All AAdvantage Elites Now Eligible For Premium Economy Upgrades On Hawaii & Alaska Routes

American Airlines upgrades from coach are to business (or first) class. They skip over premium economy, which is a good thing. However that’s also meant there isn’t a way to upgrade to premium economy in advance.

The airline has a day of departure upgrade program for premium economy, and Executive Platinum and Concierge Key members have received these seats free when they are available (and when they aren’t being upgraded to business class). This was later extended to Platinum Pro members as well.

For Alaska and Hawaii routes, these complimentary premium economy upgrades at the gate are now available to all elites. Gold and Platinum members are now eligible for complimentary premium economy upgrades when listed for an upgrade to business and not clearing.

Agents are supposed to ask before upgrading a customer to a premium economy middle seat.

In practice, premium economy upgrades are one of the things most processed incorrectly. They aren’t uniformly understood, and there’s little time at the gate when agents are under D0 pressure to get a flight out to call up a customer and ask them whether they want an upgrade before moving onto the next customer.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Are companions included? Do you have a copy of the space available UPG policy for Y to PY for CK/EXP?

  2. … The SA policy for Y to PY for CK/EXP on Int’l widebody flights, that is.

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