AA withdraws award availability classes X & R classes from EF

[ozbeachbabe]

Received this email today form Expert Flyer

American Airlines has informed us that as of tomorrow June 5th, AA will be
removing the ability to view X & R upgrade inventory which will affect
channels, including ExpertFlyer.com.
Here is the official statement from American:

American is now processing all upgrade requests through a single queue,
ensuring upgrades are awarded in a manner that is fair and consistent for all of
our AAdvantage customers. Customers may request upgrades when making their
reservations, or at any point prior to travel by visiting My Reservations on
AA.com.

As such, starting tomorrow X & R classes will be removed from the AA
Award & Upgrade search. In addition, any Active Flight Alert for X or R on
an AA flight will be changed to Expired.

Thank you for your understanding in this matter and continued support of
ExpertFlyer.com

-The ExpertFlyer.com Team

 

[serfty]

As posted in TTOTT, these classes were only available on E/F within 24 hours of a flight.

It would affect AA Gold and Plat who could espy X/R class and intercept those upgrades before being allocated according to priority - thereby guzumping EXP's.

The main other issue it with any elite who could suss the loads and do a 'free' flight change on the day of travel to a flight with X/R availability.

 

[DC3]

I don't think that this change would ever affect me (for DONE4, YUPP/KUPP).

I've found these explanations of R and X classes:

R: Upgrade from coach using e-upgrades. EXP, 500-mile, and some Passenger Sales ('kiosk') Upgrades from Economy to Business on 3-class transcons and 2-class short-haul international flights (e.g., Canada, Mexico, Caribbean, Central America). Operational Upgrades.

X: EXP and 500-mile Upgrades from Economy to First on 2-class domestic U.S. flights. Upgrades from Business to First on 3-class international flights using certain travel agency certificates. Operational Upgrades.

Have I missed something here? My AA status has dropped to zero.