Auto–requested Complimentary Upgrades
When an AAdvantage® status member books a reservation, American automatically reviews the flight segment(s) to determine if they are eligible for a complimentary upgrade.
If the American automated system confirms the upgrade and changes the flight segment to the correct upgrade inventory (P for Premium Economy or R for Business/domestic First) on a ticketed PNR / Order, no further action is required by the agency. The VCR is re-associated and the ticket remains unchanged.
· All AAdvantage® status members are eligible for complimentary upgrades for themselves and 1 companion, when available.
o For a companion booked in a separate PNR / Order, the FQTU (Frequent Traveler Upgrade) request, must be manually requested via AA Reservations
· Starting August 25, 2026, AAdvantage® status members are eligible for a complimentary upgrade if eligible seats are available from: Main Cabin to Premium Economy, Premium Economy to Business / domestic First, or Main Cabin to Business / domestic First on aircraft without Premium Economy
· Complimentary upgrades will be auto requested for each eligible segment, approximately 5 minutes after the PNR / Order is ticketed. The ticketing requirement for new upgrade requests takes effect for new requests starting August 31, 2026.
· When the upgrade inventory is available, and the segment departure date is inside the AAdvantage status member’s upgrade window, the flight segment will be automatically changed to the upgrade inventory (P for Premium Economy or R for Business/domestic First) inventory. In some cases, this could occur even if the ticket has not been issued.
o If the upgrade is confirmed prior to ticketing, the upgraded segments should not be canceled for the purpose of issuing the ticket in the revenue inventory. See Processed prior to ticketing below for handling instructions.
The Frequent Traveler Upgrade (FQTU) applies to All AAdvantage® status members: ConciergeKey, Executive Platinum, Platinum Pro, Platinum, and Gold on:
· American Airlines marketed and operated flights (codeshare flights are not eligible)
· Travel within/between U.S., Canada, Bahamas, Bermuda, Caribbean, Central America, and Mexico.
· Purchased, published fare tickets, excluding Basic Economy tickets purchased on or after May 18, 2026.
o Non-Status companions on Basic Economy Fares purchased prior to May 18, 2026, in a separate PNR do not qualify for complimentary upgrades
· Award tickets for all status members
· Qualifying members who have tickets issued on 001 or other airline ticket stock
Multiple passengers in the same PNR / Order
An upgrade request will automatically be added for each segment on multiple passengers PNRs / Orders as long as each passenger qualifies, based on their own status.
If the PNR / Order has a mix of passengers and some are not eligible for a complimentary upgrade, remarks will be added to the PNR / Order:
AUTO REQUEST FOR UPGRADE FAILED
If auto-request has failed, it indicates the customers may either not be eligible for an upgrade, or there are too many customers in the PNR / Order. PNRs / Orders with more than 2 customers may be divided by the travel agency to reduce the number of customers to 2 to allow for the auto-upgrade request to process.
When dividing a PNR / Order with an SSR FQTU request:
· The upgrade FQTU in each PNR / Order must be canceled before dividing the PNR / Order and re-entered in each PNR / Order after the division.
o Failure to cancel and re-enter the request may result in processing errors such as:
o Companion is upgraded before the elite member on the flights they are traveling together
o Companion is upgraded and the elite member is not
· When dividing a PNR / Order with two status members (For example: two Gold, two Platinum, two Executive Platinum), the divided person, the name number you enter, will be second on the database
· It is important to not divide the person who needs to be first on the database
(Not applicable for tickets issued on/after May 18, 2026)
· AAdvantage status members ticketed in B inventory will be rebooked into the dual inventory by our automated system to allow customers to qualify for our upgrade products, including complimentary upgrades.
Example: Basic Economy fare ticketed in B inventory using the Fare Basis Code O7ALZNB3 will be updated from B inventory to O inventory
· It is not necessary to reissue the tickets because of the inventory change.
· The tickets are reassociated manually within the AA PNR / Order to allow the customers to check in and travel on the existing tickets.
· The fare rules for B inventory remain the same, the change to a dual inventory (i.e. O, Q, N, S, etc.) is exclusively for complimentary Upgrade purposes.
· Non-Status companions on Basic Economy Fares in a separate PNR / Order do not qualify for complimentary upgrades.
· Tickets issued on/after May 18, 2026, are not eligible for AAdvantage upgrade products
· The travel agent should not cancel the upgrade inventory.
· The ticket should be issued with the confirmed upgrade inventory (“P” or “R”) applying the stored revenue fare basis.
· If the upgrade flight segment is canceled the customer will lose their upgrade.
o The upgrade inventory (“P” or “R”) may not be available to reconfirm for the flight even if the upgrade is re-requested.
· Canceling the upgrade inventory may result in losing the original revenue fare and the confirmed upgrade segment for the flight, as the original inventory might no longer be available.
· Travel Agency Audits will accept this ticketing practice when done in conjunction with a complimentary upgrade request.
Flight segment example:
CPN A/L FLT CLS DATE BRDOFF TIME ST F/B
1 AA 4228 R 23FEB STLDCA 610P OK LA00ZRI1
Example Sabre Format: W‡Q(fare basis code)
W‡QLA00ZRI
OK $$$$
ETR MESSAGE PROCESSED
NO COMMISSION WAS ENTERED
OK
The automated upgrade request (FQTU) is automatically canceled when the name field is changed.
· Once the name field is updated, the FQTU will be auto-requested.
· For minor name corrections made to a companion booked in a separate PNR / Order, the FQTU request must be re-entered after updating the name field
· For major name corrections/changes, a new PNR / Order is required, therefore the FQTU will be a new request
· The new request will not maintain the original upgrade request’s time/date stamp.
When a flight containing an upgrade request (FQTU) experiences a schedule change, the upgrade request will be auto-requested for the new segment(s) and will retain the original
time/date stamp of the initial upgrade request.
Flight segment manually canceled
If the travel agent has canceled the upgraded segment prior to ticketing, please follow the below:
· Rebook the original revenue inventory that was confirmed at the time of booking.
o If the original inventory is not available, the itinerary must be repriced and the ticket issued using the fare that applies to the available inventory.
· Once the original revenue inventory is confirmed and the ticket is issued:
o Submit a manual upgrade request using the following format:
Sabre Format: WC1R/UPG or WC1P/UPG (1- denotes the flight segment number)
OA GDS refer to your help menu or contact your GDS or technology provider.
o The AA automated upgrade system will review the request
Any voluntary flight changes will follow the rules of the fare purchased.
· The FQTU request is automatically canceled when a flight segment is canceled and will be auto-requested for the new segment(s)
· For a companion booked in a separate PNR / Order, the FQTU request must be re-entered
· The original time/date stamp is retained in the PNR / Order
· Downgrade is not guaranteed
· The customer must be rebooked in their original economy inventory in order to receive the downgrade
o If inventory is not available, contact Agency Support
Updated: August 2026