An American Airlines customer took to social media to blast the airline for upgrading a pilot ahead of 10 Executive Platinum members “who’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars on this less than stellar airline” and concluded that “loyalty means nothing anymore.”
- Customers choose American over other airlines because they do have a better frequent flyer program. At least year’s Investor Day, AAdvantage was one of the three pillars of the carrier’s strategy to differentiate itself and restore financial performance.
- But the airline re-prioritized upgrades so that deadheading pilots trump customers for upgrades within 24 hours of departure – and the airline tends to very judicious in releasing upgrade seats more than 24 hours prior to departure, holding back the seats in case someone wants to buy them (or a coach passenger is willing to ‘buy up’ for tens of dollars).
To this passenger, and to many others, the policy is an example of management losing the plot, following the path of least resistance (giving in to employees who yell at you) rather than relentlessly focusing on customers to drive value to the business.
Why yes that is an @AmericanAir pilot being ushered up to a first class seat while 10 EP’s who’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars on this less than stellar airline are left with no upgrade. He’s not even in uniform!!!! Loyalty means nothing anymore! @TheTravelG @thepointsguy pic.twitter.com/e4LOQ8b2na
— Henry Monmouth (@HMonmouthV) November 13, 2025
The loyalty of our customers is very important to us, and sorry if we weren't able to provide an upgrade. This is a contractual provision in our new pilot agreement and is limited to upgrades within 24 hours of departure. Our standard processes for clearing upgrades prior to…
— americanair (@AmericanAir) November 13, 2025
Upgrades have gotten nearly impossible on most airlines, and one small element that’s crowding out elite upgrades is that pilots now sometimes take priority over passengers. While United prompted this by adding this for pilots in 2020, American Airlines changed its policy with their 2023 pilot contract. For the first time, their deadheading pilots receive upgrades ahead of customers to available first class seats at the gate.
Officially, in American Airlines computer systems, these pilots are coded with a higher priority even than top status ConciergeKey members even. Here’s the full detail, from an internal memo when the policy went into effect, on how pilot priority for first class upgrades works now at American Airlines.
Unsold first class seats now go to employees who are not piloting an aircraft between segments on a trip they’re working. That’s different than commuting to and from their base if they live in a different city than where they’re assigned to start and end their trips.
Some readers say ‘this is business travel’ so pilots deserve it, but most companies don’t pay for first class on domestic travel, and certainly not companies like American Airlines that underperform financially. And pilots don’t need this for safety or to stave off exhaustion.
- Their safety record was phenomenal before receiving this. There was simply no safety issue to address.
- And deadheading flights are duty hours. It’s time in the cabin instead of the cockpit. It’s more restful than actually flying. There’s just no argument that this is necessary to keep a pilot fresh.
I do think it’s a bad look when customers never see an upgrade, but they see pilots clearing ahead of them. I don’t blame the pilots at all. They’d rather have first class than coach, and they negotiated it as part of their contract.
The problem lies with management, who have failed to keep up with demand for premium products by supplying enough first class seats. Upgrades have become exceedingly rare – even as they promote those upgrades as a benefit of regularly buying tickets with the airline and spending on their co-brand credit cards.
Get ready @1990, here it comes…
This is why MCE seating availability is so important! If you are not going to get an upgrade at least you want to be guaranteed a MCE seat. But so many of AA’s planes have a woeful amount of MCE seating. And the newest ones -787-9P and XLR- have even less! So it’s a double whammy.
How often are you going to beat this dead horse into the ground?…No amount of whining is going to change this for the foreseeable future no matter how unfair it may seem. If it grates on your nerves this much then just move your business to another carrier
I just came off a flight on United Chicago to Houston, and 5 pilots were sitting in First class with the slow down it appears lots of adjusting of staff, in addition we have United staff taking most of emery exits seats also. Of course I am 1K was first on upgrade list, but I knew I would be sitting in the back.
Gary – this is “settled law”. It was an agreed upon issue in the latest contract. No amount of your whining or posting Reddit or TikTok postings (when in the name of God did those become your major source for material) will change it so PLEASE move along
Do the pilots appear on the upgrade list…or is this behind the scenes? Was flying DTW-ORD and we were #1/2 for upgrades and a pilot ended up in the seat. We didn’t really care for a short hop like that but want to know if the pilot should have shown up on the upgrade list.
Boo hoo. Buy a FC seat if you want to sit in the front.
This is not news. Also, if you want to be in First, then you need to pay for First. If you don’t want to pay retail for it, then you can see if you get an upgrade after you have booked. The idea that people should get “free” upgrades because they are EP or whatever is nonsense because you don’t get “free” upgrades, certainly on AA mainline anymore. Stop complaining! Times have moved on. MCE is garbage because of adverse selection. You get big people who would pay up.
NO airline is going to put in more premium seats to accommodate upgrades. That shipped has sailed for good along with all the other very lucrative aspects of FF programs. Generally, this is an issue on trunk routes where AA needs to shuffle pilots for staffing. If you’re number one or two on the upgrade list on a trunk route you should expect a good chance that a deadheading pilot gets that seat.
Just buy your F/C seat and they can’t bump you, or at least they shouldn’t. I fly BA across the pond whenever possible; I just use the AA code for miles. I’m planning an around the world trip from DFW to Auckland, to Sydney, to Singapore, to London and it will all be on Qantas and British Air. They will be coded AA but no AA flights except getting to DFW to start and CHT on the way home. A380 First Class almost the entire way.
“Some readers say ‘this is business travel’ so pilots deserve it, but most companies don’t pay for first class on domestic travel, and certainly not companies like American Airlines that underperform financially. And pilots don’t need this for safety or to stave off exhaustion.”
Well, let’s understand one thing, right from the top. That most companies don’t pay for first class travel on domestic. Yes, that is true. When the public companies hire people, they either have a contract, or not. If they don’t, then they are different than the AA pilots, who have it in their agreement/contract. And if it is in the public company’s contract with its favored employees, then it won’t be an issue of being a standby. They will have a FC ticket from the go.
Gary AA is not the company you think they are becoming. They are led by losers who rarely think of their customers. I wonder why you seemingly are telling everyone that they are on the upswing. OK, new planes and better seating on narrow bodies. Maybe, food is getting better. But, and this is the crux of the matter, when it comes to relationship with their customers, they still suck, big time!
@Gary:
“The problem lies with management, who have failed to keep up with demand for premium products by supplying enough first class seats. Upgrades have become exceedingly rare – even as they promote those upgrades as a benefit of regularly buying tickets with the airline and spending on their co-brand credit cards.”
Whoa, big guy!. Airlines are not supplying enough first-class seats, to accommodate freebies. Horse pucky! Airline loyalty to passengers? What world do you fly in? Follow Delta’s example. First, they decrease the value of sky pesos. Then they virtually eliminate free upgrades. They, and other airlines will sell you a very cheap upgrade.
This has been going on for some time now. Perhaps top elites are too busy with their own self-worth to realize what is going on around them.
This policy is not limited to pilots. On my flight yesterday a non-rev regional flight attendant was upgraded and seated next to me in first in a fully booked AA mainline flight.