Details: American & British Airways Reciprocal Upgrades

I think this is a pretty exciting development that American Airlines and British Airways have just implemented. The first report of this was made last week by xJon NYC.

American systemwide upgrades usable on British Airways

It is now possible to upgrade travel on British Airways.

• This is only valid for tickets issued by American Airlines
• The tickets need to include travel on both American and British Airways
• The upgrades are valid for one class of service, from economy to premium economy, premium economy to business, or business to first (within Europe it would be from economy to business)
• You can only upgrade transatlantic or intra-Europe British Airways flights, so you can’t upgrade British Airways flights to & from other destinations
• It isn’t possible to waitlist upgrades on British Airways, so there needs to be confirmable space
• British Airways is using its typical award fare buckets for these upgrades, so for first class there needs to be “Z” space, for business class there needs to be “U” space, and for premium economy there needs to be “P” space
• All published fares (including basic economy) are eligible for upgrades, but award tickets aren’t
• You can’t use systemwide upgrades issued to Alaska Mileage Plan elites for upgrades on British Airways

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)

British Airways elites get upgrades on American

There is something for British Airways Executive Club members as well. Two systemwide upgrade equivalents that can be used for an upgrade on American Airlines have been given to British Airways Executive Club Gold members.

• This is only valid for tickets issued by British Airways
• The upgrades are valid for one class of service, from premium economy to business class, or from business class to first class; there are no upgrades from economy to premium economy (which is because American doesn’t offer that for its own members either)
• You can only upgrade itineraries including transatlantic travel, so you can’t upgrade itineraries to & from other regions
• It isn’t possible to waitlist upgrades on American Airlines, so there needs to be confirmable space
• American Airlines is using its typical upgrade fare buckets for these upgrades, so for first class there needs to be “A” space, and for business class there needs to be “C” space
• All published fares (including basic economy) are eligible for upgrades, but award tickets aren’t

This is an exciting development

When you consider that this is just the first step, the execution of this is really impressive. The oneworld joint venture is supposed to create as much metal neutrality as possible.

Not much has been done on that front until now. Both American and British Airways elites have the chance to upgrade on another airline. There are limits on the routes you can upgrade, and there are limits on the classes you can upgrade, but this is pretty good done.

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

American Airlines and British Airways have programs that let you upgrade. British Airways Gold members receive two systemwide upgrades each year that can be used on American.

As part of a joint venture, we should see this type of reciprocity. The lack of confirmable upgrade space is going to make this difficult, but I am happy with this.

What do you think about this development?