rasheed

I can't remember which airport, but I have seen US monitors attached at the gate which mimic the AA view with weather, upgrade and standby list. We know it is a different backend, but was admirable.

I think you just have to use the mobile site or app and stay on top of it. I would definitely let the GA know who you are if you are ranked 1 or 2 so it does two things, one to remind them to process upgrades and two to sort of remind you are paying attention. I think many don't use the app enough. I remember one CP saying that if she doesn't get a window upgrade before checkin, she never gets an upgrade. If that was true, I would never see US F as an AA flyer.

To me, I don't see much upgrade bypassing on AA. I even remember getting a battlefield upgrade and a late arriving elite getting mad they were going through the process of bringing me up so that he can sit in the back rather than just seating him in J. The GA smartly said the computer decides, but we know that this requires the right process execution more than technical lists.

The one time so far I have contacted US about such issue I did get an acknowledgement of inappropriate upgrade list management and they would pass my notes on to a GM (not sure who they are).

Rasheed

ellinj

Seen these in DCA recently.

Superguy

I got hit with this in PHL last weekend. Got onto an earlier flight and asked to be added to the upgrade list. F was full, but I figured with all the chaos, there were misconnects. Turns out, 4 people didn't show up.

FA bought up a pilot, and then 3 people from the back. When I asked about it, she said it was for "weight and balance issues" since it was an E170. I wasn't buying it as there were several seats in Y that could have been used had they upgraded some elites instead.

I wrote in and complained, but haven't back yet. It's sad - CP email used to be extremely quick. Now I'm going on day 5 without a response.

lt1GM

Shenanigans, most definitely. I agree with service deterioration/slowdown, just spent 15 minutes on phone before getting to CP desk...

Carl

I observed this last week on 26 Feb (US 745) / CLT to ATL. I was fortunate to have been given an F seat when they switched my flight a day and a half earlier for weather, so it didn't personally affect me. After boarding, there were two empty F seats from no-shows, so they pulled two folks from Y. There were two US employees (or one + a companion; neither in uniform) already seated in F, so it would have seemed those two should've at least been on the standby list. There were 16 on the upgrade list and I forget how many were on the standby list. I kept checking the lists before the door closed (and after, once we had Wi-Fi), and it never showed a single person moved via the upgrade list; there were maybe two on the standby list that cleared into Y (I mention that since sometimes non-revs show up on that list with an F seat assignment). I don't know about the other person they moved, but the guy that ended up next to me wasn't near the top of the list. Boarding actually started early and was mostly completed 15 mins prior to departure, so it's not like they were rushed. Just inconsistent.

Fitch7600

Since there is a thread here and so many of the issues revolve around PHL, I'm going to chime in. As an AA Exp I have very limited expectations about my upgrade chances during the transition and I accept that. I am sure my US CP brothers and sisters feel the same when flying American.

In this case however, it was galling. I was flying BWI-PHL-LAX a couple of weeks ago. I was first on the upgrade list when two seats opened up. However, since it was past scheduled departure (BWI-PHL was delayed an hour or so) I was unable to log in and claim the seat. When I got to PHL, I was still still first on the list, but the two seats were gone. I touched base with the Gate Agent, and he said "I can confirm you are on the list, but I can't confirm your location on it", which was complete nonsense; I was looking at the list on my phone. I checked if he would come get me in the event of a no-show and he promised he would. Yeah, right.

Just before departure, the flight attendant came to the non-rev flyer sitting next to me (I was exit window, he had exit middle) to tell him there was an empty seat in first and he could have it. Annoying, but an exit row with an empty seat next to me is not bad at all. Yeah, right. To add insult to injury, another US employee then switched from his middle to grab the now vacated empty seat next to me. I got to know him quite well during the 90 minute departure delay and the 5.5 hour flight as he slept, generally leaning on my shoulder.

And by the way, there were at least 12 people that were on that upgrade list that went to a non-rev. And yes, I know he was a non-rev. He was quite pleasant before he moved. Off to LA for a long weekend.

I don't generally bother writing complaints to customer service but writing and posting here made me feel better. Besides, my last flight on AA was canceled due to weather. They moved me to a US non-stop and was placed in first so it evened out.

Superguy

We're at a week and still no response from the CP address, despite receiving an automated message that I would receive something in 24 hours.