From FlyerGuide Wiki
[edit] Upgrades
Besides paying for a premium class ticket or exchanging miles for Business/First Award Ticket, there are several upgrade instruments that can be used in combination with a paid ticket. Key points:
- Generally, Award Tickets cannot be upgraded. However, when checking-in with a kiosk, the kiosk may offer an upgrade for a fee.
- Under normal circumstances, you cannot be upgraded two classes-of-service. This is relevant for travel in 3-class cabins.
- The EQM/EQP/mileage that you accrue is based on of the fare that you purchase and not the class that you end up traveling on.
- Upgrades only work when you are flying on AA metal - even though you might have an AA flight number, you cannot upgrade if the flight is operated by another carrier. If you have a multi-carrier itinerary, you can still upgrade the AA segments.
- Some inventory or booking classes are not upgradeable.
Your options for upgrading a purchased ticket are listed below.
[edit] Upgrade Awards/Mileage Upgrades
Any AAdvantage member can use miles to get an Upgrade Award into the next class-of-service. If you take a look at the schedules for the mileage, you'll notice that Full Fare Economy requires less miles and does not require a co-pay. You can also use a mileage upgrade award to upgrade someone else even if you are not traveling with them. Finally, upgrade requests made close to the departure date incur additional non-refundable fees (i.e. within 21 days it's $50).
Note that "international" upgrades from Discount Economy and flights to Hawaii require a combination of mileage and a co-pay.
Upgrade Awards to First and Business come out of the A and C inventory classes, respectively.
Note that when upgrades from France and the U.K. are confirmed, additional taxes will also be collected.
[edit] eVIP Upgrades
eVIPs (sometimes called VIPs or VIPOWs) are system-wide electronic certificates awarded to Executive Platinum members annually and to qualifying members who reach a multiple of one million lifetime miles - see Elite Levels for details. Each eVIP can upgrade up to three segments of a one-way trip anywhere American flies. There is no co-pay for eVIP upgrades from any upgradeable fare and the eVIP can be used to upgrade anyone - including those who do not even belong to AAdvantage. eVIP upgrade requests can't be made online - you must speak with an agent. eVIPs come out of the A and C inventory classes. See AA.com for eVIP details.
Note that when upgrades from France and the U.K. are confirmed, additional taxes will also be collected. See this thread.
If you are looking to get the most out of your eVIP, be sure to read the eVIP International Destinations article.
[edit] Complimentary Executive Platinum "Domestic" Upgrades
Executive Platinum members get complimentary "domestic" upgrades for flights within North America, Caribbean and Central America.
Executive Platinum Upgrades to First and Business come out of the X and R inventory classes, respectively.
If you purchase your ticket on AA.com, you may request an upgrade at the time of the booking. If you purchase your ticket through another agency, you should be able to locate your reservation on AA.com to make the upgrade request online. EXP upgrades may be allocated as early as 100 hours prior to flight time, but may clear as late as just before boarding.
Executive Platinum members do not earn stickers through flying, though they may purchase them and use them for one traveling companion. Stickers do not expire, as long as one's AAdvantage account remains current.
See upgrades section of AA.com for additional details.
[edit] Gold/Platinum 500-Mile/Sticker "Domestic" Upgrades
For flights within North America, Caribbean and Central America, there are "domestic" electronic upgrades that can be used:
- For Gold and Platinum members, a 500-Mile Upgrade (a.k.a. "sticker") must be used:
- For each 500 miles of a segment, one sticker must be used.
- For the entire segment, there is a 51 mile grace; a segment of 1043 miles would only require 2 stickers instead of 3.
- American gives stickers to Gold and Platinum members at the rate of four per 10,000 miles flown. Stickers can also be purchased online, at an airport kiosk, or through an agent (for a higher price)
Non-elite AAdvantage members may also use stickers to upgrade, but they may only upgrade B or Y class fares.
If you purchase your ticket on AA.com, you may request an upgrade at the time of the booking. If you purchase your ticket through another agency, you should be able to located your reservation on AA.com in order to make the upgrade request online. Platinum upgrades may be allocated as early as 72 hours prior to flight time, but may clear as late as just before boarding. Gold and non-elite upgrades may be allocated as early as 24 hours out, but may clear as late as just before boarding.
Sticker Upgrades to First and Business come out of the X and R inventory classes, respectively.
See upgrades section of AA.com for additional details.
[edit] Elite Full Fare Complimentary "Domestic" Upgrades
All elites get complimentary upgrades to the next class-of-service for themselves and one companion when both are traveling in full-fare economy (Y and B booking class, excluding government/military fares).
Applicable on American Airlines flights within and between the U.S., Canada, Mexico, The Bahamas, Bermuda, the Caribbean and between the U.S. and Central America.
[edit] Companion Upgrades
Elite members are allowed to upgrade a single companion. When upgrading companions, the companion "inherits" the member's status for the purpose of waitlisting. If tickets are purchased separately, then both PNRs will need to be linked. If there are more that two people on an itinerary, then it will need to be split. See Passenger Name Record (AA) for details on this procedure.
IMPORTANT - The following information may no longer be true since AA.com apparently fixed the bug: For Companion Upgrades using stickers while on separate PNRs, there is a bit of a glitch in AA.com. In order to do an On-Line Check-In (and hence be in a better position on the waiting list) you must make sure that your companion has enough stickers in his/her account - if you don't, your companion will see an error when he/she tries to check-in online. When it comes time to actually taking the stickers out of the account, you can let the Gate Agent or AC Angel know from which account you want the stickers taken.
For Upgrade Awards and eVIPs, FlyerTalk experience is unclear whether status is properly inherited on linked PNRs for last minute upgrades.
[edit] Upgrade Waitlists
If the appropriate inventory class for the upgrade is not available when you make the booking, then you can be put on a waiting list. Upgrades can happen at any moment, from the time that you purchase your ticket and until the plane has departed. While some contend that hanging around the gate until the very last moment helps your chances of squeaking in a last minute "battlefield" upgrade, others report that Gate Agents and Flight Attendants do come onto the plane to escort you to the front if your upgrade clears.
An interesting question is whether there is any relative priority amongst the upgrade instruments. There is no factual evidence to support the contention that an eVIP or Upgrade Award will clear before a sticker upgrade, or vice versa. All that is known is that if a seat is released into a certain upgrade inventory class, then upgrades will be processed for that particular class. What happens at the gate is even more unclear - some FlyerTalk members suggest that a harried gate agent will choose the most expedient path and clear the upgrades which require less work - more typing is required to clear an Upgrade Award or an eVIP than a sticker upgrade.
AA has specific windows for when "domestic" upgrades may clear (EXP: 100 hrs; Plat: 72 hrs; Gold: 24 hrs). These are general guidelines.
Upgrade waiting list priority is determined as follows:
- Elite status level
- Whether the passenger is connecting (thru passengers have priority over originating passengers if request is set up properly)
- Date/time of upgrade request
As of Feb 28, 2008, AA changed the priority for Upgrades when in Airport control (T-3 hours). It is now based on the request date/time of the original upgrade request and is no longer based on check-in time. [source: http://www.aa.com/aa/i18nForward.do?p=/AAdvantage/programDetails/eliteStatus/upgrades.jsp]
There is an interesting thread of what the upgrade waitlist looks like from a Gate Agent perspective.
[edit] Kiosk/Counter Purchased Upgrades
Domestic upgrades may sometimes be offered at check-in kiosks for a fee. International counter-purchased upgrades may occasionally be available at some airports for limited flights.
[edit] Operational Upgrades
An operational upgrade (also known as an OpUp) is any upgrade given by AA for operational reasons. The most common situation is that a flight is overbooked in the main cabin but has open seats in front. In that case AA will choose economy passengers to move forward (a process sometimes referred to as a "cabin roll").
In theory passengers are chosen for operational upgrades by status first, then fare code. In practice, since the need for operational upgrades is often not known until just before flight time when all passengers have checked in, and getting flights off on time is a priority, this order is not always strictly followed.
[edit] Checking Upgrade Availability Online
Unfortunately, one cannot check for upgrade availability on the aa.com website. However, there is an excellent fee-based online site that gives the ability to check for upgrades, fare code inventory, open seats, and other services. The expertflyer.com website allows for free trials and short term subscriptions. Of course, one can always telephone AA Reservations who can check upgrade availability for free.
[edit] Non-Revenue Travel in Premium Cabins
AA Employees (and their friends and family) are sometimes eligible for "non-revenue" travel, in premium cabins when available. However, there is a small fee that the employee has to pay, determined by destination/distance and class of service. Despite some sinister conspiracy concerns, non-revs really do board last if there are still seats available and do not take up revenue passenger's seats. While non-reving sounds great and can be fun, getting stuck for a couple days at a remote airport where AA only has one daily flight (with weight restrictions), when there are weather disruptions in the system, or not being able to make a popular route (ORD-DFW) are very real concerns and diminish the non-reving experience greatly.
