American Airlines and Alaska Airlines have unveiled reciprocal elite upgrades for their status members. Do Alaska or American members get the better deal?
Reciprocal Elite Upgrades: Alaska Vs. American
Alaska Airlines has officially joined the oneworld alliance and with that ascent comes immediate benefits for top-tier flyers of both American and Alaska.
Let’s take a look at reciprocal upgrades for each program.
Alaska Mileage Plan Elite Upgrades On American Airlines
All Alaska elite members have access to Main Cabin Extra, AA’s extra-legroom economy class section, while only MVP Gold 75K members will have access to first class upgrades on American Airlines.
- Main Cabin Extra
- Alaska MVP Gold and MVP Gold 75K members – free access at time of booking
- MVP members – free access within 24 hours of travel
- No fare class restrictions apply
- First Class
- Alaska MVP Gold 75K – complimentary space-available upgrades on day of departure for member plus one companion booked on the same reservation
- No fare class restrictions apply
- Valid on domestic flights (including Alaska, Hawaii, and premium transcontinental flights) and flights between between the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, the Bahamas, the Caribbean, Bermuda and Central America
Over time, other Alaska elite members will be eligible for space-available first class upgrades.
More details here.
American AAdvantage Elite Upgrades On Alaska Airlines
American Airlines elite members can enjoy upgrades on Alaska Airlines based upon status and fare class booked. Alaska Airlines will exclude “X” class (basic economy) tickets from complimentary upgrades to either Premium or First Class seats.
- Premium Class
- Executive Platinum members – free access at time of booking; no fare class restrictions (except X)
- Platinum Pro and Platinum members – free access at time of booking if booked in the Y, B, H, K, M, L, V, S or N fare classes, otherwise within 72 hours of travel
- Gold members – free access at time of booking if booked in the Y, B, or H fare classes, otherwise within 48 hours of travel
- First Class
- Only Executive Platinum members are eligible for upgrades
- Upgrades will be processed as early as 120 hours prior to departure
- Executive Platinum members will be prioritized behind MVP Gold 75K members
For now, only the elite member is eligible for an upgrade. AA promises that, “Later, Executive Platinum, Platinum Pro and Platinum members will be able to extend this benefit to one companion traveling on the same flight and in the same reservation.”
More details here. Also note that American warns if your upgrade clears, you will not be able to check-in online but will have to check in in-person a the airport.
Who Gets The Better Deal?
Who receives the better deal depends upon your travel patterns. Broadly speaking, Alaska MVP Gold 75K members will be eligible for a complimentary companion upgrade while AA’s own Executive Platinum and Platinum Pro members have to use e500 miles “stickers” in order to upgrade a companion traveling with them. If you are traveling together, there is a lot to like about the new reciprocal upgrade program.
However, I’d say Executive Platinum (EXP) members get the better deal because their upgrades on Alaska clear as early as 120 hours prior to departure. Thus, I expect a lot more EXP members on Alaska will upgraded than MVP Gold 75K members on American, who must wait until check-in in order to secure space-available upgrades.
Over time we will see more reciprocal upgrades and potentially the end of AA’s sticker upgrade program for companion of EXP members and lower tier AAdvantage elites.
CONCLUSION
American and Alaska impressively rolled out reciprocal upgrades on Alaska’s first day in the oneworld alliance. Expect more alignment between programs when it comes to upgrades in the months ahead.
An absolute DISASTER waiting to happen…just wait and see!!!
I’d prefer if AA or AS gave a timeline as to when they would extend the upgrade benefit to other elite tiers. “In the future” is vague and doesn’t really give me the incentive to book AA/AS over UA for my west coast travel for the rest of the year. Granted I could see the concern for the smaller group of AS elite flyers by opening up the floodgates of AA elites who will be potentially taking up upgrade opportunities, but at the same time if they are trying to entice more people to book on AA/AS this is a half-hearted attempt in my opinion.
To be honest, I’m not sure I want to see the end of the sticker program. I like AA seeing some small amount of revenue from elite upgrades.
The system certainly has some advantages.
The sticker program needs to go… I’m sure it’s IT related. Most people below Plat Pro have piles of stickers because their upgrades rarely clear. As an EXP with none remaining, nor any way to accrue more, it’s frustrating not having a mechanism to upgrade companions other than pay $40/cert, which nowadays is often more than paying for F outright.