American Improving Airport Upgrade Process

Good job, AA. Thanks Lucky.

I also posted this over at VFTW, but I don't understand what this means for the F seats cleared to pax who miss the flight - checked in but misconnect, last minute SDFC, bag check issues, etc.? Those seats go out empty?

@ Tony -- Nope, presumably upgrades would still be cleared to seats that end up being empty, even less than 40 minutes from departure. The idea is just that upgrades start clearing earlier on, rather than just when boarding starts.

Little bit of oversell. Fantastic? A bit hyperbolic. It is marginally better speaking as an AA EXP for years. But I understand your need to sell.

This is going to be really disappointing for non-revs that knew the GAs. They're going to have to start flying in Y. That really sucks for them.

I'm just thinking about how less often nonrevs will get cleared in first given that more companions are being upgraded now too

But also didn't nonrevs get cleared after upgrades anyway?

Wonder how that will impact couples travelling on separate record locators.

Ah got it. So this is just for the upgrade list as of T-40. Great news indeed, thanks.

So no more excitement when you get upgraded when you have just sat in your crappy coach seat and get the notice on the app that you been upgraded to a lie flat seat? I will miss those days.

One thing that I hope they fix with the IT piece of this is companion upgrade priority. I pretty much have to check in with an agent or go to the Admiral's Club before every flight to make sure my companion is listed with my priority. If you don't get a premium agent (i.e. when the line is longer in premium than regular), check in agents have repeatedly denied even being able to do anything. I suspect this might be rocky but I hope I am impressed!

Let me see how they handle mile plus copay upgrades before I say hurray.

I don't think this applies to mile plus copay or SWUs. So you have to pull your SWU or miles plus copay waitlist before they start processing. But if you are on a connecting fllght, might not be able to - perhaps having cleared one segment of the SWU means you can't get off the waitlist and you'll get snookered at the gate.

Should have been an hour out, or at least before the T-45 seat selection cutoff. Multiple scenarios that this could be helpful for the upgraded, non-upgraded, and the gate agent.

They did but jerry seems to hate airline employees for no reason.

I've seen nonrevs get cleared well before upgrades on many elite-heavy routes. IMO, looked as if they new the GAs personally.

100%. Hour out to allow 15 mins before the seat change cutoff would be ideal. Huge benefit for non-upgraded elites who book close-in, might be only shot at a MCE seat opening up with reduced MCE cabin sizes filling quick

I wonder if this will be a permanent change or just another post covid recovery campaign that will expire within a few years.

It really does damn it!

The announcement also states for Companion benefits:
"If you and a companion are waitlisted for the same type of upgrade, you can sponsor them to receive your priority level. You’ll stay prioritized together, even at the airport."

This tells me it will not be necessary to reorder the companion when at the airport.
Currently a companion with lower status gets bumped down and you have to have an agent reorder.

This is an improvement in my view.

Also is states, you need to call to link companion upgrade request for reservations made before March 2. So this appears you need to clear and request companion upgrade?

I don’t get the whole companion thing. So if a man is EXP and his wife has no status with American. The wife will receive an upgrade ahead of a Platinum Pro simply because she is the guest of the EXP ?

@Jerry

Non revs do not get upgraded ahead of paying passengers. It’s not even possible everything is recorded within the computer system.

That type of sneakery ended in the 90s when American acquired TWA and went electric. Before computers the gate agents had to count boarding passes and then take a head count on board like a deck of cards. Sure my mothers friends used to block seats for us until last minute on a few occasions. Once from JFK to LAX , another time JFK to MXP , and another time JFK to FRA and one other time JFK TLV.

Free upgrades "yay". Are you still expecting "gourmet" airplane food? Krug bubbles? We should move towards a bidding system for open seats , like they do in Europe. Why giving away your stuff. Anyways...

Great news for staff and duty travel - not

I have lifetime gold status on AA but rarely fly them anymore because of routes and because I feel that UA has a much better FF program and overall comfort. When I do fly AA, I almost never get a upgrade because the 500 mile upgrades are hard to use and costly. Why doesn’t AA simply give complimentary upgrades to folks with gold status like UA does?

My main concern is the liquidation of unused 500 mile upgrades at 250 miles per is horribly undervalued. It costs $40 or 4000 miles per upgrade to purchase but we’re going to receive only 5% of that value back when the existing tickets are upgraded. I’m pretty unhappy about that.

They will, starting tomorrow. 500-miles upgrades are going away.

Thanks. I should have read the next posting before I asked!

What Credit cards are available in the UK,for UK based members,that will earn AA loyalty points?
All the ones you mention in your article are for US based members,or am i mistaken?

I love this new system. Takes and preflight tension away. It's happened to me twice now and takes all the guesswork out. In the past, I have been at the top of the upgrade list and seen numerous gentlemen talk their way up there ahead of me. Very frustrating.