American Airlines and British Airways have implemented a new upgrade system. This will allow AAdvantage elite members to confirm upgrades on British Airways; Executive Club elite members will equally be able to confirm upgrades on American Airlines…

AAdvantage Systemwide Upgrades on British Airways

You can now use AAdvantage Systemwide Upgrades on British Airways flights. (as a reminder, SWUs are a “Loyalty Choice Reward” benefit, and are also issued to Million Milers…)

Some details to understand are:

• Your ticket must be issued by American Airlines
• Your ticket must include travel on BOTH American and British Airways
• You can only upgrade transatlantic and/or intra-European travel on British Airways
• You can only upgrade by one class of service (i.e. Economy to Premium Economy, Premium Economy to Business, Business to First Class – European flights can be upgraded from Economy to Business)
• British Airways uses standard award space for confirmed upgrades, so for ExpertFlyer users you need to look for:
  • First Class – Z
  • Business Class – U
  • Premium Economy – P
• British Airways does not allow waitlisting of upgrades or rewards
• You cannot upgrade reward flights

You must call AAdvantage to process your upgrade request.

British Airways “GUF”s on American Airlines

The British Airways equivalent of a systemwide upgrade is called a Gold Upgrade. Many BA elites call these GUF1 and GUF2, which means Gold Upgrade for 1 and Gold Upgrade for 2. These can now be used on American Airlines flights.

Some details to understand are:

• Your ticket must be issued by British Airways
• You can only upgrade transatlantic travel on American
• You can only upgrade by one class of service (i.e. Premium Economy to Business, Business to First Class – AA doesn’t allow upgrades into PE class)
• American Airlines uses special upgrade inventory for confirming upgrades, so for ExpertFlyer users you need to look for:
  • First Class – A
  • Business Class – C
• American Airlines does not allow waitlisting of upgrades
• You cannot upgrade reward flights

You must call British Airways Executive Club to process your upgrade request.

Bottom Line

It is impressive to see British Airways and American Airlines figure out a way to make reciprocal upgrades work, even though it might not be a benefit that is widely used or understood…