Systemwide upgrades
About systemwide upgrades
Enjoy a confirmed upgrade from most Business fares to First and most Economy or Premium Economy fares to the next class of service (Business or domestic First) anywhere American flies.
- Systemwide upgrades can be used for one-way travel for up to three segments on American and American Eagle marketed and operated flights.
- Executive Platinum members get 4 systemwide upgrades when qualifying or re-qualifying. You can choose to receive additional systemwide upgrades as a reward upon reaching 150,000, 200,000 and 250,000 Elite Qualifying Miles (EQMs). For 2021, we’ve lowered the thresholds to 120,000, 160,000 and 200,000 EQMs.
- Million Miler members get 4 systemwide upgrades when you reach 2 Million Miles and for every Million Mile level after.
- Systemwide upgrades are credited to your account within 48 hours of being earned.
- Upgrades will expire 1 year from the date deposited. Systemwide upgrades can be used for travel beyond the expiration date – the upgrade just needs to be confirmed before the upgrade expires.
- You can share your upgrades with anyone you choose, whether you are traveling with them or not. Call your elite service desk in advance to request the upgrade.
- If you cancel your trip prior to travel, call your elite service desk to reinstate your upgrade(s) for future use.
Systemwide upgrades aren’t available when you’ve booked:
- Codeshare flights, including flights marketed by American and operated by other airlines
- Government or military fares
- Fares ineligible for mileage credit (like award tickets)
Find upgrade availability
- Log in to aa.com.
- When booking your flight on aa.com, look for the Systemwide upgrades link to find flights with upgrade seats available.
- “Systemwide upgrades” will be displayed if there are enough upgrades available on the flight for the number of passengers you are requesting, and you have the appropriate number of upgrades in your account.
Request an upgrade
- Log in to aa.com and make sure you have systemwide upgrades available in your AAdvantage® account.
- When booking your flight on aa.com, look for the Systemwide upgrades link to find flights with upgrade seats available.
- Call your elite service desk to confirm your upgrade. If available, the required number of upgrades will be deducted from your balance.*
- If an upgrade isn’t available at the time of booking, we'll waitlist your request. Waitlisted requests will be confirmed in this order:
- Elite status level
- Upgrade type
- 12-month Rolling EQDs
If the upgrade type and 12-month Rolling EQD value are the same we’ll look at the booking code then date/time of the request to determine prioritization.
If your upgrade hasn’t been confirmed by the time you check in, we’ll automatically add you to the airport upgrade standby list if you have the appropriate number of upgrades in your account 48 hours before departure.
Once your upgrade is confirmed, our app will automatically update your mobile boarding pass.
If you want to use a systemwide upgrade for an existing reservation, call your elite service desk to check upgrade availability for your flight(s).
*Systemwide upgrades are subject to upgrade seating availability.
Track your upgrade balance
Keep track of your upgrade balance in your AAdvantage® account wallet.
In your wallet you’ll find:
- Available systemwide upgrades
- Deposit and expiration dates
- Upgrades you’ve used or plan to use
Summary details will only display if you have systemwide upgrades with an expiration date in the current or future year.
- This upgrade is subject to capacity controls and is limited to a single one-way ticket with a maximum of three segments. Reservations are subject to seat availability at the time of upgrade.
- Reservations may be made and tickets purchased from any authorized Travel Agency or American Airlines. Upgrade requests using systemwide upgrades cannot be made on aa.com. Upgrades are valid only on scheduled flights marketed and operated by American Airlines or American Eagle offering a First or Business Class cabin for travel. Not valid on codeshare flights.
- Open tickets may not be issued.
- Stopovers, joint and through fares are permitted if fare purchased allows. If, after ticketing, your ticket must be reissued, a change fee may apply based on your purchased fare.
- Any tax liability is the responsibility of the user.
- Upgrades are only valid on individual published-fare tickets. Upgrades are not applicable to AAdvantage® travel awards; any free ticket; military or other government fares; opaque fares; infant tickets (including INF50 fares) or purchased extra seats.
- Upgrade must be confirmed before the expiration date; travel does not have to be completed before the expiration date of the upgrade. Unused upgrades will not be refunded, exchanged or transferred.
- Upgrades will be deducted from your account as soon as upgrade seating can be confirmed on one or more requested flight segments of your itinerary. It is the responsibility of the member to contact the AAdvantage® department if a trip involving the use of a systemwide upgrade is canceled and reinstatement of the upgrade is required.
- Any itinerary changes to a confirmed upgrade are subject to seat availability for the new itinerary.
- AAdvantage® mileage will accrue for the class of service on which your fare is based when you are ticketed, not for the class of service flown. Any voluntary refund of a ticket issued against the upgrade shall be in accordance with applicable fare rules for the fare purchased.
- Use of upgrades to any future American Airlines destination is subject to approval.
- Upgrades are void if sold or advertised for sale for cash or other considerations. Members may designate another passenger to use their upgrades.
- Passengers may be requested to show identification at any time during travel.