American Airlines Is Very Bad At Selling Upgrades

By: Ben Schlappig

Updated: October 21, 2023
Published: September 21, 2021

46 comments

American Airlines has never been terribly aggressive about selling upgrades, at least in comparison to Delta Air Lines and United Airlines. As an elite member, I’d consider that to be a good thing, since it leaves more seats for elite members to be upgraded to.

To my surprise (as I don’t remember the last time I received something like this), I received an upgrade offer for an upcoming American flight. My only takeaway is that American is very bad at selling upgrades.

I had booked a $49 (non-basic) economy ticket from Tampa to Chicago, and today I received an email offering an “upgrade to a premium cabin,” talking about how “premium upgrade options are available,” and how I should “act now for best availability.”

I clicked through to the offer, figuring maybe I’d get a decent deal. My assumption was that the upgrade cost would be either the fare difference between economy and first class (so not a deal at all), or a slight discount. Well, it was neither of those things.

The upgrade cost was $336, which sure seemed steep, since that was more than the difference between economy class and first class at the time that I booked. Also note that if you take the upgrade offer, you don’t earn any bonus redeemable miles, elite qualifying miles, elite qualifying segments, or elite qualifying dollars, for the additional amount you’re spending.

I figured that maybe the cost of first class had increased, so I looked up the flight again — the economy fare was still $49, and the first class fare was still $373.

$373 minus $49 is $324. American has no change fees anymore. So if I want to fly first class, I have two options:

I could outright change my ticket to upgrade to first class for $324, and I’d earn bonus redeemable miles, bonus elite qualifying miles, and bonus elite qualifying dollars
I could take this upgrade offer for $336 (an extra $12), and I’d earn no bonus redeemable miles, elite qualifying miles, or elite qualifying dollars

Well, or I could just stick to my $49 ticket and hope for an upgrade, which is exactly what I’ll do. While I value first class, I don’t value it quite that much.

Bottom line

American Airlines isn’t very aggressive about trying to sell upgrades, and in a way that’s a blessing, since it leaves more seats for elite upgrades. Now I finally received an upgrade offer, and it’s $12 more than the difference between the economy and first class fare, and I wouldn’t earn any extra redeemable miles, or extra credit towards elite qualification.

I hope American Airlines keeps selling upgrades this way, because I’d say it’s good news for elite members. 😉

Has anyone else received an upgrade offer from American? If so, was it as silly as this one?

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Ana Guest

October 9, 2025, 6:56 pm

Silly? I'd say insulting. It takes investment and effort to build loyalty, it's not given to you. I bought a main cabin international ticket, with one connection so 4 legs total RT, recently for 1500. If I had bought a business class ticket for that route, it would have cost close to 5000. AA now offers me to upgrade to business in 1 leg (that is Miami-EZE) for 3700. Just that leg. It's cheaper to buy the entire itinerary in BC. That's why I think it's insulting. Just don't offer upgrades at all. It's more honest.

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CV Guest

August 24, 2022, 12:46 pm

I'm tired of then trying to sell me an upgrade that as an EP I should already have received, almost every flight now upgrades aren't clearing in the 100 hours like they advertise. I think its pretty shady to try to sell these instead of upgrading your top tier customers.

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Patrick Guest

April 19, 2022, 1:20 pm

I hate when you can see that the published fare difference between your current flight and First is (say $100), but when you call or go online to upgrade, they'll tell you it's $600 to upgrade. "Oh, we can't get the online specials". It's not a "special". It's the published fare on the website and you are trying to charge me $500 more. No thanks. I'll stay where I am and hope for my elite upgrade or cancel and repurchase with my flight credit from the cancellation.

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Edward Guest

April 2, 2022, 1:59 pm

I flew roundtrip from Tucson to Ft. Myers, FL in January, 2022. I booked first/business class from Tucson to Ft. Myers, through DFW, and booked main cabin extra for the return flights, again through DFW. When I checked in at the kiosk at Ft. Myers on January 25 for the return flights, I was offered an upgrade to first/business for $200 which I paid with my credit card. I did not receive upgraded boarding passes, but I received two "verification cards" which said, "Unfortunately, we are unable to assign seats at this time. Please take your document and proceed to you gat for seat assignment." I went to the gate agent at both Ft. Myers and DFW and presented this "verification card" and was told at each gate that there were no first/business class seats available. I returned in the original seats I had booked. Now, AA will only refund $40.00 of the $200.00 I paid. Anyone ever heard of this before?

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Rob Guest

January 13, 2022, 11:33 am

I booked AA BCN-MIA r/t in PE for $693. The cost to upgrade one leg to business has been steadily dropping (from $6XX to $574, now to $510). I am considering the upgrade for the eastbound flight, but wondering if it's worth it/when to pull the trigger. Considering: I am Plat Pro, so I should already get access to Flagship lounge. The flight is on a 787-8 with alternating front/rear facing seats in business, so not the greatest "upgraded" seat. Flight is roughly 20 days out, and right now B, PE and E all look ~50% full per expertflyer. So, they don't need to upgrade anyone to make space. Not sure if the price is likely to drop anymore, since they don't need to upgrade, or if it might drop, because on such an empty flight, any added $ is needed. If I wait, am I likely to see a lower offer, including at time of check in? Or is this about as low as it goes, and I simply need to decide if it's worth the current price? One point to add, unlike the situation Ben described in the article, the current upgrade price is dramatically cheaper than AA is currently selling this flight for in a PE outbound with B return.

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