Yesterday in the mail I unexpectedly got an American Airlines Gold frequent flier card. I was surprised cuz I didn't think I had flown 25,000 miles this year, but Spain pushed me over the top.

Evidentally with the Gold status I can buy a regular ticket and get bumped up to first or business class. Does anyone know how this works and how easy it is to get bumped up?

If I can get a ticket to Australia for like $1000 roundtrip that means I could get upgraded to business class and if I had to pay for a business class ticket to Australia thats like $9000!

i dont know much about AA, but...

i fly out of atlanta with high status delta, and almost everyone flying business has even higher status. the result for me is that upgrades get harder to use all the time, and almost impossible on the flights where they would REALLY make a difference (such as coast to coast).

the key is calling the very minute that your status allows for upgrading (24hrs, 72 hrs, etc) as everyone else is calling also.

another trick is choosing flights that are "off-peak". 1st flight, mid morning, or early afternoon. you can usually go standby any flight same day without extra $.

all that said, it gets harder every day, and the airlines are becoming more restrictive all the time, but plenty of tricks are available once you learn the ropes.

one i use all the time is this: the ticket i want is $700 because cheap seats are gone. plenty of $300 seats avail on the 5:30 AM flight. buy the $300, and go standy on $700 flight. it can be risky, but, at least 1 seat is almost always open on any flight.

the airline will never explain that scenario, but it is both very possible and entirely legal. i do it all the time.

if you leave it entirely to the airline, you'll pay $1200 and have a great seat right beside the toilet!

Same here. I fly out of BWI with USAir frequently as a Chairman Preferred. Depends on the route, I still have to fight for the upgrade. Nowadays, every businessman has some sort of status. And Chairman Preferred is almost like dime a dozen anymore The only good thing is the guaranteed a seat on a flight if something ever happened to your connection.

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AA has three frequent flyer levels:

Gold (fly 25,000 miles/points or 30 segments - in one year)
Platinum (fly 50,000 miles/points or 60 segments - in one year)
Exectutive Platinum (fly 100,000 miles/points - in one year)

go to https://www.aa.com/content/images/AAdvantage/GoldGuide_3.pdf for more info

As I said above, I am a FORMER Executive Platinum ... though I made my bones getting to that level, today I am happy that I don't have that level (hense, I'm not traveling as much), but I do miss the purks ... AA treats their ExPlt customers like gods - at least they did for me.

I was able to call 100 hours before my flight to make/change seat assignments, and would frequently would be comp'd up to First Class (domestic only).

Now, being just Platinum, I still get to throw some weight around at the airport. Being a Road Warrior, I have NO patience with holiday travelers ... not one bit. My fares are full fare, rarely discounted ... tolerance with screaming children, or passenger's pushing on my seat back is non-existent. I nip it in the bud ASAP. I'm not an ********* about it, but I do make my point to the offender(s).

So, GOOD for YOU ... you made Gold ... use it to your AAdvantage ... yes, pun intended.

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