Tell me about it. For those of you unfamiliar with AA seat maps, the 15 orange seats are empty and the one grey seat is taken. The one grey seat is not me.

Mike just posted an informative piece about AA's 500-mile upgrade instruments (colloquially called "stickers") that can be used by Gold and Platinum elites.

I wanted to add a few more details... (So read his post first.)

1. Those upgrades get more expensive ($35 instead of $30) if you have to buy them at the airport.

2. If you request an upgrade w/out having enough stickers in your account and that upgrade clears, you MUST buy the stickers. You can't ...

A reader wrote in to ask:

"Do you have to use 500 mile coupons for every upgrade?"

As an American Airlines Aadvantage Gold (GLD) or Platinum (PLT) member you need 500 mile upgrade coupons (more affectionately known as "stickers" from the days when they were actually stickers applied to your paper ticket) for most domestic upgrades. The exception being full fare tickets booked into Y or B class. International upgrades require miles and are subject of ...