There are various methods to upgrade your American Airlines flight. For instance, you possibly can redeem American miles for an upgrade or settle for a paid upgrade offer. And when touring on eligible flights in North America, American Airlines AAdvantage elite members can hope for a complimentary upgrade.
However vacationers with high-tier American Airlines elite status and AAdvantage Million Miler members even have the chance to earn systemwide upgrades. Here is what it’s essential to find out about American Airways systemwide upgrades.
What are American Airways systemwide upgrades?
You should utilize an American Airways systemwide improve to alter a paid fare to the subsequent class of service one-way for as much as three segments. So long as your journey has a minimum of one American-marketed flight, you should utilize an American Airways systemwide improve for the next:
- American Airways-marketed and -operated flights
- British Airways-marketed and -operated transatlantic flights
- British Airways-operated transatlantic flights marketed by American
On American Airways flights, you should utilize a systemwide improve to go from:
- Enterprise to first-class
- Financial system or premium financial system to enterprise on a three-cabin plane
- Financial system to first for home flights on a two-cabin plane
- Financial system to enterprise for short-haul worldwide flights on a two-cabin plane
In the meantime, on transatlantic British Airways flights, you should utilize a systemwide improve to go from:
- Enterprise to first-class
- Premium financial system to enterprise
- Financial system to premium financial system
You’ll be able to solely use a systemwide improve on particular person revealed fare tickets. You’ll be able to’t use systemwide upgrades to improve AAdvantage award tickets, free tickets, navy or different authorities fares, opaque fares, toddler tickets or additional seats you’ve got bought.
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Find out how to earn systemwide upgrades
The Loyalty Point Rewards program is one method to earn American Airways systemwide upgrades. Systemwide upgrades are a selection (in different phrases, it’s essential to choose them as an alternative of different rewards) on the following Loyalty Level milestones every qualification interval:
- 175,000 Loyalty Factors: You get one reward selection at this milestone; one choice is 2 systemwide upgrades.
- 250,000 Loyalty Factors: You get two reward decisions at this milestone; one choice is 2 systemwide upgrades.
- 400,000 Loyalty Factors: You get two reward decisions at this milestone; one choice is one systemwide improve.
- 550,000 Loyalty Factors: You get two reward decisions at this milestone; one choice is one systemwide improve.
- 750,000 Loyalty Factors: You get two reward decisions at this milestone; one choice is one systemwide improve.
- 1 million Loyalty Factors: You get one reward selection at this milestone; one choice is 4 systemwide upgrades.
- 3 million Loyalty Factors: You get one reward selection at this milestone; one choice is six systemwide upgrades.
- 5 million Loyalty Factors: You get one reward selection at this milestone; one choice is 10 systemwide upgrades.
As a reminder, Platinum Professional standing requires 125,000 Loyalty Factors every qualification interval, and Govt Platinum standing requires 200,000 Loyalty Factors. So you will not be capable to select any systemwide upgrades should you earn Platinum Professional standing with 125,000 Loyalty Factors throughout this qualification interval. You may solely get the chance to pick at most two systemwide upgrades should you earn Govt Platinum standing with 200,000 Loyalty Factors throughout this qualification interval.
AAdvantage members with American Airlines Million Miler status may also earn systemwide upgrades after they attain particular milestones. You may get 4 systemwide upgrades once you attain 2 million miles towards AAdvantage Million Miler standing. Then, for every subsequent 1 million miles you earn towards Million Miler standing, you will get 4 extra systemwide upgrades.
Associated: How American Airlines sucked me back into AAdvantage with Loyalty Points
When do American Airways systemwide upgrades expire?
Systemwide upgrades presently expire one 12 months after they’re deposited in your account. Nonetheless, AAdvantage recently announced that beginning March 1, 2025, they are going to be legitimate by the standing membership 12 months.
So, should you earn 175,000 Loyalty Factors in the course of the qualification 12 months that ends Feb. 28, 2025, and choose two systemwide upgrades as your 175,000-point Loyalty Level Rewards selection, these systemwide upgrades can be legitimate by March 31, 2026. AAdvantage can also be extending the expiration date of systemwide upgrades you earned between March 1, 2024, and Feb. 28, 2025, by March 31, 2026.
Though it’s essential to use the systemwide improve to substantiate an improve earlier than its expiration date, journey can happen after the expiration date.
Associated: Best credit cards for American Airlines flyers
Find out how to use American Airways systemwide upgrades
Vacationers have a tendency to make use of American Airways systemwide upgrades in considered one of 3 ways:
- To ebook a flight with systemwide availability and instantly apply the improve
- To arrange award alerts for flights they’ve already booked that do not presently have systemwide availability and apply the improve as quickly as availability seems
- To waitlist for upgrades on long-haul flights they’ve already booked
Since 2016, my husband and I’ve used 64 systemwide upgrades on long-haul flights of seven or extra hours utilizing the primary two methods. So, let’s discover how one can use American Airways systemwide upgrades.
Find out how to discover systemwide availability
Discovering systemwide availability is probably probably the most troublesome a part of utilizing systemwide upgrades. American Airways encourages its members with systemwide upgrades to log into their accounts on the American Airways web site after which search for flights with a “Systemwide upgrades” hyperlink on the outcomes web page.
When you discover a flight choice with this hyperlink, you possibly can click on the hyperlink to see what courses presently have systemwide improve availability. When you’re taking a look at a multisegment choice, you possibly can see which segments have systemwide improve availability.
Utilizing the American Airways web site can assist you discover systemwide improve availability, particularly should you are likely to ebook last-minute paid flights.
However most vacationers will discover it simpler to join a paid membership with ExpertFlyer (owned by TPG’s guardian firm, Crimson Ventures). This lets you seek for improve availability and even set alerts for particular person flights. You may want to seek out availability within the following fare buckets to make use of a systemwide improve:
- Enterprise to first on three-cabin American Airways flights: A
- Different upgrades on American Airways flights: C
- Enterprise to first on British Airways flights: Z
- Premium financial system to enterprise on British Airways flights: U
- Financial system to premium financial system on British Airways flights: P
Utilizing ExpertFlyer, you possibly can seek for A and C improve availability on American Airways flights utilizing the “Awards & Upgrades” part. You may get probably the most correct outcomes by ExpertFlyer once you seek for systemwide improve availability phase by phase. So, I like to recommend utilizing the “Connection Desire” drop-down to pick solely direct flights.
On the outcomes display, the “Seats” column signifies what number of seats are possible bookable with systemwide upgrades. To obtain an improve alert for a selected flight that does not presently have improve availability, click on the exclamation mark subsequent to the consequence.
I extremely suggest organising improve alerts phase by phase for any flights to which you hope to use systemwide upgrades. That is higher than waitlisting for a systemwide improve on these flights since it might allow you to apply your improve earlier than AAdvantage processes waitlisted improve requests.
Find out how to request a systemwide improve
To see what number of unused systemwide upgrades you’ve and the expiration dates on these upgrades, log into your American Airways account and click on “Rewards” underneath “Rewards Hub” on the left-hand facet of the webpage. Beneath “Seat coupons, upgrades and passes,” you will see a tile labeled “Systemwide improve.”
Click on on this tile to see extra details about your systemwide upgrades, together with when systemwide upgrades had been deposited in your account and which systemwide upgrades you’ve got redeemed.
Now you possibly can redeem systemwide upgrade certificates online. To request a systemwide improve on-line, click on the “Use systemwide upgrades” button after which enter your final title and affirmation code on the web page that hundreds.
An informative web page will load discussing how one can apply systemwide upgrades on-line.
Then you possibly can choose a flight for which you’d wish to request a systemwide improve. On this case, the request can be waitlisted as an alternative of confirmed since there is not presently any systemwide availability on that flight.
Beforehand, you needed to name the reservations line to use systemwide upgrades, which was usually time-consuming. Sadly, you will nonetheless have to name to use a systemwide improve to some journeys, together with once you depart from an airport requiring fee of premium taxes, fly on a British Airways transatlantic flight or have three or extra passengers in your reservation.
If there is no improve house in your flight(s), you possibly can waitlist your request for flights operated by American Airways. Waitlisted requests will clear so as based mostly on the next precedence:
- Standing degree
- Improve kind
- 12-month rolling Loyalty Factors
- Reserving code
- Date and time of the waitlist request
When you’ve waitlisted your request however have not cleared the waitlist by the point you verify in, AAdvantage will add you to the airport improve standby record. In case your improve clears from the airport improve standby record, AAdvantage will deduct a systemwide improve out of your account.
Lastly, should you’ve cleared a systemwide improve however have to cancel your journey earlier than you depart, name AAdvantage and ask to reinstate your systemwide improve(s).
Associated: Last-minute strategies for earning American AAdvantage elite status
How do you earn miles once you use a systemwide improve?
Sadly, you will nonetheless earn American Airways miles and Loyalty Factors based mostly on the fare class and cabin you initially booked.
Can another person use my systemwide improve?
You should utilize your systemwide upgrades for anybody you select, even should you’re not touring with them. Nonetheless, the phrases and circumstances for systemwide upgrades state: “Upgrades are void if offered or marketed on the market for money or different concerns.” So, though you possibly can reward your systemwide upgrades to mates, relations or fortunate strangers, you should not obtain something in return.
Backside line
When you possibly can clear American Airways systemwide upgrades on long-haul worldwide flights, they’re extraordinarily worthwhile, and it seems like a giant win. It is definitely potential to clear systemwide upgrades simply days earlier than your flight (and even on the airport), however it’s additionally potential to take action months prematurely.
You may usually have the most effective probabilities at clearing systemwide upgrades on high-frequency routes providing a number of flights operated by American Airways each day. Touring off-peak days and seasons may also assist.
If you wish to use your systemwide upgrades on long-haul worldwide itineraries, I like to recommend first taking a look at improve availability in your longest phase. Ideally, you will discover and ebook an itinerary with improve availability on the longest phase, as then you should utilize a systemwide improve to clear into the next class of service shortly after reserving. In any other case, arrange improve alerts or add your self to the waitlist to hopefully use your systemwide improve as your flight nears.
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