American Airlines seems to often sell upgrades to first class at questionably low prices that come at the expense of status-based upgrades.

My AA Elite Status Dilemma

I had Platinum Pro status at American Airlines and, at least theoretically, should have a non-zero chance at getting a complimentary upgrade based on my status. I had been debating between American Airlines and Delta on where I should spend my time and while I’ve had flights cancel on me from both carriers in the past year, the cancel rate is much higher for me on American than on Delta—and Delta does better at recovery than American in my experience as well. Having someone on your side when things don’t go right is the main thing holding me to elite status, but it’s also nice to get that occasional upgrade.

Cheap Cash Upgrades

I was stalking the American app prior to a LAX-DFW flight where I could get a true lie-flat seat and noticed the upgrade being offered at a different price every day. For the roughly three-hour flight, I saw prices as high as $450 for the upgrade. But the next day it might drop to $250. I was hoping for the price to drop to about $50/hour and sure enough it did after monitoring the price for a couple of weeks. I went ahead and purchased it.

There were no operational challenges on this flight, and the elite list for upgrades was lengthy—to be expected when connecting through a fortress hub like DFW. But the whole experience made me actually significantly question my loyalty to American Airlines. Why should I spend my time flying on their planes, buying things through their shopping portal, and spending on their credit cards when I could just buy access to a lie-flat seat for about $150 on top of the normal coach price? The math doesn’t add up!

Yes, it’s unquestionably accurate that American Airlines miles are more valuable than Delta Skymiles, especially for partner travel. But that’s not a compelling reason for me to chase elite status. I could still just sign up for credit card bonuses and invest in Bask Bank (both of which don’t count towards American’s Loyalty Points elite status system but earn plenty of redeemable miles).

The Flight Itself

It’s always nice to be able to fly in a lie-flat seat within the domestic US and even better when you don’t spend an arm and a leg for it. You don’t get the full experience, with catering resembling the usual first class offering.

But I did receive a pre-departure beverage (orange juice).

But the one weird thing is the lack of proper headphones. The planes demand two-prong headsets but the headphones provided are just the one-prong type. Sure, you can try to plug in the headsets to listen to the entertainment at your seat, but sound is only going to come out of one ear bud. Have they not flown their own product to know there’s a problem here? They do have that tendency on their long haul flights where they collect their headsets half an hour before landing out of fear someone will steal it. Maybe they’re so afraid here to even hand them out at all? Of course, I just worked through the flight, and I had plenty of space to do it.

Once in the air, the beverage cart came around and I opted for a sparkling wine.

The meal itself was… fine. An omelette and some fruit. It’s a pretty standard offering when in first class domestically and it met expectations. I did enjoy the fruit more than the eggs.

Final Thoughts

It’s nice that American might sell upgrades for a minor up-charge. There is obviously no guarantee you’ll find a low price on your flight, and it’s a little annoying to have to check the app daily to see a new price. But if you have the time to check, you might like what you see.

At the same time, the cheap price makes me question why I should even try to earn American Airlines status. The American Airlines service recovery process hasn’t worked out for me relative to Delta. It’s going to just be cheaper for me to pay for the class of service I want and so I’m done chasing American Airlines status.

Have you taken advantage of cheap upgrades on American?: