American Airlines now awards miles and status credits when you purchase a cabin upgrade
Upgrades are difficult. First class doesn’t cost as much as it used to, when airlines only sold about 10% of the seats up front. Planes are full, and lots of people have status. They’re more willing to pay for first class outright. And airlines are aggressively selling first class upgrades. There are far fewer empty seats available for free to people with airline status.
Now, at least, American Airlines will reward you if you buy an economy ticket and accept the paid upgrade offer.
When I was a ConciergeKey member with American Airlines, my upgrade rate was good, but not great. I was at the top of the upgrade list, but there were often no seats left to upgrade to! Pilots flying on an empty plane now have upgrade priority over customers at the airport. American doesn’t have enough first class seats, especially on its Airbus A319 and A320 planes, nor does it have enough business class seats on its Boeing 787 planes.
And when domestic upgrades are offered for as little as $40, economy class passengers are often willing to pay for a higher ticket.
The disadvantage of these upgrade offers is that they no miles or status credits collected.
- No ticket number is generated for the purchase
- So there was no ready-made system for tracking purchases and awarding miles
- As a result, they had to make IT investments to improve their profitability.
American Airlines promised back in January that this would change in 2024. Now the time has finally come.
AAdvantage now awards miles and loyalty points for the same price as buying a ticket for cabin upgrades. A paid upgrade to first class earns 5 AAdvantage miles per dollar plus status bonuses, up to 11 miles per dollar. And that’s apart from the miles you earn when paying with your credit card.
This makes buyout offers more attractive.
- When cheap buyouts are offered, American probably believes they have enough seats that aren’t being sold, so there’s actually a good chance of getting the free upgrade.
- But the cheaper the upgrade, the more likely someone is to take it – making it less likely to be given as a gift.
- If you’re pursuing status, knowing that you’ll at least be rewarded for it and count toward next year’s elite tier takes some of the pain away.
- So maybe consider your status benefits as something different than the upgrades and just pay.
If you absolutely do not want to fly in economy class but still want to get the best deal since most fares no longer have change fees, this is a strategy you should consider.
- Pay for economy class and wait to be offered a discounted upgrade
- If so, that’s great because you’re getting a better deal on first class than if you had booked it right from the start.
- If not, simply cancel the flight and use the credit to purchase a First Class
It’s of course possible that the price of first class could rise (or fall!) in the meantime, but think about discounted buy-out offers as these are so often available when the airline doesn’t think it will sell out its premium cabins naturally.
Incidentally, American also told us in January that they would be introducing mileage redemption for access to Flagship First Class lounges (Miami, Dallas – Fort Worth), but that hasn’t happened yet. Seeing how they move forward with any of the announcements also makes me curious to see the remaining vacant lounge.
