It's been a long time since I've seen a flight go out with empty F seats. I've said in C+ plenty this year as a diamond on K+ fares

Service is as good or better than Delta on short haul. I've taken a couple AA flight's this year (I am lifetime Plat thanks to their credit card and the US Mint) and have bought FC fares since American/US is now joining Delta and United in offering FCM. I had to fly J in AA a couple months ago from LAX to MIA, fare was cheaper in J on AA than F in Delta, and the J product was better on American than F in Domestic on Delta. Only thing I found odd was the middle row of J had middle seats, it was 2-3-2 seating on that aircraft.

They ended up filling F with nonrevs.

I was on a BWI-ATL flight at 10AM on a Wednesday about a month ago. It left with a few open F seats, and even FOs had cleared.

I did a search on this thread and couldn't find an answer to this. Does anyone know what the receipt looks like when accepting the FC buy up offer when purchasing an economy ticket? More specifically, does the receipt itemize the FC buy up?

The daily AA 777 flights from MIA to LAX are the sweetspot for me in the AA transcon market. First is where you really enjoy it.

$67 upgrade to F
 

Had an interesting thing happen the other evening. Called into DL to change an existing ECP-PWM via ATL roundtrip to an earlier date. After the change fee minus the fare difference from my original Y class ticket, I paid $161. I was expecting the change would've cost a little more, so out of curiosity I asked what it would cost to upgrade to F. The agent did some looking and it would cost $4xx to upgrade. I said thanks but no thanks and just did the change remaining in Y class.

After I got off the phone I went online to my trips to choose seats for my new schedule, and up at the top of the page the banner advertised an upgrade to F for the entire trip for only $67. And just minutes ago when I inquired it was quoted as $400+

So, I took the bait and paid an additional $67 to upgrade. So $161 + $67 = $228 not at all bad IMO to make a necessary date change to a reservation!

i flew AA in first ORD-SNA a few months ago and was quite happy with it. The service was first rate and the airplane was brand new with lots of touches that DL does not bother with on its new 737s. The only kicker was that at SNA, the bags took about 40 minutes to come out, something that almost never happens on DL

I guess that getting that new airplane is the luck of the draw since I have not been impressed by their older hard product. But if it is an indication of where AA wants to go, it must be taken seriously.

Lots of threads on this. It happens, depends upon
the situation (fare, availability, city pairs, timing of travel,
size of equipment, etc)

The next time you try it, it could be $467.00 more)

I'm flying again tomorrow, down and back to PBI in one day. Just checked in for PBI-ATL, where I'm #3 for 7 empties in F; the Big D wants $199.00 for an upgrade. I'm sitting behind C+, and I just dusted off some old drink coupons which are still valid.

Actually, pricing an upgrade for a 1 hour flight so high is good; it means that there is still a decent chance at getting upgraded for free.

My latest frustration is that Delta is showing ZERO seats available (empty / unassigned) in First Class on three of my 5 upcoming flights (I already got 2 UG's at the DM window).

My Gold Medallion companion sees the same (NO F Seats available in their My Delta app & Delta.com Seatmaps)

However, if I attempt a booking for F seats all of a sudden there are several seats in EACH flight available!

Wondering if this is an effort to market FCM ? Since even though no seats show the Gold Medallion is still receiving option to Upgrade to First Class seats!

Maybe that is one of the reasons Delta no longer allows Expert Flyer to show their inventory as well?

No. For the buy up DURING booking (where it offers it to you before you enter pax and payment info), it reprices and tickets the purchase as a FC fare (usually GAP fare).

If you need a coach receipt, buy the coach fare, save the receipt, then call in to do the buy-up. You'll then get a separate receipt showing the new fare and the difference paid, it's processed as a separate transaction (so you can use a different CC if you want), and the PNR# stays the same in case you need to show continuity between the purchase and upgrade.

There's a separate, quickly growing thread about the new seat map quirks. Would link but I'm on my phone at the moment.

First Class Monetization, or FCM: The Definitive Thread
 

Interesting FCM today I hadn't read about previously. Made a change to get home a day earlier and as I was researching flights I came across a routing indicating "Upgrade Available" for me. Called in and got all re ticketed, then waited for upgrade to clear. After an hour no upgrade...tried dummy Y booking (ATL-DTW FYI) and showed upgrade available as well. Went to check in and offered a 79 dollar buy-up for a Diamond on an M fare. Declined as I had a C+ seat and relatively short flight, plus cleared at gate. Still, indicated it may be now be an unreliable check DOD for available upgrades using a dummy Y booking as "Upgrade Available" may be "PAID Upgrade Available" in reality. YMMV