American Airlines Systemwide Upgrades Soon Coming Online

Intro

For countless years, American Airlines has been behind the game when it comes to using their complimentary upgrades on flights for execs. Compared to United, where you can use your plus points online, American Airlines has lagged behind the game. Well, there might be a new development coming in which customers of American Airlines that have SWUs might be able to redeem them online now instead of having to call or message AA on X.

The Details

For those that credit a lot of flights to American Airlines, you will know that once you hit certain loyalty point levels or million miler status, you have the option to choose SWUs (million miler is slightly different).

Well, American Airlines has now emailed a very select few customers to be a part of the trial run for redeeming SWUs online. At the moment, the program is only for select customers, but I would expect this to become sitewide within the next month or two.

Redeem SWUs For American Airlines First Class

For the eligible members that were selected, this new trial will be available for the next 2-3 weeks. I imagine if this goes well, we could see this rolled out immediately.

Finally! My Thoughts

It's about bloody time that American Airlines is leaning in this direction. The only small drawback is that I have often had good luck clearing SWUs on a multitude of routes and, most recently, on LHR-JFK from J>F. Now, this will be a lot easier for all members who have access to SWUs as it doesn't require a phone call or a message. Twitter was so easy; it takes 1 message to confirm it😅.

With that being said, this is a fantastic development. Now, all we have to see is American Airlines add some more international routes😉.

Final Thoughts

American Airlines is trialing a new system for certain members where they are able to request system-wide upgrades online. For countless years, American Airlines has been behind other carriers that offer similar services. While this is a step in the right direction, I would like to see this offered to all customers, and we should see it soon!