American Airlines Upgrades: What You Need to Know

American Airlines upgrades to first class and business class can be achieved in several key ways:

• Upgrades with cash or miles.

• Systemwide upgrades, or SWUs.

• Complimentary upgrades.

Unfortunately, non-elites are only able to take advantage of upgrades using cash or miles. SWUs and complimentary upgrades are available only to elites. If you plan to fly American Airlines and you’re looking for ways to get moved up to the front of the plane, here’s what you need to know to get an upgrade to first class or business class.

1. American Airlines upgrades with cash or miles

American eliminated its mileage upgrade award chart in August 2025 and introduced Instant Upgrades for flights marketed and operated by American.

Here's how it works: If there is an eligible seat available in your preferred cabin, American will show you an instant upgrade offer with a price in cash and one in miles. If you're willing to pay, you'll be able to confirm your upgrade at the time of request, compared to the previous system which put you on an upgrade waitlist if there wasn't upgrade availability when you made the request.

However, that means the upgrade prices are now dynamic, which is generally a bad thing for people trying to maximize the value of their miles. Before taking the upgrade, you'll want to see whether the cost in miles or cash is better. For example, on a short flight from Ontario, California, to Phoenix, American wanted $49 or 5,100 miles to upgrade. That's a value of just under 1 cent per mile, well below NerdWallet's valuation of American miles at 1.3 cents each.

If you really wanted that upgrade, it might be a smarter decision to pay with cash and save the miles for a future award redemption.

Instant upgrades can be purchased using cash any time before departure, while the miles option is only available up to 24 hours before departure. Only tickets booked directly through American are eligible.

2. American Airlines systemwide upgrades, or SWUs

Once you earn 175,000 Loyalty Points (and every milestone after that), you'll have the choice to select systemwide upgrades as a Loyalty Point Reward. These SWUs can be used to upgrade flights on American to a premium cabin, such as from economy or premium economy to business class, or from business class to first class. However, you can't go from economy to premium economy using a systemwide upgrade.

Not all flights have seats available for systemwide upgrades. Search for flights while logged in to your account and a "systemwide upgrades" tab will appear below if the flight is eligible.

Select that tab to see which flights will accept your systemwide upgrade. A green check mark indicates you can use your systemwide upgrade. If there is no confirmable upgrade availability at the time of request, you will be put on the upgrade waitlist.

You can use a systemwide upgrade for up to three flight segments in one direction of travel, which can make them extremely valuable. For example, if you're traveling from New York to Tokyo with a layover in Los Angeles, you could use your SWU to upgrade both flights, assuming there's availability.

American Airlines Million Miler

AAdvantage members who reach the Two Million Miler level receive four systemwide upgrades (no matter their current status), and they will receive an additional four of these upgrades for each million-mile threshold reached thereafter.

3. Complimentary upgrades on American Airlines

All AAdvantage status members are eligible for complimentary upgrades. Atmos Rewards elites are also eligible for upgrades on American, thanks to the airline's partnership with Alaska Airlines.

Elite status members can receive unlimited upgrades for both paid and award flights within North America, including domestic, Caribbean and Central American flights.

For AAdvantage members, the amount of time you have to wait to find out if you will be upgraded depends on your status level. Gold members are notified 24 hours before departure, whereas Platinum members get word sooner — 48 hours before departure.

If you want to add a companion using your complimentary elite upgrades, make sure they are on the same reservation as you. If not, you can link your reservations by calling American Airlines Reservations. If by the time you get to the airport your upgrade hasn’t yet been cleared, ask an agent to confirm that you are both on the upgrade list.

» Learn more: How to get top-tier airline status through credit card spending

American considers several factors when deciding which passengers get top consideration for their upgrade requests (and who goes to the bottom of the list). Understanding how the airline prioritizes this perk can increase your understanding of your AA upgrade chances.

This is the upgrade priority list from highest to lowest:

• Your AAdvantage elite status.

• The type of upgrade you’re requesting.

• The number of Loyalty Points you earned in the last 12 months.

• Your flight booking's fare class.

• Date and time of request.

Here’s how those upgrade considerations shake out.

American Airlines elite members

Your AAdvantage status is the most important factor for determining your upgrade eligibility. ConciergeKey members are above Executive Platinum members, who are above Platinum Pro. Then come Platinum and Gold elites. The higher your status, the higher you are on the upgrade list.

Atmos Rewards elites are generally prioritized after AAdvantage elites with the equivalent status, with the exception of Atmos' top-tier Titanium members. They will be grouped with Atmos Platinum members after AAdvantage Platinm Pro elites.

The type of upgrade requested

The second most important factor is the type of upgrade requested.

Travelers using a systemwide upgrade get first dibs on available upgrades. After these upgrades clear, elites traveling on purchased or award tickets have their chance for a complimentary upgrade.

Rolling Loyalty Point tally

If you have the same elite status and upgrade type as other people on the upgrade list, American will look at the total number of Loyalty Points you've accrued in the last 12 months. In most cases, this will break any ties.

Note that the Loyalty Point total is not based on how much you've accrued that qualification year, but the entire 12 months prior. American says this total is updated daily.

Fare class of ticket purchased

The final criterion for determining upgrade likelihood is the booking code of the ticket you purchased, plus when you purchased it (or if using a systemwide upgrade, when you requested the upgrade). These lettered booking codes are used by American to prioritize your request against other passengers.

Generally, they are ordered from most expensive to least expensive, so this is a way for American to prioritize passengers who have paid higher fares.

Now that American has eliminated its mileage upgrade award chart, those without AAdvantage elite status don't have a ton of opportunities to score an upgrade.

Instead, your best bet for getting a premium cabin seat is to use your miles to book a business or first class award ticket. In most instances, this will be a cheaper option than paying for a ticket with cash and then paying the dynamically priced upgrade cost in cash or miles.

There are several ways to earn American Airlines miles; however, the fastest way to get a miles infusion is to get a co-branded AA credit card, earn the sign-up bonus and use the card for regular purchases. You can also consider getting a card that earns Citi ThankYou points, since you can transfer those points to AAdvantage.

» Learn more: Which American Airlines credit card should you choose?

If you have status with American but want to save money by booking the airline's cheapest fare class (basic economy), you could still find yourself with an upgrade. AAdvantage elite members can apply their current travel benefits on all tickets, including when purchasing a basic economy ticket.

This includes:

• Upgrade privileges.

• Elite seat privileges, including access to Main Cabin Preferred and Main Cabin Extra seats.

• Same-day confirmed flight change benefit.

Holding elite status with American Airlines is the single best way to increase your chance of getting upgraded. If you don’t have status, you can purchase a ticket and upgrade to the next cabin of service using a combination of cash and miles. Or, you could use miles to purchase the ticket in a premium cabin from the outset, so that you don’t end up paying too much cash to upgrade your seat.