Unofficial: Complimentary CK/EXP Premium Economy Upgrades?
#46
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 3,493
I think if you are EXP who bought a PE ticket vs. an EXP who bought a Y or lower class ticket, I expect AA will prioritize the EXP who bought the PE ticket since they are giving more money to the airline vs. the EXP who just bought a regular Y ticket.
#47
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: YYF/YLW
Programs: AA, DL, AS, VA, WS Silver
Posts: 5,950
I don't see the upside to AA giving PE pax upgrade priority. Especially once upgrade priority switches to EQD based later this year - what's aa's interest in upgrading an otherwise low spending gold over a high spending exp just because they happened to have spent slightly more on this flight?
But we'll see what AA thinks once the policy is officially announced. I can see arguments both ways.
1) CK W > CK Y > EXP W > EXP Y > PPRO W > PPRO Y > PLAT W > PLAT Y > GOLD W > Gold Y > no status W > no status Y
or
2) CK W > EXP W > PPRO W > PLAT W > Gold W > no status W > CK Y > EXP Y > PPRO Y > PLAT Y > Gold Y > no status Y
With EQDs presumably being the tiebreaker within a purchased cabin and status level.
Last edited by ashill; Jan 20, 2017 at 7:14 am
#48
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 3,493
I don't think anyone doubts that. The question is whether the order will be
1) CK W > CK Y > EXP W > EXP Y > PPRO W > PPRO Y > PLAT W > PLAT Y > GOLD W > Gold Y > no status W > no status Y
or
2) CK W > EXP W > PPRO W > PLAT W > Gold W > no status W > CK Y > EXP Y > PPRO Y > PLAT Y > Gold Y > no status Y
With EQDs presumably being the tiebreaker within a purchased cabin and status level.
1) CK W > CK Y > EXP W > EXP Y > PPRO W > PPRO Y > PLAT W > PLAT Y > GOLD W > Gold Y > no status W > no status Y
or
2) CK W > EXP W > PPRO W > PLAT W > Gold W > no status W > CK Y > EXP Y > PPRO Y > PLAT Y > Gold Y > no status Y
With EQDs presumably being the tiebreaker within a purchased cabin and status level.
Last edited by ericdabbs; Jan 20, 2017 at 7:39 am
#49
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Los Angeles
Programs: AA LT Gold
Posts: 3,637
#50
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: NYC,MIA,XFL
Programs: AA EXP, B6 Mosaic, DL PM
Posts: 863
#51
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: WAS/TYO
Programs: UA 1K, AA EXP (3MM), DL PM, BONVOY TITANIUM, HYATT GLOBALIST, HILTON DIAMOND, IHG DIAMOND AMB, et al
Posts: 5,906
#52
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: SFO
Programs: BART Platinum, AA Plat Pro
Posts: 1,157
I don't see the upside to AA giving PE pax upgrade priority. Especially once upgrade priority switches to EQD based later this year - what's aa's interest in upgrading an otherwise low spending gold over a high spending exp just because they happened to have spent slightly more on this flight?
The only downside is that on the margin it might incentivize the EXP to defect to UA or DL. But the "high spending" EXP should almost never find herself in the scenario described because, by definition, she generally buys high fares.
#53
Join Date: Dec 2016
Posts: 1,485
would be interesting to see how well PE sells considering that EXP probably would be among the most likely to purchase PE. On other airline's flights, I typically find PE to have higher load than J cabin.
#54
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 3,698
AA has all sorts of incentives to buy more expensive products that go beyond just the product itself. For example, business and first class tickets get EQM multipliers. Similarly, fully fare tickets get advantages in upgrade priority and in EQM earning. It's probably not the case that AA thinks they can't sell any of these products without having frequent flier benefits in place, but the benefits probably help sell more of them.
#55
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Los Angeles
Programs: AA LT Gold
Posts: 3,637
Then it seems it would be a good idea to eliminate that "comfortable fall back", i.e. the free upgrade from Y to W for EXPs in the near future
Last edited by carlosdca; Jan 20, 2017 at 1:18 pm
#56
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: San Diego US and Brisbane AU
Programs: AA EXP/2MM - DL PM - OZ Diamond - Bonvoy LTT - Hyatt Glob - IHG Plat - National EE - Sixt Platinum
Posts: 1,315
Any ideas if this has started yet and if so, how it works? I'm on ICN-DFW next weekend and PE seems wide open...
#57
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: FIND ME ON TWITTER FOR THE LATEST
Posts: 27,730
Best I can tell at this juncture, majority opinion seems to be that AA has changed their mind about this (and/or only did it for a short period of time, possibly,) and is not offering these upgrades to PE.
#58
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: DEN
Programs: Double OWE (AA EXP, QF Plat), FI Gold
Posts: 1,887
This sounds great on paper. With the huge number of ac equipped with PE seats out there, I look forward to taking advantage of this on my regular SCL-DFW and SCL-MIA flights before it's "enhanced" away...
But I do give credit to AA for adding something positive to the program.
Seems I came to this thread late...and it's already gone. *sigh*
But I do give credit to AA for adding something positive to the program.
Seems I came to this thread late...and it's already gone. *sigh*
#59
Join Date: May 2007
Location: DFW Texas
Programs: AA (ExecPlat, >2MM), United (Gold, >1 MM), HH (Diamond), SPG (Gold), Accorhotels (Gold)
Posts: 92
I've got a flight DFW-GRU next Wednesday. I'll report on whether there were open seats in PE if I was still in Economy.
When I did the same flight in March, I got the free PE, and I was even allowed to select the seat in advance. But now on aa.com there is nothing about EXP getting a free PE seat, so I suspect that it is gone.
When I did the same flight in March, I got the free PE, and I was even allowed to select the seat in advance. But now on aa.com there is nothing about EXP getting a free PE seat, so I suspect that it is gone.
#60
Join Date: May 2007
Location: DFW Texas
Programs: AA (ExecPlat, >2MM), United (Gold, >1 MM), HH (Diamond), SPG (Gold), Accorhotels (Gold)
Posts: 92
I just got a call from AA. They are giving me a free upgrade to PE on my flight DFW-GRU tomorrow. Both window and aisle seats were open.
With all the news about bad treatment of customers, it is nice to report something on the plus side! Also, perhaps the comps to PE from economy for EXP are not quite dead. It is all UTR and probably on a flight by flight basis depending on the load.
With all the news about bad treatment of customers, it is nice to report something on the plus side! Also, perhaps the comps to PE from economy for EXP are not quite dead. It is all UTR and probably on a flight by flight basis depending on the load.