flights tend to get sold out in biz or are upgrade chances fairly good? I'm Exec Plat with around 300 K rolling miles. It's too long a flight to risk sitting in the back!

Yesterday PHL-TPA
#2/15 for 0 seats. #1 cleared. I didn't.

Unclear on Priority
 

Status level of course is most important. But summary also says purchased tickets rank above award. So question is, for example, does a purchased ticket by a Platinum rank above award ticket by ExPlatinum or Plat Pro?