American Airlines Eliminating 500 Mile Upgrades

American Airlines Executive Platinum and Platinum Pro members receive complimentary domestic upgrades. They can upgrade one companion on the same reservation, but if that companion isn't eligible for complimentary upgrades themselves it will require a 500 mile upgrade certificate which they do not earn and therefore must be purchased.

All elites get complimentary upgrades on flights less than 500 miles. 500 mile upgrade certificates must be used for upgrade on longer flights for gold and Platinums. 75% of upgrades were elite, whether complimentary or paid for using 500 mile certificates.

Golds and Platinums can get 500 mile upgrades for every 10000 miles flown. As American moves to Loyalty Points as the way elite status is earned they are no longer tracking elite qualifying miles. They won't be giving away 500 mile upgrades.

American was the last domestic carrier to charge for 500 mile upgrade certificates.

• Gold and Platinum members receive complimentary upgrades on domestic (complimentary upgrade-eligible) flights starting March 2. No 500 mile e-certificates will be needed for 500+ mile flights. As with Platinum Pro and Executive Platinum members, these upgrades will be auto-requested on eligible itineraries (so if there are two passengers or less on the itinerary, and you do not want the upgrade, you need to affirmatively opt out).
• For now, 500 mile upgrades will still be required for companion upgrades.
• However “[l]ater this year” companion upgrades will become complimentary, too.
• And existing 500-mile upgrades will be converted to 250 Loyalty Points apiece.

Many years ago 500 mile upgrades could be converted to 2000 AAdvantage miles on request. The conversion option was eliminated after this was reduced to 500 AAdvantage miles.

It is less expensive to convert to Loyalty Points. As a result of the conversion, American will no longer be responsible for future travel. Each is worth 250 points. I still have a number of 500 mile upgrades in my account from a decade ago. When I travel with my wife, who used to have complimentary upgrade status herself, I confirm it in advance and choose my leisure flights accordingly, because I rarely travel with a companion on the same reservation.

I will need a few thousand fewer Loyalty Points this year, and one less process to worry about.

It will be even harder for lifetime Golds not earning current status to upgrade. Platinums may be careful about using the complimentary ones they earn to request upgrade if they are flying all-domestic. They will be getting onto the upgrade list every time, pushing Golds even further down, making their already-scarce upgrades even less likely.

Lifetime Golds are below current Golds on the upgrade queue if they aren't earning their status each year. The number of Loyalty Points in the past year will be used to rank the upgrade. Those who have earned status from a lifetime of loyalty are ahead of those who have not.

Changes to American's elite program will go into effect next year. The date on which American will start awarding miles based on the cost of a ticket has been announced. Minimum spend will be required for elite status.

In general.

I thought 500 mile upgrades made sense. I no longer believe in complimentary upgrades for all elites. There are two changes that have happened. The price of 500 mile upgrades has been raised by American. The number 2

In general.

American Airlines and US Airways will combine their programs into one, and what the program will look like. I will outline the program below based on the announcement that American made and the clarifications I received yesterday.

In general.