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It's been a busy week for the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan program. To put it simply, Alaska is rolling out a lot of changes to its Mileage Plan program in 2025, ranging from the introduction of elite status credits on award travel to nerfed earnings on flights booked via partner websites.
Another element of the proposed changes pertains to complimentary upgrades to First and Premium Class. Sometime in 2025, Alaska will change how its upgrade waitlist works — and who can upgrade a companion.
Here's what you need to know.
How Alaska Airlines Upgrades Work Now
From now until some time next year — unfortunately, there's no set-in-stone date on this — Alaska Airlines will continue to abide by an upgrade waitlist ordered like this:
- Elite status level
- Fare class
- Million Miler milestone
- Time of booking
Depending on where you fall on this list, plus the number of available seats on Alaska's aircraft, could mean the difference between sitting in coach or getting bumped to First or Premium class. It goes without saying that upgrades are pretty sweet if you can get them.
Alaska Airlines New Upgrade Priority Starting Later in 2025
As part of the changes to the Mileage Plan program, Alaska Airlines is adjusting how upgrades will be prioritized. Instead of making your fare paid the primary tiebreaker, Alaska Airlines will start to prioritize upgrades “based on a member’s recent and long-term loyalty.”
So, what exactly does this mean? Well, it looks like a new upgrade waitlist that'll apply to both First and Premium class, ordered as follows:
- Elite status level
- Million Miler milestone
- Corporate travelers
- Elite-qualifying miles (EQMs) earned in 2024 and 2025
- Date and time of booking
When this is put into effect, what you paid for your ticket won't matter at all; it's all about your — or your company's — loyalty to Alaska Airlines.
Alaska upgrade waitlist elite prioritization
“Elite status level” is the first tie-breaker, so let's spell it out. Thankfully, the ordering here won't change, but it's worth keeping front of mind if you're an American Airlines elite member flying on Alaska-operated flights or a Mileage Plan elite member wondering just how many other elites are competing in the upgrade Hunger Games.
The upgrade waitlist — accounting for Alaska and American Airlines elites — looks like this:
- Alaska MVP Gold 100K
- Alaska MVP Gold 75K
- American AAdvantage® Concierge Key, Executive Platinum and Platinum Pro members, Oneworld Emerald status holders
- Alaska MVP Gold
- American AAdvantage Platinum, Oneworld Sapphire status holders
- Alaska MVP
- American AAdvantage Gold members, Oneworld Ruby status holders
Within each tier, travelers will be prioritized by their Million Miler status, whether or not they're corporate travelers, and then accumulated EQMs for 2024 and 2025. If you somehow have exactly the same EQMs as another traveler, the tie-breaker will go to the traveler who booked first.
Related: How To Get Reciprocal Upgrades on Alaska and American Airlines Flights as an Elite Member
Alaska Airlines To Offer Companion Upgrades to MVP Members
In the Mileage Plan program's current state, companion upgrades are a perk reserved for those with MVP Gold and above. However, once the proposed changes to the upgrade waitlist take effect, MVP members will be eligible to upgrade a companion.
On the waitlist, your companion will effectively share your elite tier in terms of priority. This enhanced perk will roll out in 2025 as well, likely around the time the upgrade waitlist is officially reshuffled.
Final Thoughts
The Alaska Airlines upgrade waitlist prioritization will be overhauled sometime in 2025. With this change, Alaska is emphasizing loyalty over everything else — even the fare you pay.
Alongside these changes, Alaska Airlines will simplify how you earn elite status in 2025. Mileage Plan will award Elite-Qualifying Miles (EQMs) on award travel and boost the number of EQMs you'll earn through credit card spending, online shopping, and more. The upgrade waitlist will slowly grow as elite status gets easier to earn.
These changes might be extremely positive or tip the scales as negative depending on where you fly and how full the planes are on those routes. But as of now, we don't exactly know when the upgrade waitlist will take effect; we'll be sure to share the date when we find out.
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