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Update: The changes mentioned below have now taken effect.
Losing a benefit is never fun, even if said benefit is sometimes hard to use. In this instance, the latest casualty is the international upgrade certificates, or American Airlines Systemwide Upgrades, that Alaska Airlines awards its Mileage Plan MVP Gold 75K and 100K members annually. Starting in 2025, Alaska will sunset this benefit.
Here's what Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan elites need to know about this development.
Alaska Airlines To Sunset American Airlines Systemwide Upgrade Vouchers for Mileage Plan Elites
Alaska Airlines and American Airlines have a cozy relationship, courtesy of both carriers belonging to the Oneworld alliance. And for travelers flying either carrier, this relationship is easy to appreciate, given several reciprocal benefits that make flying AA or Alaska more rewarding.
For Mileage Plan MVP Gold 75K and 100K elites, Alaska awards one or two one-way international upgrade certificates for use on American Airlines annually, depending on your status. Commonly known as “Systemwide Upgrades,” Alaska is pulling the benefit starting in 2025.
On the American–Alaska reciprocal benefit page, you'll find the following statement:
“We’re committed to continually improving your experience. Based on guest feedback, we’ll be sunsetting American Airlines systemwide upgrade vouchers beginning in 2025, while we continue to invest in other ways to provide improved access to and utility of your Alaska Air upgrade benefits. You’ll also continue to enjoy eligibility for unlimited complimentary upgrades on American Airlines in North America (based on availability) – no upgrade certificates required.”
To distill, nothing is changing outside of the free AA Systemwide Upgrades (SWUs) going away. As a Mileage Plan elite, you'll still enjoy Main Cabin Extra seating, complimentary upgrades on flights within North America, and a checked bag allowance.
It's unclear what — if anything — will replace the outgoing SWUs. Hopefully, Alaska will make its MVP Gold 75K and 100K members whole. Time will tell, but eliminating this benefit in the guise of “improving your experience” is a bit odd.
Final Thoughts
Elite status — especially the upper echelons of Mileage Plan elite status — is hard to earn. Generally, pushing for those higher tiers requires a hard look at the benefits, the effort needed to get the status, and whether it's worth it. Ultimately, earning elite status and having a benefit stripped away is disappointing.
American Airlines Systemwide Upgrades can be hard to use. All to say, the departure of this Mileage Plan benefit might not faze some. But for those able to maximize the one or two vouchers issued per year, this could be very disappointing.
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Ok, a little reality check here . . . in this case I believe Alaska Air’s statement that their customer feedback was that these systemwide vouchers were useless. I am totally serious – these AA systemwide upgrade vouchers are absolutely useless, NOT just difficult to use. How do I know? AA once gave me complimentary 90 days of Platinum Elite status just because I had bought a relatively low priced domestic First Class ticket and credited the earnings to my Alaska number instead of my Advantage number. Along with that came 30 Systemwide Upgrade Vouchers. Turned out, these things were even more useless than Advantage Platinum Elite status; by the time I had an opportunity to fly American Airlines again, the vouchers could not be used because the Elite status had expired – elite status is required to use those things. So those 30 Systemwide Upgrade Certificates sat in my Aadvatage account dashboard for years – until AA switched to Loyalty Points, at which time they converted into Loyalty Points good towards elite status that year only – did NOT convert into redeemable Advantage miles though, unless you already had elite status (which I no longer held). So, ok, I actually got a little benefit from those Systemwide Upgrade Certificates because I barely hit the 30k to qualify for Aadvantage Gold that year. And the following year (2023) with over 37k Loyalty Points but an increased threshold of 40k I am no longer an elite, unless I want to shell out $350 for their “secret and exclusive” offer to upgrade to Gold for 2024 anyway (no, I would rather use that money for an actual flight ticket or hotel nights, or various other things I can think of, thank you very much, especially with no more Northeast Alliance elite benefits-actually got priority boarding on JetBlue as a result of AA Gold in 2023).
Yes, I acknowledge that super-elites who fly a LOT may have an entirely different take on these things, but once airlines pulled the generously abundant First Class upgrades from all but top tier elite status and simultaneously made First Class cheap and easy to purchase outright (esp Spirit Big Front Seat, and any JetBlue), with abundant mileage redemption opportunities as well (for those of us doing transferrable credit card points), I truly can not fathom the value of elite status UNLESS you get it EASILY. My cousin gets free rides in Bentleys or something similar across the tarmac from check in to board ahead of pre-boarding – something can not be bought a la carte – because he has United Global Services – UA’s highest elite tier – but his company spends 100k per year to fly him where they need him to work around the world. And does NOT let him stay extra days to sightsee either! So I see how elite status makes his life easier – UA lets him use any UA lounge including Polaris and “secret” exclusive Global Services lounges on all flights also upgrades him on 95% of his flights including international Polaris and the remainder 5% he sees as the opportunity to try out the latest buy-on-board meals in Economy Plus, lol – but at 100k per year of someone else’s money status also comes easy to him! I convinced him to buy those tickets with AX Platinum at 5X instead of his United Presidential Plus at 2X so now he plays the transferrable points game too (do the simple math on that one, lol) in addition to being top tier UA elite with its flight purchase points bonus multiples, geez.