Lately Ive been flying SFO-JFK every other week. Im currently Plat on American and have requested an upgrade 12 times this year and have not recieved it even once on this route. For the first time in 6 years, Im considering ditching AA to find a carrier where I might have better luck on upgrades.

Anyone have any recommendations for other airlines that have better upgrade policies and hopefully better seats in Business? Or even better seats in Coach?

Thanks

UA's p.s. service has the best seats on the SFO-JFK run in all classes. I've had pretty good luck on upgrades - 12 for 12 over the past year and a half, always ending up in row 9 (the row with "infinite" leg room) - though others seem to have less luck.

We fly the SFO-JFK route a lot. We don't request upgrades often, but when we do, we have not gotten them even once. We are PLT and once a GA told us that there were 12 EXPs sitting in coach, so we shouldn't hold our breath. I don't know what to tell you...

UA PS, baby!!!!

Its not that AA's upgrade policy is the problem. There are genuinely a lot of people who pay for (discount) J on this route. Then given the length of the flight and the relative comfort for a domestic flight, people are willing to use miles / VIP's to ensure the uprgrade. This leaves very few if any seats for sticker upgrades.

Any chance that you'd have better luck going through Los Angeles? As there are more LAX-JFK flights, perhaps SFO-LAX-JFK would have better success for you. I've requested one SFO-JFK upgrade, a redeye on a Saturday, and I cleared no sweat but I'd probably use miles if I was going on a weekday.

Agree with others that United PS may be the best bet. Not sure what upgrade reality is, but they have 26 business seats (much better than 1st on most of the American flights) and 12 first (lie flat). All of the coach seats are economy plus which beats coach on American if you cannot get an upgrade, plus meals are served in coach. (See Seat Guru for seat layout).

Should check if United will match status. Not sure what there policy is these days, but I am sure you can find it on the board here.

I would definitely ditch AA in favor of UA. I prefer a 767 to a 757, but the PS config definitely beats the heck out of the AA product front to back.

You could also forget the bs of begging for an upgrade and just fly jetblue from oak or sjc... pretty good leg room, service, and with the ife you don't even realize how quick the time passes...

I've flown them all, and NOTHING beats United PS! You will find the best seats and service in all classes. Personally, I would recommend Business -- the seats are comprable to that of American's first-class domestic first, and yet are less expensive. First of course is great, however I don't see a huge difference between PS first and PS business.

You will recieve better service, better food, a better seat, and not to mention... you will get a DVD player with 10 new release DVDs to view during the flight (Fox's "House" is always one of them). Try it out, you will not be disappointed. Did I mention I have a 90% upgrade success rate?

I agree with everything said about how great UA p.s. is...and more.

The service is exemplary. UA's JFK-based crews are the best I have ever seen on any carrier.

Is this a trick question? You fly SFO-JFK primarily, and you've been on AA all this time??

Come over to UA and fly p.s. > better service, better seats, better life.

There is always DL from JFK too. There are 3 flights a day with first class service.

I think UA's p.s. service beats any other domestic service (and in fact I think C beats at least the US carriers' international C) hands-down. But, if upgrades are what you're after, be forewarned that they are very stingy about releasing confirmable upgrade space in advance, and they often sell out, so you can't really count on an upgrade. If you're stuck in the back, at least it's E+ BUT it's a very stingy E+ (34" and if you get a recliner in front of you, it's not very comfortable). Certainly better than AA's LRTC, but there are no exit rows in the back of the ps planes to give you any possibility of really adequate leg room.

my wife and i are committed AA flyers

but when i was able to get "deals" on UA we tried p.s. and haven't gone back to AA since

simply no comparison flight-wise, and lots more departures, too

but- we either buy discount "Z" or ameniti 2-for-1 or cheap "S" and use miles to upgrade- point being we always have booked seats in business class, we never hope for an upgrade- there are so many premium travelers out there that your chances are minimal- even though others claim great success

we just don't want to take a chance

even if you buy miles from UA at 2c each and use 30k for the r/t the total may be $1k or so- not bad for transcon business guaranteed

or ask ameniti for a deal- (Z won't work 2for1) if you are 2 pax

and yes UA gave my Premier Executive just for showing my recent AA statement

I've flown SFO-JFK a number of times since UA's PS service began, upgrades are usually available and it's an awesome product.