At least on paper, one of the biggest perks of having elite status with an airline in the United States is being eligible for complimentary, space available first class upgrades. Admittedly these aren’t nearly as useful as they used to be, given that airlines have gotten much better at monetizing first class, meaning there are…
Continue reading: American Airlines Complimentary Elite Upgrades: Eligibility, Rules, And Odds
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
As other have pointed out, if sitting in first class matters to you, then you should either pay for it upfront or take the upgrade offer. Unless it’s transcon, I’ll take my odds and if I get the free upgrade, it’s a nice surprise. Having said that, I’ll buy J on transcon and AA has been very good about comp upgrading me to F on 321T flights. I believe those are operational upgrades and they happen quite regularly for me (prob a mix of my status and J being oversold)
“Note that award tickets issued by partner airlines aren’t eligible for upgrades, so the reservation has to be ticketed by American.”
This is not true, at least in the case of tickets issued by Alaska Airlines for travel on American metal. You just need to call AA exec plat line and add your advantage number to the record locator. Doing so will result in the same exec plat upgrades as if you had booked using American miles.
I’ve been upgraded on AS award tickets on AA metal as an AS Titanium quite a few times.
American is slowly killing the goose that lays the golden egg.
AAdvantage going to a more interactive, multilayered elite qualification system where many points beyond revenue tickets qualify for elite status was a coup - it engaged members to participate more fully. But when they monetize upgrades for a few duckers, they risk losing my attention.
As for odds of upgrade, the equipment matter too. Premium rich e175’s are a gimme. Premium sparse A319’s, not so much.
It's pretty interesting seeing American status holder outside of the US watching in disbelief premium seats going out empty. With some frequent flyer it seems to create some kind of entitlement for premium seats. From a business perspective I understand the approach to give premium seats away only for booked pax and strictly prohibit complementary upgrades.
Pretty amazing that an e175 has 20 MCE seats while the new 787-9P has 18. And the 18 MCE seats are all centered around the only bathrooms on the plane that all of PE and economy use, as there are no lavs in the rear.
That mindset would be fine if AA was not consistently messaging how status equals upgrade opportunities.
@ Flyer: I have yet to notice any domestic flight on AA departing with an unoccupied premium seat the last 5 years.
I was platinum in 2025. I almost never got upgraded on mainline flights between large airports. I’d say I got upgraded about a third of the time on regional jets going to small airports.
I still get a lot of value from platinum because I can book economy plus seats at no charge.
I hit Executive Platinum for the first time three years ago. Saw no difference in upgrade frequency compared with Platinum Pro… and that has been abysmal in recent years. Between major airports, I was frequently in the double digits on the upgrade list. Back at Platinum Pro, I count on not getting upgraded, with the rare surprise being a welcome treat.
And yes… my AA loyalty has hit rock bottom. I'm at 950K and would like to make Million Miler, but I'd switch in a minute if other companies fit my travel habits.
One other addition to this story. I flew to Ecuador last week, which is in that lovely sweet spot of being too far for upgrades and not far enough to get you into the Flagship Lounge. Yes, American… you know how to make me feel appreciated.
@Lucky - I believe AA reprioritizes at 24 hours - check in time matters within elite levels
@Lucky - Would also be good to cover those that get "skipped"; if AA releases 1 upgrade seat and you are +1, aka need 2 seats, the computer will skip you and upgrade the next highest person that is a single person.
AA systemwide upgrades have limited value. In four years of flying to Buenos Aires from Miami or JFK I have never seen su's offered. They seem to be only offered on short distance flights (under 2 hours) which means little, between sitting in Ecocomy Plus and a bigger seat in the first 2, 3, 4 or 5 rows, and occasional better service. Also systemwide upgrades can only be used on revenue tickets - award tickets don't qualify.
Which is probably why @Flyer said "outside the US." That to me is the great thing about Eurobusiness. Sure it's 1x1-1x1 (middle seat blocked) instead of 2-2, but it sure is nice, as one who pays to be there, that they aren't moving pax into the front cabin. Having 4 pax in front of the curtain in a section that can hold 16 is great.
Yeah, it's never been true, I'm not sure where Ben got this information. Some AAgents will try to create rules prohibiting it, but you have always been able to get comp upgrades on AA flights issued by BA Avios, you just have to leave the BA number out of the booking and add AA# instead.
Im gold that I paid for last year($2500) and was upgraded yesterday, PHX to DRO.
Not the longest flight but felt nice, I’m upgraded on almost any regional aircraft, haha I still write home about it. 60 flights, upgraded 26 times.
Just talked to an American Airlines gate agent as I was not automatically placed on the upgrade list for my new flight after a same day flight change DFW-PHX. As an Executive Platinum members I’m number 8! He told me there were 5 EPs in front of me and 2 EPs after me, plus… get this… two PILOTS who were ahead of everyone!!! He told me as a part of their new contract PILOTS go ahead of all status passengers for an upgrade.
American Airlines clearly does not give a rip toward their loyal client base. Pissed!