Upgrades are tough to get these days. Even flying on Wednesday afternoon, as an Executive Platinum, I sat in back. People buy first, or spend an inordinate number of miles for first. Fortunately I managed to get my wife and daughter up front because two confirmable upgrade seats opened, they were booked on a qualifying fare, and I used Business ExtrAA upgrade certificates to move them up.
Those upgrades happened in advance. I watched the number of first class seats dwindle, down to two and then down to one the day before. The morning of travel that seat was gone. So while I was number one on the upgrade list, I sat in back.
That time between 24 hours in advance of departure – when check-in opens – and when the flight goes under airport control has just seen some changes to how confirmed (rather than complimentary) upgrades work on the back end. An internal memo from American Airlines lays it out, and I reproduce it below.
Most of you will be less interested in the move to processing these in the Sabre reservation system, and more interested in the role that type of upgrade instrument being used still plays in determining upgrade priority. Systemwide upgrades and mileage upgrade awards take priority over complimentary upgrades, since the passenger is ‘paying for’ the upgrade.
The median American AAdvantage status member won’t notice any change. They’re no longer cancelling waitlist segments inside of 24 hours and running upgrades through a separate process. This may effect how people are searching for upgrade space themselves and calling in to process upgrades (with miles and systemwides) ahead of others on the waitlist.
I will be watching to see if sweeps for upgrade availability are processed less frequently inside of 24 hours, and thus watching for availability inventory, for instance setting Expert Flyer alerts, will mean making it possible to call in and grab the space before the system gives it to someone else higher up on the list.
When I was a ConciergeKey member, my upgrade percentage was good but not great. I was at the top of the upgrade list, but there were often no seats left to upgrade into! American Airlines doesn’t have enough first class seats, especially on their Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft. And American doesn’t have enough business class seats on their Boeing 787 aircraft, either. Upgrades are tough out there!
However if you’re trying to upgrade, and if there are seats available, this memo lays out the new process for how confirmed upgrades work inside of 24 hours to departure.
2 for 2 on 788 Y–>J SWUs this year.
And 80% success on domestic upgrades, including several this week at 100 hours, as a run of the mill EXP.
The “upgrades are over” narrative isn’t as real as the Flyertalk/blogger echo chamber would have you believe
@Bob – first, what routes are your domestic upgrades on? second, what routes and when did your systemwide upgrades clear? you aren’t sharing information that is useful.
@Bob, I agree, I am upgraded about half the time and when I don’t it is usually because i bought the ticket the night before.
I have not had much problem with upgrades as an EXP using Charlotte as my home base and flying out west often connecting through Dallas or Phoenix. Frequently also fly to Vegas direct and get an upgrade.
Like Bob I’ve had an upgrade rate of around 80% this year as an EXP- out of RDU and PHX for the most part with mixed success in other markets. I’ve got some pending SWU upgrades (788, ORD-CDG, and not counting on it clearing). As for this change, I am not sure what the total effect it will have but it seems that the EF loophole will be closed (I’ve taken advantage of that in the past). It will at least create some consistency and quicker updates to the waitlist (hopefully).
@ Gary — Just pay to sit upfront. In my experience, neither the cash price or the number of miles required is “inordinate”. No stress or wasted effort, and you don’t have to be (as) concerned with being downgraded back to a horrible seat during IRROPs.
I pay to sit up front, like this week bought ORD-CLT about 2 weeks out and First was an extra $55. Just got an offer to upgrade a 788 flight MIA-DFW for $100. In the last six weeks as a Gold I’ve cleared within 24 hours on CLT-TPA and return, the first DFW-CLT of the day midweek, and HSV-DFW. Maybe I’m just lucky.
Just love to watch the “elite” members being OBSESSED over upgrades…as if it is the be all, end all.
Seriously I think it has become all about “prestige” as for most flights it makes little difference.
But they will spend hours posting (obsessing) here or on FlyerTalk about upgrades or not getting them…sheez.
Been noticing alot more AA FC availability on BA/QATAR/etc. – often last minutes. So routine flights last minute out of my home airport (CLT) may have zero economy available but 2-4 FC avail. We are talking 3-4 days out — so is AA holding these for last minute snags on partners? (and yes, I have been snagging since I need the seat and 15k membership rewards aint nothing)
Does this mean that the current autoprocessing of the upgrade list at 5 minutes before boarding time goes away? And we go back to gate agents processing upgrades?
Who is ATO?
No mention here of Elite companion – which was fixed a while back to staying just under the Top Elite after 24 hours and up through the boarding process.
Also – I have flight next week where F is cheaper than coach. And coach is half full. No wonder upgrades are harder to get. Who would not buy the F seat when it is cheaper than low coach fare (same fare they were offering 2 months ago)
Mr. Leff says that airlines don’t have enough first class seats for passengers to get complimentary upgrades into.
It seems to me that the airlines have the right number of first class seats, as they don’t have much slack to give away for free.
Extra space in a flying tube is expensive real estate and costs resources that could otherwise be used for other endeavors. If the author wants to sit in first, perhaps he should try giving up something else (i.e. money) for it.
Glad I retired when I did, before the merger. Back then, as Executive Platinum, I’d get upgraded 90% of the time. Now I wouldn’t want the hassle.
As a lifetime Platinum on AA, I flew SAN ORD on Aug. 1, 2023 with my family (son, 16, Gold, due to having lifetime saved upgrades dumped on him as loyalty points, and husband). I did not see myself on the upgrade list at all. I walked up to the gate agents. After requesting several times, they added me to the upgrade list and my name went right to the top based on status, with 1 seat showing as open until after the plane left. However, about ten minutes after I requested the add, they called people much lower on the list by name (my husband heard them say the name out loud, as I did), and handed out the upgrades to them. I never cleared. At the Admirals Club in Chicago in Terminal G, which opened at 06:15 (not at 5 a.m. as it displays on the plaque on the wall outside), I inquired about the upgrade process. They told me I was a “late add”, and the system never added me to the upgrade list because I was flying “with family”. They told me that I should have asked at the check-in to have myself separated from the “other people on my record locator” and placed on the upgrade list alone. Then I would have received the upgrade. Supposedly, on my flight back from YYZ through DFW, on August 20th, when I am alone, because my husband/son have to return earlier on the 17th out of ROC, (son’s start of school was pushed back to earlier in August for the first time), the system is then “taking care of me automatically” and I don’t need to do anything. Let’s see what happens. I have not received an upgrade on AA in years. As an MVP Gold on Alaska who requalified each year, I received complimentary upgrades every flight, I kid you not!! I love Alaska Airlines, but they don’t fly to Europe 🙁
Still it’s not about flying as a loyal customer to be upgraded it’s about racking up points on the credit card. They really don’t care about loyalty of customers who fly.
As Platinum Pro, I too was eliminated from the business upgrade list (CLT – BCN) because I was flying with family. I presume we now have to separate ourselves every time we fly as a family (Wife and daughter – GOLD).
They change the rules and no one tells us. So now we maybe know how to circumvent the hidden rules.
RBPRA and all, I assume “family” here means > 1 companion? That is, having just one additional pax on your PNR still does not seem to deprioritize you on the UG list?
Was just on a flight DFW to RSW. There was one open seat in FC. 24 names on the list. We left 7 minutes early and I wondered why they did not take the first name to fill the seat. I was number two on the list so it would not have mattered. I don’t usually pay attention but FC is always full so this surprised me.