Two recent flights on American Airlines demonstrated that even AAdvantage Gold status would have been advantageous, though upgrading to first class makes far less sense when economy class is also empty.

The Surprising Value Of AAdvantage Gold Status – My Upgrade Dilemma On American Airlines

I had to travel from Chicago (ORD) to Los Angeles (LAX) at the last minute and even though both Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines fly the route, the cash fares on United Airlines and American Airlines were about $450 one-way. When I have to buy a last-minute ticket like that, I tend to redeem miles and decided to go with American Airlines for this trip because it had a 6:00 am flight to LAX and the first United flight was not until 7:00 am.

The cost was 14.5K AA miles for economy class or 28K miles for first class (I could have also used 12.5K AA miles for economy or 25K for first class, but I find Alaska miles too valuable for such uses). What I noticed was that on the entire plane, there was only a small handful of seats assigned… and this was just a couple days before the flight!

While seats assigned do not necessarily translate to seats sold, it is generally a good indication. I do like flying up front if for no other reason than I can drink water from a real glass, not a plastic cup, but I could not justify the extra 13.5K miles just for that.

A great solo travel tip spotted this week on Live and Let's Fly.