C released; jumping the queue and EF alerts
 

All - an upcoming flight of mine, 13 days out, released 7 seats into C at around 1015 EST. Naturally, I rang and grabbed one with an eVIP, likely jumping the queue in the process. It has now been four hours, seats are still available, and I have yet to receive an alert from Expertflyer. I know their systems are proprietary, but do they really scrape inventory this infrequently?

As you pointed out, we don't really know. They do tell us that they check more frequently as it gets closer to flight date.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...sk-thread.html

I would think that the same thing applies here as indicated previously

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/19663667-post2163.html

Cheers.

Inadvertently I had two alerts for C for the same flight on 17 Nov. I got first notice before 7 a.m. this morning and checked at aa.com to find out my upgrade and reticketing were already underway. I got second notice around 10 a.m. to the second alert, saying the same five C seats were available.

Satisfied EF customer here.

I just received my alert, 5 hours after I proactively re-ticketed. Don't get me wrong, I'm a satisfied EF customer and use it for more than just alerts. But I'm disappointed that 5 hours elapsed where intrepid travelers could have snagged all the seats. With 7 released that's not as big an issue as when just 1 or 2 are released. Oh well.

I never had any luck with the EF alerts... either I would be automatically upgraded from the waitlist prior to receiving an alert, or after checking upon getting an alert, 'C' availability would be back to zero. I'm sure others have had better luck, but that's been my experience.

Interesting. I've had the opposite, though probably only 4 or 5 cases in recent memory. In each one, I noticed C before EF alert or the upgrade WL was processed...so I called and reticketed. This is particularly helpful when upgrading family members who have no status, and would have been prioritized low on the waitlist. No way to tell if we actually jumped the queue, though seems likely we did.

How do you know when the C inventory was released? Did you search EF at 1010 and then again at 1015? And how do you know that it was exactly 7? AA inventory maxes at 7 in any bucket, so it could have been 8 or more, no?

I'm not seeing anything to support a suspicion that you jumped the queue. Unless you know that you were not next up on the waitlist, what evidence do we have? For all we know, you rang AA immediately prior to its automated system allocating one of the (at least 7) seats to you.

One thing I've never seen addressed is how quickly AA assigns C (or A) to those on the waitlist. Is there a one minute delay between release of inventory and processing of your upgrade? Or 10 minutes? Or an hour? I don't think that's ever been answered here.

Exactly. If you search EF and find C inventory and you call AA on behalf of a nonelite or Gold and you're able to confirm the upgrade on the phone, that would cause me to suspect that maybe you jumped the queue. But in your situation this morning, you're an EXP and probably pretty high on the waitlist. So I don't see anything to suggest that you jumped the line this morning.

Moderator action
 

Please continue ExpertFlyer discussions in the appropriate thread, linked to previously - where this discussion has been merged.

Thanks,

JDiver, Senior Moderator

AA just UG'd MIA / LHR 2 days out. Nothing heard on my EF alert.

I checked at 1000 and again at 1015. Flight was J7C0, then went to J7C7. You are correct that it could have been 8 or more.

Based on recent experience, I've been on the WL and had C hanging out there for up to two hours, before I had the time to call in. On a London flight last winter, my non-status wife was on the WL and 1 C seat was made available...hung for at least an hour before we called and grabbed it.

In today's case, I wasn't waitlisted for C, I was waitlisted for a 500-miler (this is for a transcon). So 7 seats became available for upgrades, I have no idea if there were passengers WL'd to burn an eVIP. My hunch is there were, but I agree we have no reason to verify.

Based on my experience, the lag between release and WL clearing may be significant.

Hi folks. A few notes/reminders about the Alerts system:

• It checks, at a minimum, several times a day, more so the closer the departure date/time gets.
• It was not designed to check constantly (that would be very costly), it was however designed to check consistently around the clock as most people won’t do that.
• If you set an alert but are also checking yourself and find inventory before the alert does, that’s great, one can complement the other.
• If there is an automated sweep of upgrade inventory by the airline where the inventory is only available for a brief period of time, it is likely you will be automatically upgraded before you are alerted by ExpertFlyer. If the airline sweep uses all of the inventory, then you naturally won’t be alerted.
• If you perform a manual Award & Upgrade search on ExpertFlyer and it shows available inventory that you have set an alert for, you may be wondering if the alert is set correctly. To check, go to the View Saved Alerts page and click the Quick Check button for the alert. If it notes that there is available inventory, then the alert is created correctly and the system will email you on the next check of your alert.

Any other questions feel free to send us an email, thanks.

I'm not sure what kind of "luck" you'd expect. I think of the EF alerts for waitlisted segments as a backstop. In a perfect world, the airlines would clear upgrades/awards directly from the waitlist and never release the inventory publicly. However, this doesn't seem to be the case most of the time. There usually is some delay between inventory release and waitlist clearing sweeps. Obviously, the shorter the delay, the "better" the system works, and the less useful ExpertFlyer is fort his sort of thing. But often the delays are longer. If the stars align and EF checks the alert after the inventory dump but before the waitlist sweep, you'll get a notification and the chance to potentially jump the queue (for better or worse). But often the processing will happen before EF checks. That's fine. You still got your upgrade. The odds that someone else got in before you either because of their own EF alert, or by chance, are probably very very small.

And by the way, I actually find EF alerts more valuable for non-upgrade situations, where you can't waitlist directly with the airline. I use it a lot for revenue fares, perhaps to notify me when "I" inventory opens so I can grab that $2k business class fare to Europe, or when "O" inventory opens so I can get that $89 ticket to Miami. Or even on the reverse -- I can have it notify me when "O" inventory drops below, say, 5, signaling that I should probably buy my ticket now. You can also use it for flight award inventory (Z/U/T) either to alert you when you can go and book your honeymoon to Hawaii, or when you can switch from the early morning JFK-LHR flight to one of the redeyes.

On United (previously Continental) it was very handy for doing confirmed flight changes, which have to be booked in the original inventory class. Even on a rather full flight, the cheap classes would often open up a few hours prior to departure, and I was quite frequently able to make the change promptly thanks to an EF alert. You could probably use this on AA too, looking for the appropriate inventory (I think any CFC comes out of E or G or something).

Tuesday JFKLAX went from C0 to C7 at approximately 0640 EST. I will report back when I get my alert.

Alert arrived 0830 EST. I'm satisfied.