You Can Now Upgrade American Airlines Flights with Qantas Points

In some exciting news for Qantas flyers travelling to the USA, you can now redeem your Qantas Points to upgrade on American Airlines flights.

This is the first time Qantas Frequent Flyer members have been able to use points to upgrade on partner airlines, other than a very select few codeshare flights operated by Aircalin and LATAM. That said, American Airlines already made it possible to upgrade Qantas flights using AAdvantage miles last year.

Qantas says that “other Oneworld partner airlines will be added in the future” to its new Partner Airline Upgrade program.

How upgrading American Airlines flights with Qantas Points works

Like with Qantas-operated international flights, you won’t find out whether your American Airlines upgrade request is successful until less than a day before your flight departs. In this case, you’ll usually be notified around 12 hours out. But the actual process for requesting a Qantas Points upgrade on American Airlines is different to how points upgrades work for Qantas flights.

If you’re booked on an eligible American Airlines flight, you can request an upgrade by going to the dedicated Plusgrade page and entering your booking reference (PNR). You might also receive an email inviting you to request an upgrade around a week before your flight.

Most American Airlines flights are eligible, if there is a higher cabin class available, unless you’ve booked a Basic Economy ticket.

Upgrades are processed by Plusgrade, which is the same third-party provider that processes upgrade bids for many airlines around the world, including Qantas Bid Now upgrades.

How does American prioritise these upgrades?

It’s not exactly clear is how American Airlines prioritises upgrade requests made with Qantas Frequent Flyer points. This is what the FAQs on the Qantas website say regarding this:

As the operating carrier, American Airlines will determine if an upgrade can be confirmed. If there are multiple requests for an upgrade on the same flight, priority for requests will depend on several factors determined by American Airlines, including oneworld® status.

How many Qantas Points do you need to upgrade on American Airlines?

Unlike with Qantas Classic Upgrade Rewards, there is no chart or table outlining a fixed amount of points that you would need to upgrade an American Airlines flight. When you check your upgrade options, the Plusgrade website will simply show you what (if any) upgrades are available and the number of points required.

That said, AFF members with upcoming American Airlines bookings have already shared some data points on upgrades they’ve been offered.

For example, one member was offered an upgrade from Economy to Business Class on a San Francisco-New York flight for 85,200 Qantas Points. Another was quoted 39,000 points for an upgrade from Economy to First Class between Dallas/Fort Worth and Palm Springs.

Admittedly, these aren’t exactly the deal of the century. But it’s nice to at least have the option to request an upgrade – especially if you have a huge balance of Qantas Points.

It’s not clear how these amounts are being calculated. It could simply be, for example, that American Airlines is selling upgrades for a cash amount (internally), and Plusgrade is converting this amount into Qantas Points at a fixed rate.

Upgrades are offered on a per-sector basis. You could choose to request an upgrade for one or all flights. If there are multiple people on your booking, you’ll need to request an upgrade for all passengers.

If your upgrade is unsuccessful, you won’t lose any points and will retain your original seat.

Upgrading with points on other airlines

American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia already offer fixed-price points-based upgrades on each other’s flights, although there are a lot of conditions attached. For example, when using American AAdvantage miles to upgrade on British Airways, you’d need to book a fully flexible Economy fare in Y or B class.

Oneworld announced as far back as 2019 that alliance-wide upgrades would be coming soon, but that never came to fruition. This is something that Star Alliance has offered for many years, although that’s rarely of much practical value due to the pricing and conditions attached.

Back in 2019, Velocity Frequent Flyer launched the option to upgrade with Velocity Points on its partner Delta Air Lines. But that feature didn’t survive COVID-19, and the two airlines are no longer partners.