As hinted at and verified by
JonNYC, AA has formally instated Companion Upgrades with soonsor’s “borrowed” status for Systemwide Upgrades / SWU, Award Upgrades (miles + copay), 500 Mile Upgrades including Concierge Key and Executive Platinum “Unlimited Dimestic Upgrade / UDU”.
Link to new policy; also see below.
Upgrade priority is pretty much as before:
1.Status: Concierge Key, Executive Platinum, Platinum Pro, Platinum, Gold
2. Upgrade type: SWU, Upgrade Awards (Miles and copay), 500 Mile EUpgrades on paid fares, 500 Eups on award
3. Your / the sponsor’s EQD spend over the last 12 months
4. Booking fare code, from F down to the lowest (on allowed fares)
5. Time of booking, assuming everything else is a tie (as likely as finding a desert tortoise in Nunavut in winter)
NOTE the language below that states that if upgrade hasn’t cleared before the ticket goes to airport control, the carriage turns back into a pumpkin (each traveler reverts to their own status). This applies to 500 Mile E-Upgrades. Airport agents (ticket, Club, Gate) can be asked to reestablish the connection, in the case of 500 Mile Upgrades. For SWU, Upgrade Awards, the SSR mechanism should carry over to airport control - you might want to check the connection was made properly and carries over.