JDiver

Welcome to FlyerTalk.

As this is about the joint policies developed between AA and US to serve each other's members, his has been moved from the Pre-Merger forum into the Consolidated forum.

You may wish to read the existing thread: 1st stage of reciprocal upgrades US<->AA [11 Jun 2014]

/Moderator

justinh20

To be clear, this is not about joint or reciprocal status or upgrades. I'm only referring to AA and US Airways upgrade policies on their own flights.

3Cforme

The 500-mile segment upgrades useable by Gold & Plat (and general members on Y and B fares) 'domestically' are commonly known as stickers due to their long-ago physical format.

Search 'buy upgrades' an aa.com

Buy Upgrades


Upgrades Rules
Upgrades are valid for Gold, Platinum and Executive Platinum AAdvantage members from any individual published coach ticket to the next class of service.
Regular AAdvantage members, traveling on a published full fare Y or B coach ticket, may use purchased upgrades to the next class of service.
Each upgrade is valid for up to 500 miles of travel. Flight segments over 500 miles require additional upgrades.
You may request an upgrade when making your flight reservation.
Upgrades are subject to availability.If upgrade seating is unavailable, we will continue to attempt to process the request, up to three hours prior to your flight time.
Upgrade Windows for Processing:
AAdvantage Executive Platinum - 100 hours prior to departure
AAdvantage Platinum - 72 hours prior to departure
AAdvantage Gold - 24 hours prior to departure
Non-Elite Status traveling on Full-fare Economy - 24 hours prior to departure Y or B

justinh20

Right, I see this:

http://www.aa.com/i18n/urls/aadvanta...antageupgrades

500-Mile Upgrades (Complimentary)
Who: AAdvantage Executive Platinum members traveling on any published fare, and AAdvantage Platinum® and AAdvantage Gold® members traveling on fares booked in Y or B (excluding military/government fares).

I'm strictly talking about free complimentary upgrades to the next class of service.

lcflyer

The AA sticker system is a bit more complicated. They are free in the sense that for every 10,000 miles that you fly, you get 4 free stickers (it is a way to control the number of times PLAT and GLD can ask for free upgrades). Since you have to fly a fair amount to become PLAT or GLD, you will be entitled automatically to a certain number of complimentary upgrades based upon the number of miles flown.

JDiver

Other than the above, AA does not give complimentary upgrades (unless occasionally rolling a cabin forward do to oversold conditions or Executive Platinum Systemwide Upgrades usable when upgrade inventory exists).

As you are not addressing the new policies of a merging pair of airlines, the existing policies are best addressed in the individual re-merger fora, not here. The AA Pre-Merger Forum has an excellent FAQ with links to current threads, including a section on upgrades; US has a thread entitled US Automatic Upgrades (elite) [MASTER THREAD 2014] as well as others.

justinh20

According to the link (www.aa.com/aadvantageupgrades), there are EARNED (this is what you're referring to), PURCHASED and COMPLIMENTARY upgrades. I'm only focused on the complimentary.


I agree this should be in the pre-merger fourum, that's where I posted it but a moderator moved it to this forum (see above).

JDiver

Yes, I did - but that was before it was clear these are about pre-merger policies, and they are best asked in the two pre-merger fora. It's a PITA, believe me, but until AA and US actually merge it's a way to maintain some separation between the pre- and "post" merger policies. Maddening, eh?

Here, you'll get the AA-US developing policies about upgrades (such as they are and as they will be), whereas the AA and US pre-merger fora are best for separate policies - and they do vary. (I'm unfamiliar with the US method of offering "unlimited" upgrades to elite members - the concept to me means fewer upgrades spread amongst many more eligibles).

justinh20

Ok, can you move this back to the pre-merger forum?

FWAAA

OK, so you're a brand new AAdvantage elite, right? It's not so "crazy" if you look at the long-term historical facts. Typically, AA has had more F seats than most other airlines on similar aircraft, meaning more opportunities to upgrade. And, typically, AA has provided meals on shorter flights than most other airlines.

The 500 mile upgrade certificates that Plats and Golds have to use (and may have to buy from AA on occasion) brought in about $120 million of revenue in 2003. Management revealed that number in response to questions from the investment analysts as to "when will AA follow the pack and grant free domestic upgrades to all?" Management said that the revenue from those sticker sales would have to be replaced somehow. Don't know how much revenue the sticker sales bring in these days, as AA hasn't spilled the beans lately.

In any event, a few months later, AA granted UDU solely to EXPs, and kept the sticker system for everyone else unless they were on full fares.

Crazy? It's worked for many of us.

Don't get too worked up about it because it could change as the two airlines combine. We've already seen US upgrade its meals and increase its generosity with which flights get meals. On the other hand, we've seen strong hints that AA's generous policies will be rolled back. So far, fewer wine selections and in some cases, abbreviated meals (shorter TATL flights).

If you fly a mix of flights to Europe, Asia, South America and domestic, then you'll probably earn enough 500 mile upgrade stickers to cover most of your upgrades. If you fly mainly domestic and have good luck with upgrades, then you'll have to buy even more stickers.

My view? I'd rather have to buy stickers and then get to sit up front more often than have the "everyone gets free upgrades" system and then find myself sitting in the back more often than not.

BoeingBoy

US, so far, still has unlimited upgrades prioritized with status with one exception - TATL has no unlimited upgrades. Upgrades on TATL flights are only via certificates issued by the DM credit card, which are good for 1 one-way upgrade for card holder and a companion I think twice a year.

Jim

GNVGator

I wish, if that was the case then I'd take out about 10 US credit cards. Rather what I think you meant to say was that you get 2 one-way system wide upgrades for you and a companion each year you reach Chairman's status with US. The only way to upgrade TATL is by Chairman certificates or 30k miles + $300 co-pay.

Go Gators

fordan

The credit card certificate is the ability to pay for a seat for yourself that's over a $250 round trip fare and add up to 2 companions to it for $99 each. TATL upgrades are paid with cash ($600-$900 depending on flight if I recall), $300+30k miles as GNVGator said ($300+40k for Middle East) or Chairmans certs.

Cloudship

I just realized I have about 12k miles left from my old US air foray. They will be expiring by the end of the month. Looking at award travel on the Us Air webpage, I notice there are a few low awards available for the flights I want - but they are on American metal. Can I use my US Air miles ot upgrade those flights?

JDiver

You might want to read this thread, which is about upgrade reciprocity with AA and US, and how it is developing:

1st stage of reciprocal upgrades US<->AA [11 Jun 2014]