Upgrading is relatively easy if you booked your American Airlines flight through a qualifying method.
There are four main ways to get an upgrade on an American Airlines flight: buy an upgrade immediately after booking with cash or miles, get a free elite upgrade in North America within four days of departure, use a system-wide upgrade at the time of booking or after booking, or book an upgraded cabin.
Here’s what you need to know about securing an upgrade on your next flight.
Pay cash or use miles to secure an instant upgrade
In June 2025, American Airlines launched a new instant upgrade system. In August, the airline discontinued its previously popular mileage upgrade award chart. Instant upgrades are now the primary way most travelers get upgrades on American Airlines flights.
Instant upgrades may be available on flights marketed and operated by American Airlines, including American Eagle flights. You can get an instant upgrade using U.S. miles or cash. However, if you purchase your ticket outside the 50 U.S. states, you may not be able to use miles for an instant upgrade.
As the name suggests, purchasing an instant upgrade with cash or miles confirms your immediate entry into the upgraded cabin.
To see available options for your flight, log in to your itinerary on the American Airlines website or app.
If you can upgrade instantly, you’ll see the offer. If an instant upgrade offer does not appear, it is not currently available for your flight. However, always check the app and website before assuming there aren’t upgrades available; I often find upgrade offers on the app that aren’t available on the website.
Reward your inbox with the TPG daily newsletter
Join over 700,000 readers and get breaking news, in-depth guides and exclusive offers from TPG experts
If available, you can pay for an instant upgrade in cash anytime between booking and departure. However, you can only redeem U.S. miles for instant upgrade within 24 hours before departure.
Related: Is it worth it? 5 things I would consider before paying for a seat upgrade
Get free elite upgrades
If you have American Airlines Elite status or Atmos Rewards Elite status and travel on a flight operated by American Airlines and marketed by Alaska or American Airlines, you and up to one companion on the same flight may receive upgrades to available cabins when you purchase an eligible published fare or award in Main Cabin or Premium Economy for travel within North America. Specifically, your travel must be within the United States or between the United States and Canada, Mexico, the Bahamas, the Caribbean, Bermuda, and Central America.
Free upgrades on eligible routes are limited to upgrades from Economy or Premium Economy to the next cabin class (First or Business Class).
If you booked separate flights with your companions, you can call AAdvantage customer service to link your bookings. If you are traveling with an infant or there are more than two passengers in your booking, you will need to call AAdvantage customer service to request an upgrade.
American Airlines clears upgrades based on status level in the following order:
- AAdvantage Concierge Key
- AAdvantage Executive Platinum Card
- AAdvantage Platinum Pro
- Atmos Platinum and Atmos Titanium
- AAdvantage Platinum Card
- Atmospheric gold
- AAdvantage Gold Level
- Atmospheric silver
If there is a tie between two or more members, the tie will be broken as follows:
- Upgrade type (system-wide and mileage award upgrades take precedence over free upgrades)
- Loyalty points earned in the past 12 months
- Booking code
- Upgrade request date
- Upgrade request time
AAdvantage Executive Platinum members can receive free upgrades as early as 100 hours before departure, Platinum Professional members can receive free upgrades as early as 72 hours before departure, Platinum members can receive free upgrades as early as 48 hours before departure, and Gold members can receive free upgrades as early as 24 hours before departure. If your upgrade is cleared, you will receive an email.
If your free upgrade has not been completed 12 hours before departure, you can check the American Airlines app to see where you are on the upgrade list.
As a Platinum Pro elite member, I’ve been on several American Airlines flights recently and the entire upgrade list was cleared before departure. But I’ve also been on more than half the list of unapproved elites on a few flights this year. So while it’s nice to get an upgrade, you certainly can’t expect to get a free elite upgrade on eligible flights within North America.
RELATED: Breakfast, upgrades, and more: 9 TPG employees reveal their favorite elite status perks
Using system-wide upgrades
American Airlines Elite members who earn at least 175,000 loyalty points during the qualification period can select two system-wide upgrades through the Loyalty Points Rewards program. Additional system-wide upgrades may be selected as you reach higher loyalty points reward milestones.
System-wide upgrades are extremely valuable as they allow you to confirm an upgrade to the next level of service on any American Airlines flight or British Airways transatlantic flight.
You must look for availability in a specific fare category and book a separate public fare ticket. However, you can use each system-wide upgrade for up to three sectors of one-way travel on flights marketed and operated by US, flights marketed and operated by British Airways, or US marketed flights operated by British Airways.
You can now request a system-wide upgrade certificate online. Check out our American Airlines system-wide upgrade guide for more information.
RELATED: Last-minute strategies for achieving elite status at American Airlines
Cancel and rebook an upgrade
Finally, if the fare you booked allows for free cancellation or minimal penalties, you can cancel and rebook in an upgraded cabin. Doing so will likely cost you less cash or miles than an instant upgrade.
I noticed that on some routes operated by American Airlines, the price for long-haul award tickets in premium economy is only 10,000 miles more than in economy. If this happens to your flight, you may need to cancel your current AAdvantage award and rebook instead of using the instant upgrade system.
Related: How to change or cancel an American Airlines flight
bottom line
As you can see, you have a few options if you want to get an upgrade on your next American Airlines flight.
However, if you don’t book with American Airlines, your options may be more limited, as you may not be eligible for an instant upgrade or be eligible for a system-wide upgrade. However, if you book through select partner airlines such as British Airways, you may have different upgrade options. Specifically, British Airways Gold members can use upgrade coupons on select paid American Airlines flights ticketed by British Airways.
Related reading:
