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American Airlines sent select elite members emails today inviting them to test applying systemwide upgrades to their existing reservations. This has been long promised and it seems like American is in the final stages before rolling this out to all eligible AAdvantage members.
United Airlines has long allowed upgrades to be applied online. This started with Regional and Global Premier Upgrades and now allows PlusPoint upgrades to be handled online (these replaced United’s upgrade certificates back in 2019). Delta Air Lines has also allowed eligible Medallion members to apply Regional and Global Upgrade Certificates online since 2022.
The ability to redeem systemwide upgrades was announced early in the year and is just starting to be available now. Beta testers are able to apply them online by following these steps:
- Members should have at least one systemwide upgrade in their accounts.
- The passenger’s last name and confirmation number must be filled in.
- The upgrade will be waitlisted or confirmed right away if space is available.
Systemwide upgrades are earned at the 175,000, 250,000, 400,000, 550,000, 750,000, one million, three million, and five million Loyalty Point thresholds. They can be applied to flights marketed and operated by American Airlines. A systemwide upgrade will move a passenger from Business to First Class on a three-cabin aircraft or from Economy or Premium Economy to the next class of service (Business or domestic First Class). These can also be used to upgrade British Airways flights. On transatlantic flights operated by British Airways, a systemwide upgrade can be used to confirm an upgrade from Business Class to First, Premium Economy to Business Class, or Economy Class to Premium Economy.
Anthony’s Take: American is just beginning to catch up with United and Delta. Hopefully, this will be fully rolled out before 2025.
(Image Credits: United Airlines.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
