Question about SWU for Leisure Travel

I'm an new ExPlat and plan on using some SWU on a trip to Paris next year for my wife and I. I was just curious on how far in advance should I look to book my tickets to have the best shot for the upgrades to go through? I typically try to plan our vacations 10 to 11 months in advance because of my wife's work schedule. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

The standard advice would surely be the earlier the better if you plan to waitlist for the upgrade or need to commit to specific flights. If you plan to pick flights where two upgrades are available at ticketing, it can be more complicated.

 

Thanks! We plan on going in May so I will look to book very early. They only have 1 nonstop flight from DFW and all the rest look like they connect out of ORD.

 

AA flies MIA/CDG when I last looked at this route C inventory was being loaded no earlier than 310-315 days out.

 

Call. Ask them to help you find flights that will clear immediately or have wide open cabins. Clearing immediately is preferable. I used EF to search for A inventory when we went and ended up going AUS-ORD-CDG Vs through DFW because we cleared SWU's immediately.

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You need C inventory for CDG flights in J. A would be F space.

 

The earlier the better has no downside I know of. If you waitlist I'd definitely allow split upgrades and not wait for 2 C's to open up to be safe. That far out I'd think you'd get them both easily.

I'm 100% for SWU's for a few years now though some have gone down to upgrade at check in and I often book based on EF inventory as I have a lot of flexibility. I usually don't book really far in advance though, sometimes < 30 days.

 

Thanks for everyone's tips!

 

Also, when checking EF, be sure to search the legs individually; especially the XXX-CDG portion. Adding domestic connecting legs to the search can end up showing 'phantom' (for lack of a better term) availability. Example - earlier this year I was searching DCA-MIA-BCN and EF kept showing 2 C MIA-BCN, but agents kept telling me there was nothing available and I'd have to waitlist. Searching MIA-BCN alone returned the correct 0 C result - adding the DCA-MIA leg skewed things.