How To Request Upgrade On American Airlines App

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Everyone loves an upgrade. When it comes to travel, there are few better feelings than clearing an upgrade from economy to lie-flat business class—especially for a redeye flight to another continent. But to score one of these coveted upgrades on American Airlines, you need to learn how to utilize American Airline's upgrade options and certificates.

AAdvantage elite members need to learn about 500-mile upgrades and systemwide upgrades. Non-elite members should focus on learning about mileage upgrades and paid upgrades instead. In this guide, we will dive into each of these types of American Airlines upgrade types to explain what you need to know.

American Airlines 500-Mile Upgrades

The primary upgrade system for AAdvantage elites is the 500-mile upgrade system. This rather convoluted upgrade system requires using 500-mile upgrade certificates to upgrade your flight from economy to the next class of service. For most flights, that means upgrading to domestic first class. But, on some flights, that means an upgrade to a lie-flat business class product.

These 500-mile upgrades are valid on domestic and short-haul international routes (between the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, the Bahamas, the Caribbean, Bermuda and Central America). To use 500-mile upgrades, you need to book an American Airlines-operated and -marketed flight. That means you can't apply a 500-mile upgrade certificate if you booked a British Airways (or other Oneworld) codeshare ticket on an American flight—even if you have AAdvantage elite status.

As the name implies, each 500-mile certificate is enough to upgrade up to 500 flight miles. So, a 925-mile flight from Chicago (ORD) to Houston (IAH) requires 2 certificates. However, a slightly longer 1,041-mile flight from Chicago (ORD) to San Antonio (SAT) requires 3 certificates.

Not all elites need to check the mileage of their flights. Platinum Pro and Executive Platinum elites are eligible for unlimited, auto-requested upgrades on all paid flights. In addition, Executive Platinum elites are eligible for free upgrades on award flights through the 500-mile upgrade program.

That leaves AAdvantage Gold and Platinum elites counting miles and certificates. Both of these tiers get unlimited, auto-requested upgrades on paid flights under 500 miles. However, Gold and Platinum elites need to redeem 500-mile upgrade certificates to upgrade longer, paid flights.

Earning and Buying 500-Mile Upgrades

AAdvantage Gold and Platinum elites earn four 500-mile upgrade certificates for every 12,500 EQMs earned in a membership year. Platinum Pro and Executive Platinum elites don't earn 500-mile certificates. Instead, the 500-mile upgrade balance is frozen at the balance you have when you reach Platinum Pro. You can still use these banked upgrades to upgrade a companion.

All AAdvantage elites can use 500-mile certificates to upgrade one companion traveling with them on the same flight. That's true even if they're booked on a different reservation. If you don't have enough certificates, you can buy more for $40 per 500-mile upgrade certificate.

You must be a current AAdvantage elite member to use the 500-mile upgrades you earned as an elite. If you lose AAdvantage elite status, you won't lose your 500-mile upgrades. But, you won't be able to use them until you regain elite status.

Upgrade Timing

500-mile upgrades clear when American Airlines opens upgrade availability and an elite member is within the upgrade window. Upgrades will be confirmed as early as:

Executive Platinum: 100 hours before departure
Platinum Pro: 72 hours before departure
Platinum: 48 hours before departure
Gold: 24 hours before departure

American Airlines Systemwide Upgrades

To score a complimentary upgrade on a long-haul American Airlines flight, AAdvantage Platinum Pro, Executive Platinum and Million Miler elites can use systemwide upgrades.

While 500-mile upgrades are limited to flights to domestic and short-haul international flights, systemwide upgrades can be applied to any AA flight. That includes ultra-long-haul flights such as Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) to Hong Kong (HKG) and Los Angeles (LAX) to Sydney (SYD).

When you apply a systemwide upgrade, American upgrades your flight to the next class of service. Thankfully, premium economy isn't considered a separate class of service. So, if you booked economy or premium economy, you'll be upgraded to business class (or domestic first class on short-haul flights). If you booked a business class fare, you can apply a systemwide upgrade to upgrade from business class to first class.

Earning Systemwide Upgrades

AAdvantage members have three ways of earning systemwide upgrades:

Choosing systemwide upgrades as an Elite Choice Reward
Choosing systemwide upgrades as a Beyond Executive Platinum reward
Earn systemwide upgrades as a Million Miler benefit

Upon earning Platinum Pro elite status, AAdvantage elites now get a choice of benefits. Platinum Pro elites can opt to earn 1 systemwide upgrade. Then, if you reach Executive Platinum elite status, you get to choose two items from a different list of choice rewards—including 2 systemwide upgrades. So, in total, Executive Platinum elite members can opt to get a total of 5 systemwide upgrades each year.

AAdvantage members that continue to earn after reaching Executive Platinum elite status can earn even more systemwide upgrades through threshold rewards. In 2021, an Executive Platinum member that reaches 120,000 Elite Qualifying Miles (EQM) gets the choice between:

2 systemwide upgrades
40,000 bonus AAdvantage miles
Gift of AAdvantage Gold status

Executive Platinum members get more choices upon earning 160,000 EQM and 200,000 EQM in a year:
2 systemwide upgrades

40,000 bonus AAdvantage miles
Gift of AAdvantage Platinum status

AAdvantage members can also earn systemwide upgrades through the AAdvantage Million Miler program. You'll earn rewards for every Million Miler-qualifying mile threshold you reach:

1 million miles: AAdvantage Gold elite status for life and 35,000 bonus miles
2 million miles: AAdvantage Platinum elite status for life and four systemwide upgrades
Each additional million miles: four systemwide upgrades

Using Systemwide Upgrades

To apply a systemwide upgrade, you need to find upgrade availability (more about that below) and you must be flying an eligible fare. Unlike other airlines, American doesn't restrict cheap fare classes from being upgraded. Even basic economy fares can be upgraded. The only restrictions are on award tickets, government or military fares and codeshare flights.

Systemwide upgrades are valid for one year from the date deposited into your account. However, the upgrade can be used for travel beyond the expiration date as long as the upgrade clears by the expiration date. Both of these policies are new as of January 1, 2021. So, make sure to pay special attention to your systemwide upgrade dates.

If you're feeling especially generous—or only purchase first-class flights—you can share systemwide upgrades with anyone you choose. Just call American Airlines with the traveler's flight information to apply an upgrade. But, note that American Airlines will void your upgrades if you sell them or even advertise them for sale.

Searching for Upgrade Availability

Unfortunately, systemwide upgrades aren't the "golden ticket" that they may seem. American Airlines needs to open a specific type of upgrade availability for you to be able to apply a systemwide upgrade.

In the past, elite members would need to call American Airlines—or use a paid service like ExpertFlyer—to check upgrade availability. However, AA now shows systemwide upgrade availability to eligible AAdvantage members in flight search results on AA's website.

To be eligible, you need to be logged into your AAdvantage account and have unexpired systemwide upgrades available for this availability to show. If you're an eligible member and this "Systemwide Upgrade" hyperlink doesn't show, that means that there's no systemwide upgrade availability on any flights in the itinerary.

If you don't have a systemwide upgrade in your account, you'll need to use a service like ExpertFlyer to search for systemwide upgrade availability. If you use ExpertFlyer to search for upgrade availability, make sure to search one leg at a time. That's because American Airlines releases upgrade availability on a leg-by-leg basis.

Say you're flying from Tulsa (TUL) to London (LHR) via Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW). You may not care about the upgrade from Tulsa to Dallas, but you want the upgrade from Dallas to London. Thankfully, if you find availability on the flight from Dallas to London, you can upgrade that leg without needing to find upgrade space from Tulsa to Dallas.

AAdvantage Mileage Upgrades

If you don't have American Airlines elite status, you're not out of luck. Any AAdvantage member can utilize AAdvantage mileage upgrades to upgrade their flight to the next cabin of service. The only restrictions are on award tickets and basic economy tickets.

The mileage and cash co-pay cost for this option depend on the region you're flying between, the type of fare that you booked and the cabin of service you booked. Mileage upgrades apply to each direction of travel and up to a max of three flight segments.

For example, American Airlines charges 15,000 AAdvantage miles plus $75 to upgrade from economy to first-class within the contiguous U.S., Alaska and Canada. If you booked a full-fare (read: very expensive) fare, you'll only need to pay 5,000 miles and there's no cash co-pay.

The full chart of AAdvantage mileage upgrades can be found here. However, the most relevant part of the chart is the cost to upgrade from economy (or premium economy) fares to business or domestic first class.

For flights to/from the contiguous 48 U.S. states, Alaska, and Canada, those upgrades cost:

It isn't going to be worth paying 15,000 AAdvantage miles plus $75 to upgrade on most domestic flights. But, it's worth considering paying this to upgrade from economy to lie-flat business class on a transcontinental flight.

For routes to Australia, New Zealand or Hong Kong, it can be a downright steal to pay 25,000 miles plus $350 for these 13- to 17-hour flights. The only catch: You need to find availability.

Searching for Mileage Upgrade Availability

To apply an AAdvantage mileage upgrade, you need to find upgrade availability. And, unfortunately, finding availability can be complicated.

Mileage upgrades use the same upgrade fare availability as systemwide upgrades. However, to see systemwide upgrade availability on AA's website, you need to have an available systemwide upgrade—which you probably don't have if you're applying a mileage upgrade.

That means you'll likely need to use a paid service like ExpertFlyer to find upgrade availability. To search, head to ExpertFlyer's Award & Upgrade Availability Search page. American Airlines releases upgrade availability on a leg-by-leg basis. So, you'll want to enter the departing airport and arriving airport for your longest flight. Enter your travel date(s), select American Airlines from the dropdown list and then click the checkbox next to "Business – Upgrade (Including 2-Cabin Domestic First) (C)".

To limit the search results, you can enter a departure time and check the box to exclude codeshares. Then, click "Search" at the bottom to see your search results:

In this case, there are six upgrades available from Dallas/Fort Worthto Hong Kong. Note that seven is the most that will show as available at one time.

When searching, make sure to start by searching your longest flight. Unlike award flights, American Airlines doesn't use "married-segment logic" for upgrades. And the data that ExpertFlyer receives is only accurate for individual segments.

American Airlines Upgrade Priority

As you might expect, upgrades are prioritized by elite status. American Airlines invitation-only ConciergeKey members clear first, followed by Executive Platinum, Platinum Pro, Platinum and then finally Gold elites. If more than one elite member has applied for an upgrade, American Airlines utilizes a few tiebreakers.

For the first tiebreaker, AA considers what type of upgrade you're using:

Systemwide and mileage award upgrades
500-mile upgrades on purchased tickets
500-mile upgrades on award tickets (Executive Platinum elites only)

Put together, that means that American Airlines prioritizes upgrades in the following order:

If two elites have the same elite tier and are using the same type of upgrade, American Airlines will consider the amount of Elite Qualifying Dollars (EQD) that each traveler has earned in the past 12 months.

If additional tiebreakers are still needed, American Airlines will first consider the booking fare class and then the date/time of the upgrade request.

Paid Upgrades

The final upgrade option open to all American Airlines travelers is paid upgrades. If there are unsold seats in business or first class, American Airlines may offer travelers the option to upgrade during online check-in or when checking in at a kiosk.

The cost of these upgrades is dynamic and can vary wildly from one flight to another. So, you'll just want to keep a lookout for these upgrades and consider whether it's a good deal for you when you're offered one.

Just keep in mind that you can't "hold" one of these upgrade options. You'll need to decide at the time you're offered the upgrade. If you upgrade your flight after checking bags, you won't get a refund. However, if you'd paid for a Main Cabin Extra or preferred seat, you'll get an automatic refund.

Alaska Airlines Elite Upgrades

The newest upgrades on American Airlines are those available to Alaska elite members. As part of a renewed partnership with Alaska, American is now offering certain Alaska Mileage Plan elite members upgrades on American Airlines flights.

Starting April 5, 2021, Alaska MVP Gold 75K elites (and up to one companion) get access to complimentary, space-available upgrades when flying on domestic and short-haul international American Airlines flights. This unlimited upgrade benefit is meant to emulate the 500-mile upgrades that AAdvantage elites get when flying on the same American flights.

For now, MVP Gold 75K elites need to wait until check-in before being upgraded. That essentially prioritizes them behind all AAdvantage elite members. However, there are plans to formally add MVP Gold 75K elites to the American Airlines upgrade list "later in 2021". At that point, MVP Gold 75K elites will be prioritized after AAdvantage Platinum Pro elites for upgrades.

Bottom Line

As you can see, there are plenty of ways to get upgraded on American Airlines flights. Any AAdvantage member can use mileage upgrades or pay for a day-of-departure upgrade.

AAdvantage Gold and Platinum elites will rely mostly on 500-mile upgrade certificates, while upper-tier AAdvantage elites get unlimited upgrades on short flights and can apply systemwide upgrades to long-haul flights. Even Alaska elites can now get upgraded on American flights.

By knowing all of your upgrade options, you can make the most of your hard-earned elite upgrades and AAdvantage miles.