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Home » American Airlines » American Airlines Limits Upgrade Transparency
American Airlines

American Airlines Limits Upgrade Transparency

Matthew Klint Posted onOctober 24, 2020November 14, 2023 11 Comments

a close-up of a plane

During a time in which airlines are hurting for business, particularly from loyal elite members, American Airlines has decided to make the upgrade process less transparent. It’s a foolish and unnecessary move.

American Airlines Obscures Upgrade Availability

Historically, American Airlines has used “C” class as its upgrade fare bucket for business class and “A” class as its upgrade fare ticket for first class. This has been easily verifiable via Expert Flyer, making it both transparent and easy to check whether your flight had confirmed upgrade space. With A or C space, you could use miles, systemwide upgrades, or Business Extra certificates to upgrade.

But Zach Griff notes that “C” space for business or “A” space for first class no longer necessarily directly correspond to the number of upgrade seats available. Instead, American Airlines will now only assign a subset of that space for confirmed upgrades.

Why this change? A spokesperson told Griff that AA is making “C” class a revenue fare bucket. In a sense, AA is reappropriating that fare bucket while still leaving it an upgrade fare bucket.

An Unnecessary Move By American Airlines

I get it. Times are tough. But during a time in which simplicity and streamlining seem to be prudent, AA is complicating its fare buckets even further by introducing a new revenue class, C (in addition to J, D, I).

Why not eliminate one of the dozens of economy class fare buckets and use that? Why not, if C and A are really needed, create new two-letter fare buckets for upgrade space, like CC or AA…that’s how United does it.

My point is that unless the goal was to obscure transparency, there is no reason for the change the way it occurred. This is surprising coming from American Airlines because it has been one of the most historically transparent. Indeed, while Delta and United sent cease and desist letters to Expert Flyer, American Airlines actively worked with Expert Flyer to provide travelers more transparency. 

We will see how this move develops and whether we start to see a wide delta between “C” and “A” space and actual upgrade inventory.

How To Check For Upgrade Space On American Airlines

While Expert Flyer may no longer be accurate when it comes to tracking upgrade space, you can still check for upgrade space on aa.com. Log in before searching. When searching for your flight, look for the upgrade hyperlink at the bottom left of each search result entry.

a screenshot of a flight schedule

Then look for a green check mark (or red X) next to your chosen flight.

a screenshot of a website

Note, even though it says Basic Economy is not upgradeable, such “B” fare class fares are upgradable effective immediately via telephone.

CONCLUSION

Transparency is a foundation of trust when it comes to an airline loyalty program. AA, to this point, has been a leader, continuing to provide award charts and up to this point, clear access to upgrade inventory. I trust this latest change is not the start of a trend toward obscurity.

image: American Airlines

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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11 Comments

  1. UA-NYC Reply
    October 24, 2020 at 11:43 am

    Matthew – you should know that in searching for different int’l flights this ewek, no shortage of them that depart <24 hours with 80-90% of them empty, yet still no "systemwide upgrades" link on AA.com (meaning technically no guarantee they clear you).

    Maybe in practice it will be different (with upgrades at the gate) but incredibly bad form with so much capacity.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      October 24, 2020 at 12:41 pm

      It’s pretty pathetic and AA should know, especially during this period of depressed demand, there is no way I am booking an AA longhaul flight without my upgrade confirming immediately. I know I am not alone.

    • Gabriel A Guzman Reply
      October 24, 2020 at 5:24 pm

      AA is being playing games and finding way to scam their customers, I m thinking of cancelling my AA advantage account

      • Frank Mazuca Reply
        October 25, 2020 at 2:04 pm

        I love people complaining about upgrades. Pay for First if you want it.

        • UA-NYC Reply
          October 26, 2020 at 3:20 pm

          These types of posts are as stupid as always…they are “paid” upgrades, with the form of payment being miles or certificates

          • Matthew Klint
            October 26, 2020 at 3:35 pm

            Exactly. It’s part of the loyalty bargain as well.

  2. JohnSF Reply
    October 24, 2020 at 1:40 pm

    How does one without status check for mileage upgrades on AA? I do not see any flights with a “Systemwide upgrade” link when I search, even when logged in (no status). I think non status folks might be effed.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      October 24, 2020 at 1:55 pm

      That’s very annoying and unfortunate. You’ll have to call them.

  3. carey Reply
    October 25, 2020 at 2:47 pm

    Their airline their rules. You can always vote with your wallet.

  4. Dave Kilian Reply
    October 25, 2020 at 8:45 pm

    The benefits of AA Rewards continues to shrink. Some MBA is guiding this nose dive…

  5. Max Reply
    October 25, 2020 at 9:31 pm

    Airlines are inherently stingy with business and first classes as this is where they make their revenue… and they have no problems making the coach class experience even worse, in part to squeeze more px on the ac and in part to convince you to shell out $$$ for upgrades. It’s a crummy business model but that’s all there is to it.

    Hopefully SpaceX and other companies will emerge with something the airlines haven’t been able to do for decades… a supersonic or sub-orbital long haul flight.

    Electric and hybrid aircraft (and hyperloop) should change the shorthaul landscape somewhat if the cost of operation is lower.

    All these factors together should hopefully put pressure on the airlines to come up with a more comfortable flying experience…

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