How do 500 mile upgrades work

Then come Platinum and Gold elites. The higher your status, the higher you are on the upgrade list. The second most important factor is the type of upgrade requested. Travelers using a systemwide upgrade, or SWU, or AAdvantage miles and a copay get first dibs on available upgrades.

After these upgrades clear, elites who are using mile upgrade certificates on purchased tickets have their chance. Next, Concierge Key and Executive Platinum members who are using mile upgrade certificates on award tickets are offered upgrades these are the only elite members who are able to use mile upgrade certificates on tickets purchased with miles.

Finally, the airline offers complimentary upgrades, which are typically awarded to elites in order of status. See below for more details on SWUs and mile upgrade certificates. The final criterion for determining upgrade likelihood is the booking code of the ticket you purchased, plus when you purchased it. These lettered booking codes are used by American to prioritize your request against other passengers.

In most instances, this will be a cheaper option than paying for a ticket with cash and then using a combination of miles and cash to upgrade to the next cabin of service. There are a several ways to earn American Airlines miles ; however, the fastest way to get a miles infusion is to get a co-branded AA credit card, earn the sign-up bonus and use the card for regular purchases.

A longer flight — for example, from the U. You can also upgrade from business class to first class on the few flights where American offers its Flagship First service select international and transcontinental routes. Airlines tend to set aside only a subset of their open seats for upgrades, meaning you may have some competition.

As noted above, the upgrade priority will dictate how the airline ranks your upgrade request against those of other travelers. The number of mile upgrades you receive depends on your status level. Each upgrade is valid for miles on a domestic or Caribbean and select Central American flight. A flight that is 1, miles, for example, would require three mile upgrades. Every fare class except basic economy is eligible for upgrades using these certificates.

If the flight is less than miles, all elite members are automatically added to the upgrade list — no certificate required.

Elite members can also use their certificates for a companion traveling with them. The amount of time you have to wait to find out if you will be upgraded depends on your status in the AAdvantage program. This is a pretty efficient use of mile upgrades. Great Circle Mapper is a good resource for quickly checking mileage between airports.

When you request an upgrade, AA lists the mileage and how many mile upgrades will be needed. Already booked a flight and forgot to request an upgrade? You can pull up My Trips on AA. However, thanks to a recent change, Executive Platinum elites get free upgrades on award flights — even on Economy Web Special awards. However, Executive Platinum elites traveling on award flights will be prioritized lower than those flying on revenue tickets.

American Airlines elites can use their mile upgrades for themselves and up to one companion traveling with them on the same flight. If your companion is booked in a different reservation, call your AA elite phone number to ask the agent to link the two reservations. Just note that by adding a companion, you might miss out on an upgrade for yourself. Related: Tricks to avoid being skipped on an American Airlines upgrade list.

American Airlines lists the following times when upgrades will start being processed:. American Airlines revenue management needs to release upgrade space in order for these upgrades to clear. This is likely to be an effort to reduce the workload of the gate agents and lead to more on-time departures. Also, you can use them in the following regions:. If you get a thrill from sitting closer to the front of the plane, perhaps you thirst for the premium cabin on smaller domestic airplanes.

If you want to assign a value to your upgrade certs, you can see how much AA would charge you to upgrade the same ticket with cash. For my trip, I wanted to use flight credit from a previously canceled trip. However, the site would not allow me to apply them to an old trip — the option would only appear when reserving a brand new reservation.

This was quickly resolved through the chat feature in the American Airlines app. The agent applied both my trip credits and my upgrade certificates to my desired route and put the flight on hold. American Airlines mile upgrades allow you to upgrade your travel beyond miles. Think of each certificate as the ability to unlock miles of your travel in business or first class. You can subscribe to our newsletter for more how-to posts like this delivered to your inbox once per day.

Joseph Hostetler is a full-time writer for Million Mile Secrets, covering miles and points tips and tricks, as well as helpful travel-related news and deals. He has also authored and edited for The Points Guy. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These members are automatically enrolled into the upgrade pool on all eligible flights they fly on. Needless to say, not all flights have 2 or 3 cabin configurations such as on skinnier regional routes so mile upgrade vouchers are useless on these flights as there is nowhere to upgrade too.

Furthermore, upgrades are not valid from one premium cabin to another , and unlike systemwide upgrades, you cannot upgrade from the economy into the premium economy. To upgrade from purchased business class to first class on a 3-class aircraft, you will either need to use miles and a cash co-pay; or use a systemwide upgrade if you are either an Executive Platinum or Concierge Key member. Starting March 1, , American Airlines AAdvantage Gold and Platinum elite status holders will receive four mile upgrades for every 12, Elite-Qualifying Miles EQM earned — this contrasts with the 10, miles previously required before the devaluation.

The only exception to this rule is when reaching Platinum Pro for the first time you lose any progress made towards mile upgrades as you move from a limited to unlimited amount. In these instances, if you do qualify, you can call American to request the vouchers you would have accrued to be credited to your account as a one-off.

However, it indirectly, and for a lack of a better phrase, screwed you over if you predominantly took economy flights or booked with alternative Oneworld and American Airlines partners. The below chart shows the minimum direct flight miles needed to be flown in each fare class to achieve 4 mile upgrade vouchers. To put this into perspective, you would need to do a return trip from San Francisco to Rome Fiumicino a distance of 6, miles one-way or a return of 12, miles in full-fare economy to be able to earn four mile upgrade vouchers in one go.

The other way to get a mile voucher is to purchase a voucher from AA. IAD flight, which is miles one-way, would cost US80 to upgrade. This flight includes a meal, but not all first class services do so you will need to weigh up the costs to do so.

While purchasing a mile upgrade voucher may look good, it represents significantly poor value. In light of this, there maybe a time where you actually have to purchase some vouchers.

American does not actually deduct the mile certificates until your flight departs, so you should be able to request an upgrade without having certificates in your account.