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 ...

In this week's frequent flyer discussion, we talk about the mid-tier (50,000 mile) elite level of the major carriers in the U.S. We know many of our listeners maintain this status and want to know some of the differences of the programs including:

Free upgrades vs coupon or sticker paid upgrades First class seat count and how it affects your choice of airline for upgrades Whether you should choose a program based on your location only Does a program like Delta or ...

Catchy title, eh?

In this week's podcast we discuss the two major frequent flyer program structures between the big four airlines. Both United and American have similar programs, as do Delta and Continental. In addition to the frequent flyer comparison we cover:

• Ben's taunting of the air marshalls
• Comparison of the pros and cons of using stickers/coupons to upgrade versus free upgrades
• Difference in mileage requirements for top status
• International upgrade coupons and their limited fare classes on some airlines
• And, shockingly, Ben and Hunter disagree about some things..

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