{"id":273117,"date":"2026-08-06T17:08:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T17:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/?p=273117\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T17:08:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T17:08:12","slug":"american-airlines-is-making-elite-upgrades-worse-on-some-of-its-most-desirable-routes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/news\/american-aadvantage\/elite-status-upgrades-premium-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"American Airlines Is Making Elite Upgrades Worse on Some of Its Most Desirable Routes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It's been a doozy of a week for American Airlines loyalists. A few days ago, Citi and American Airlines announced a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/news\/american-aadvantage\/citi-aadvantage-executive-card-2026-refresh\/\" rel=\"noopener\">refresh of the Citi<sup>\u00ae<\/sup> \/ AAdvantage<sup>\u00ae<\/sup> Executive World Elite Mastercard<sup>\u00ae<\/sup><\/a>. Apart from an increase in the annual fee, this was largely a positive update. However, on the same day, American also announced it would <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/news\/american-aadvantage\/admirals-club-membership-fee-increase\/\" rel=\"noopener\">increase Admirals Club<sup>\u00ae<\/sup> memberships by as much as 65%<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Apparently, this one-two punch of updates isn't over yet. As part of the AAdvantage<sup>\u00ae<\/sup> mid-year updates, American Airlines is limiting complimentary upgrades on select routes. Here's what you need to know.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"American_Airlines_Slashes_Complimentary_Business_Class_Upgrades\">American Airlines Slashes Complimentary Business Class Upgrades<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>If you frequently travel to Hawaii or on transcontinental flights, American Airlines is slashing your upgrade options. Starting <strong>August 25, 2026<\/strong>, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/airlines\/american-aadvantage\/elite-status\/\" rel=\"noopener\">AAdvantage elite members<\/a> who purchase a main cabin ticket will only receive complimentary upgrades to premium economy \u2014 not business \u2014 on select flights to\/from Hawaii and select transcontinental routes.<\/p>\n<p>The only way you'll be able to score a business class upgrade is if you meet one of the following conditions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You bought a premium economy ticket<\/li>\n<li>Premium economy isn't offered on your flight<\/li>\n<li>You bought an instant upgrade to premium economy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Note that this update only applies to complimentary upgrades. You can still use your <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/airlines\/american-aadvantage\/systemwide-upgrades\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Systemwide Upgrades<\/a> to move to the next class of service.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_257840\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-aspectratio=\"600\/450\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-257840 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/American-Airlines-Premium-Economy-Editorial-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"Premium economy on an American Airlines A321XLR.\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/American-Airlines-Premium-Economy-Editorial-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/American-Airlines-Premium-Economy-Editorial-750x563.jpeg 750w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/American-Airlines-Premium-Economy-Editorial-900x675.jpeg 900w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/American-Airlines-Premium-Economy-Editorial-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/American-Airlines-Premium-Economy-Editorial-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/American-Airlines-Premium-Economy-Editorial-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/American-Airlines-Premium-Economy-Editorial-276x207.jpeg 276w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/American-Airlines-Premium-Economy-Editorial-476x357.jpeg 476w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><center><em>AA premium economy. Credit: Tyler Glatt \/ AwardWallet<\/em><\/enter><\/figure>\n<p>Complimentary upgrades are automatically requested once your flight is ticketed. You'll continue to be confirmed before departure based on status:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>AAdvantage Gold:\u00a0<\/strong>24 hours before departure<\/li>\n<li><strong>AAdvantage Platinum:\u00a0<\/strong>48 hours before departure<\/li>\n<li><strong>AAdvantage Platinum Pro:\u00a0<\/strong>72 hours before departure<\/li>\n<li><strong>AAdvantage Executive Platinum:\u00a0<\/strong>100 hours before departure<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>However, American notes in the update that the premium economy cabin on select aircraft includes middle seats, which means you may be assigned one. In other words, you bought a window seat in the main cabin, and thanks to your loyalty, you are rewarded with an upgrade to a middle seat in premium economy.<\/p>\n<p>On August 25, American will begin updating existing main cabin to business upgrade requests to reflect a premium economy upgrade instead. If your upgrade to business has already been confirmed for travel on or after August 25, it will be honored as long as there are no changes to your trip.<\/p>\n<h3><span id=\"Affected_routes\">Affected routes<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Here are the routes affected by this update. If you plan to travel between the following cities, you'll need to purchase a premium economy ticket if you hope to get a business class upgrade:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>New York (JFK) to Los Angeles (LAX)<\/li>\n<li>New York (JFK) to San Francisco (SFO)<\/li>\n<li>Boston (BOS) to Los Angeles (LAX)<\/li>\n<li>Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) to Honolulu (HNL)<\/li>\n<li>Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) to Kona (KOA)<\/li>\n<li>Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) to Maui (OGG)<\/li>\n<li>Phoenix (PHX) to Honolulu (HNL)<\/li>\n<li>Chicago (ORD) to Honolulu (HNL)<\/li>\n<li>Chicago (ORD) to Maui (OGG)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That still leaves a few routes where you might be able to score a first class upgrade, as the aircraft that serve these routes don't offer a premium economy cabin \u2014 at least for now:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Phoenix (PHX) to Kona (KOA)<\/li>\n<li>Phoenix (PHX) to Maui (OGG)<\/li>\n<li>Phoenix (PHX) to Kaua\u02bbi (LIH)<\/li>\n<li>Los Angeles (LAX) to Kona (KOA)<\/li>\n<li>Los Angeles (LAX) to Maui (OGG)<\/li>\n<li>Los Angeles (LAX) to Honolulu (HNL)<\/li>\n<li>Los Angeles (LAX) to Kaua\u02bbi (LIH)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>However, keep in mind that most of these routes don't actually have lie-flat seats. Instead, they are served by smaller aircraft with a standard domestic first class cabin.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_144803\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-aspectratio=\"600\/452\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-144803 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/AA-Domestic-First-Class.png\" alt=\"American Airlines domestic first class\" width=\"600\" height=\"452\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/AA-Domestic-First-Class.png 2196w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/AA-Domestic-First-Class-300x226.png 300w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/AA-Domestic-First-Class-1024x771.png 1024w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/AA-Domestic-First-Class-768x578.png 768w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/AA-Domestic-First-Class-1536x1157.png 1536w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/AA-Domestic-First-Class-2048x1543.png 2048w, https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/AA-Domestic-First-Class-276x207.png 276w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><center><em>Domestic first class. Credit: American Airlines<\/em><\/enter><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Related: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/airlines\/american-aadvantage\/domestic-first-class-lie-flat-seats\/\" rel=\"noopener\">How To Fly American Airlines' Best Business (and First) Class Seats Within the U.S.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"Bottom_Line\">Bottom Line<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>For many travelers, one of the main benefits of holding elite status with an airline is complimentary upgrades. When you prioritize flying with one airline instead of the dozen options available to you, you do so thinking that it will pay off down the line. While AAdvantage elite members can still qualify for complimentary upgrades, premium economy does not have the same draw as a lie-flat seat when you are flying from coast to coast or to Hawaii.<\/p>\n<p>This is a major downgrade for AAdvantage loyalists, and a disappointing move from American Airlines. It seems airlines would rather have empty seats at the front of the plane than reward their most devoted passengers.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ftoc\"><div id=\"toc_container\" class=\"toc_light_blue no_bullets\"><p class=\"toc_title\">Page Contents<\/p><ul class=\"toc_list\"><li><a href=\"#American_Airlines_Slashes_Complimentary_Business_Class_Upgrades\">American Airlines Slashes Complimentary Business Class Upgrades<\/a><ul><li><a href=\"#Affected_routes\">Affected routes<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><a href=\"#Bottom_Line\">Bottom Line<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>American Airlines has released a flurry of updates this week, and the latest update is extremely disappointing. American Airlines AAdvantage elite members will no longer receive complimentary business class upgrades on select routes when booking a main cabin ticket. Instead, upgrades will soon be restricted to premium economy. Here&#8217;s what you need to know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":211558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12069],"tags":[12679,12776,12622],"coauthors":[36518],"class_list":["post-273117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-american-airlines","tag-american-aadvantage","tag-elite-status"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273117"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":273143,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273117\/revisions\/273143"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273117"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awardwallet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=273117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}