Fascinating Statistics About American Airlines Upgrades

By: Ben Schlappig

Updated: September 9, 2023
Published: November 15, 2019

23 comments

I’m not sure how exactly he got this info, but @xJonNYC shares some very interesting statistics about upgrades on American Airlines.

According to him, when it comes to American Airlines upgrades:

75% of upgrades are 500 mile upgrades (this includes complimentary upgrades for Executive Platinum and Concierge Key members, and upgrades with 500 mile “stickers” for other members)
13% of upgrades are mileage upgrades (meaning members used miles for upgrades)
6.1% of upgrades are systemwide upgrades (this is pretty self explanatory)
5.6% of upgrades are day of departure upgrades (this refers to paid upgrades on the day of departure)

Not same subject, but just if it's of interest:

75% of upgrades are 500 mile upgrade.
13% milleage awards
6.1% systemwide upgrades
5.6% DODU
— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) November 14, 2019

Now, there are some details missing here, like what period this data is from and whether this only includes domestic upgrades, or also includes international upgrades. One thing is for sure — Jon is usually spot on, so I assume this is accurate and generally representative of the reality of upgrades at American.

So, are these statistics surprising? No, mostly not, though I do have a few observations based on this:

I’m surprised that there are nearly as many upgrades day of departure as there are upgrades with systemwide upgrades; American isn’t as aggressive as Delta or United when it comes to selling upgrades
It seems that BXP1 upgrades (through the Business Extra program) aren’t accounted for, but I’d guess that this is only a very small fraction of a percentage
I imagine the percentage of mileage upgrades has decreased over the years; back in the day American’s domestic upgrade inventory with miles was readily available (like, almost always), but that’s no longer the case

The statistic that I wish we had is what percent of premium cabin seats are paid for (with miles or cash) at American, rather than upgraded into. Last I heard, that number at American was about half. Obviously there’s huge variance by route, date, and time, with some flights having almost all seats purchased directly (either with miles or cash), and other flights having mostly upgraders in first class.

Delta is pretty transparent about revealing the percentage of upgrades in presentations, and year after year we see the percentage of paid first class passengers increase.

This is a combination of many factors — first class seats being sold at a more reasonable price, more aggressive upgrade buy-up offers, more opportunities to redeem miles towards first class tickets, and more.

What do you make of these American upgrade statistics? Is there anything that surprises you here?

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Mikael New Member

November 19, 2019, 10:11 pm

Inventory control over use of miles for upgrades seems to have gotten worse. Have tried using miles to upgrade on 5 different long haul trips this year with very limited success (maybe 1 - 2 segments per trip clear) despite booking and requesting 45 - 60 days in advance. And trying to use 500-mile stickers is a challenge too.

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Alliw Member

November 16, 2019, 7:35 pm

Worst case is when you're upgraded w confirmed seat and then CK (Or UA, GS) needs to change to yr flight and they come taketh yr F seat away. Happens. (Un-upgraded)

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Jordan Guest

November 15, 2019, 9:08 pm

@Sam - Take a seat. @Santos - and all you other FREELOADERS! AA wants people to pay for F on the transcons. A certain percentage that I will not reveal here are already paid in bulk by corporations whether the employee flies or not. IF AA gives them to the likes of YOU, then it just encourages people to not buy/use upgrade tools available to them. This is why whatever is left at departures goes to employees. YOU WANT IT, PAY FOR IT. Belittling AA employees is tacky, and seems to be a theme on here, whether overtly or not. Thinly veiled indeed!. EVERY airline manages upgrade inventory, and when it has been reached its done no matter what. How can you TELL they are employees??? I chat with the FA's when in AA A321T's F cabin (sometimes) for a bit, and I am not an employee!!! People like you need to grow up and stop complaining.

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BrewerSEA Gold

November 15, 2019, 8:50 pm

@PHX Flyer @AR AA does not offer more cash upgrades than there are seats available after accounting for the number of people on the upgrade list. For example, if at T-24 there are 8 seats open in F and 5 people on the upgrade list, they won’t sell more than 3 cash upgrades. However if people change flights, buy tickets last minute, there are irrops etc., then it is possible to miss an upgrade due to a non status flyer’s cash upgrade.

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AR Diamond

November 15, 2019, 7:55 pm

@PHXFlyer: Yes! Thank you. I thought I was the only one seeing this. I noticed this a couple of years ago when I started a new job that required lots of flying I'd not done in my previous gig. I went from no status to Platinum in one year. In the year it took to build status, I was offered upgrades to F fairly regularly...and I took them. Then once I hit Platinum, I was high-ish on the upgrade list but the offers vanished completely. So I presumed it was the same thing; they'd rather get $120 in cash for a butt in the seat than give it to someone with status. I mean, from a business perspective this makes total sense but it kills loyalty. I'm now a Delta Fanboy and much happier.

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