Coming Soon: Use American Systemwide Upgrades On British Airways

This is a step in the right direction and not something to be excited about.

American systemwide upgrades usable on British Airways

An exciting development when it comes to using American Airlines systemwide upgrades has been reported by the always reliable x Jon NYC. It will be possible to redeem American Airlines systemwide upgrade for travel on British Airways.

• This will only be valid for tickets issued by American Airlines
• The tickets need to include travel on both American and British Airways
• The upgrades will only be valid for one class of service on British Airways, so on a long haul flight you could upgrade from economy to premium economy, or from premium economy to business class, while on short haul flights you could upgrade from economy to business class
• You can only upgrade transatlantic or intra-Europe British Airways flights, so you can’t upgrade British Airways flights to & from other destinations
• It won’t be possible to waitlist upgrades on British Airways, so there needs to be confirmable space

Some examples are given.

• If you book an economy ticket from New York to London on American and London to Milan on British Airways, you could upgrade both flights to business class with a systemwide upgrade
• If you book an economy ticket from Los Angeles to San Francisco on American and San Francisco to London to Milan on British Airways, you could upgrade all the flights by one cabin (first class on Los Angeles to San Francisco, premium economy on San Francisco to London, and business class on London to Milan)

The full details of this new opportunity will be known on Monday. I think there will need to be award availability in business class in order to upgrade.

If you are going to upgrade within Europe, keep in mind that the economy with a blocked middle seat isn't something to get excited about. Business class is a bigger step up than economy.

My take on this systemwide upgrade development

I like the direction things are headed, but I need to wait for the full details. The oneworld joint venture is supposed to create as much metal neutrality as possible.

There hasn't been much done on that front. My hope is that this is just the beginning of systemwide upgrades being usable on more routes and more partners.

I think that oneworld is going to introduce alliance-wide upgrades soon, though I don't think that's related to this development.

Even though I am an AAdvantage Executive Platinum member, this won't affect me. I don't earn any systemwide upgrades with American anymore, as I choose different options for the A LoyaltyAdvantage Choice rewards program. I don't want to end up in economy on a long haul flight because American doesn't have enough upgrade space.

Bottom line

When traveling on a ticket that also includes travel on American, you will soon be able to redeem systemwide upgrades. It is cool that systemwide upgrade will be valid on a partner airline for the first time. It is hoped that this is just the beginning of more opportunities.

What do you think about this development?