A frustrated American Airlines elite flyer is complaining that he can’t get upgraded, while pilots fly first class. Are the passenger’s – or the airlines – priorities out of whack?
@TrueWde @AmericanAir waiting for pilot to move up to first class while I was number one on upgrade list. Pilots over customers. Delayed our pushback as well. @americanairlinespilots pic.twitter.com/ndy5JTVNjW
— john zogg (@ZoggJohn83465) June 7, 2025
This is a common complaint. Here’s another American flyer looking at a pilot getting upgrade priority and concluding he should switch to Delta – where unbeknownst to him, only 13% of first class seats go to upgrades.
Platnuim pro on @AmericanAir but still cant get upgraded to first because 2 pilot’s are sitting in 2 of the first class seats. bout to eye up delta real soon. pic.twitter.com/Knbvpvu5jF
— JOHNNY "DELUXE" TOWN (@4EverEboy) December 31, 2024
We understand the importance of having your upgrade cleared, and we're sorry. Under our pilot collective bargaining agreement, pilots deadheading to operate a flight will be added to the top of the upgrade list at their time of check-in.
— americanair (@AmericanAir) January 12, 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 Executive Platinum and even ConciergeKey members. Here’s the full detail, from an internal memo, 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, whose priorities I see as off, and who have failed to keep up with demand for premium products so 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.
Pilots have been more successful in contract negotiations more than anyone else in the aviation community, except for C-level folks that is.
FAs have an equal “safety” responsibility but have not successfully negotiated on par with the pilots.
I believe an investigation into the frequency of pilots DHing over FAs will yield a gross disparity in favor of pilots being paid to not work at a disproportionate rate.
A simple solution is in perception; give the pilot a real ticket for the seat rather than highlighting the issue by putting their name on the upgrade list.
When Airlines decided to add First Class and Frequent Flyer Awards, they created a Monster. No passenger is more important to an airline than the least of them. Airlines pamper these entitled whiners and for what? First class should only be for those who PAY for the seat. Free Upgrades should never be given to these whiners. What on earth makes them think they are more important than a Pilot.
@ 1990 – What DL routes are you flying? Even as a DM, I never book coach, so I don’t have a good feel for where upgrades are possible.
Collective bargaining… union extortion.
@Gene — Well, until their recent ‘meltdown’ over June 5-6, I enjoyed booking plenty of regional Endeavor flights outta NYC to various domestic destinations. Book Main, get Comfort, then often upgraded within 5 days prior to departure, sometimes at the gate. Depends on the route, time of day, etc. If it’s 3-3 in Economy (737, a321), I tend to pony-up to sit up front if I really want it.
The hel# with these mere frequent top tier paying passengers give these self entitled folks the dirt that they truly deserve!
Classic Gary and his Anti-AA pilot slop. I swear one of them must have wronged you early in life. You never mention anything about United pilots with the same vitriol. Only people who get it worse from you and your ilk are FAs.
And please keep your commentary about airline safety to a minimum. You’re a “thought leader” in points and perks, not aviation safety. Your ignorance shows when you venture too far off.
“…but most companies don’t pay for first class on domestic travel, and certainly not companies like American Airlines that underperform financially.”
But they do Gary. Lots of businesses do. Also, a pretty low blow on your end. You’re kind of turning into a negative POS.
Why people rant about not being upgraded?
Do not take upgrades as granted, if you want it, you pay for it.
It is silly people is demanding being upgraded…
I am in favor of the EU way, just get an upgrade on rare ocassions as a gesture for your loyalty or when the cabin is oversold, but this US way of filling 2, 3, 4 empty J seats is silly…
This whole upgrading thing in the US has gotten out of hand. They could probably sell more business class seats if they didn’t upgrade people so often, and increase their revenues (especially if they add lounge services). In the EU is not unusual to see 12 rows of business class on a 2-hour flight, and there’s no free upgrades.