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American Airlines loyalists can earn highly valuable Systemwide Upgrades through Loyalty Point Rewards. Each certificate lets you upgrade from economy (or premium economy) to business class on any American Airlines flight anywhere in the world — and you don't even have to pay more to book a specific fare class.
The catch is that American Airlines needs to release dedicated upgrade availability space for you to apply a systemwide upgrade to a flight. And this availability can be really hard to find — especially on long-haul and high-demand routes.
The Challenge
Last night, I was chatting with a fellow traveler who's looking to hit a home run with his American Airlines Systemwide Upgrades. He and his wife booked American Airlines' longest flight: Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) to Brisbane (BNE) — a flight clocking in at 16.5 hours.
He's already called American Airlines and added himself to the upgrade waitlist for the flight. However, savvy travelers know that American doesn't clear its waitlist immediately after releasing systemwide upgrade award availability. There's a golden window (of unknown length) where upgrade space is available to anyone who requests to be cleared.
Getting alerted when there is upgrade space is essential to successfully clearing your systemwide upgrades. So, what's the best way to find American Airlines systemwide upgrade space?
First, let's discuss the tried-and-true (but not free) method. Then, I'll share my trick for using SeatsAero to find American Airlines systemwide upgrade availability.
Using ExpertFlyer to Find Systemwide Upgrade Space
For the past decade, I've mostly used ExpertFlyer to find systemwide upgrade space. With an ExpertFlyer Pro Premium membership, you can search for this dedicated upgrade space and even set alerts when space opens on a particular flight.
To do so, start on the Awards & Upgrades page, enter your route and dates, select American Airlines, and click the “Business – Upgrade (Including 2-Cabin Domestic First) (C)” option:
If there's no availability found, you can set an alert. If ExpertFlyer finds availability, it will email you that this space is open. Then, time is of the essence to call American Airlines — or clear your systemwide upgrade online.
By utilizing ExpertFlyer alerts, my wife and I have successfully applied all 61 systemwide upgrades we've earned to intercontinental flights — the shortest flight being from New York to London.
For years, I've recommended travelers use ExpertFlyer — particularly if they're American Airlines elites hoping to use their systemwide upgrades.
However, ExpertFlyer continues to lose features, making it less and less worth its $100/year price. Due to a lack of investment in even maintaining existing features, ExpertFlyer has degraded to the point where I simply can't recommend it anymore.
The good news is that travelers have a free way to find systemwide upgrade space.
How to Use SeatsAero to Find Systemwide Availability
Soon after its launch in 2022, SeatsAero quickly became one of our favorite award search tools. In addition to being a catalog of current award availability across more than a dozen programs, SeatsAero offers a slew of tools. Read all about it in our full SeatsAero guide.
SeatsAero doesn't have a dedicated American Airlines systemwide upgrade tool — as it does for Air Canada eUpgrades and United PlusPoints. However, with a bit of knowledge of the American Airlines award chart, you can use SeatsAero's American Airlines Explore tool to find flights with systemwide upgrade availability.
Let's stick with American Airlines' Dallas to Brisbane route, as that's arguably as good of a use of a systemwide upgrade as you can get. Start by opening the SeatsAero American Airlines Explore tool and selecting Oceania as the destination. Enter DFW and BNE in the search bar and sort by business class. This reveals a handful of dates with AAdvantage award pricing under 100,000 AAdvantage miles.
Those are some excellent mileage rates, but we're after systemwide upgrade availability — not American Airlines sweet spots. Although SeatsAero only publishes AAdvantage award pricing, this can be used to find systemwide upgrade availability.
The trick to know: American Airlines almost always has systemwide upgrade space when there's saver-level award availability.
So, let's confirm by checking these dates on ExpertFlyer. Sure enough, ExpertFlyer shows systemwide upgrade availability on November 27-28 from Dallas to Brisbane — including the max of seven seats on Thanksgiving Day:
And it's not just the dates with the cheapest 65,000-mile rates that have systemwide upgrade availability. Even December 10 — which is pricing at a slightly higher 74,500 AAdvantage miles — currently has upgrade availability:
Setting SeatsAero alerts to find systemwide upgrade availability
SeatsAero is generous in letting even free users create alerts — although these alerts are limited to email alerts and only one specific travel date within 60 days. However, that might be all you need to be alerted if there might be systemwide upgrade availability on an upcoming flight.
To create an alert, head to SeatsAero's create alert page, enter your email address, select American Airlines, enter your preferred route and date, and select “business availability”.
You'll need a SeatsAero Pro account to select a range of dates or dates more than 60 days out, receive text message alerts, and create advanced filters — such as a maximum mileage rate to avoid false alerts.
Bottom Line
For years, I've used and recommended ExpertFlyer to search for American Airlines systemwide upgrade availability. However, you don't have to pay $100/year for a depreciating service just for this one feature. You can use SeatsAero's Explore tool to freely find dates within the next 60 days that should have systemwide upgrade availability. You can even set a free email alert if there's a particular flight you're looking to upgrade.
If you want to search further out, set more alerts, get text alerts, and a ton of other features, you'll need to get a SeatsAero Pro subscription. While the cost is typically $100/year, it's more than worth it.
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