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MMMondayMemo: What are AA 500-mile upgrades?
Each Monday Miles has decided to drop a tip, hint, tutorial, trick that maybe you’ve missed or haven’t heard before. If you’re an expert in this field, some of these may be things you already know, but there are a lot of beginners out there who are just getting their feet wet. This week the Monkey Miles Monday Memo answers the question, What are AA 500-mile upgrades?
So what are AA 500-mile upgrades?
Once you hit Elite status with American Airlines you will earn 500-mile upgrades for every 12,500 EQM you earn. You can redeem the 500-mile upgrades to upgrade from the Main Cabin. One upgrade is needed for every 500 miles of travel.
As an example…if your trip is 1500 miles you will need 3, 500 mile upgrades to upgrade the trip. If it was 1501 you would need 4.
What flights qualify?
American marketed and operated flights.
Can I use 500-mile upgrades to upgrade a domestic 3-cabin flight?
Yes, just not from Business to First Class.
I’m short on 500-mile upgrades…what can I do?
Buy them for $40 a piece
- on aa.com
- the app
- at the airport
- or calling: 800-882-8880
Use miles – 8 upgrades for 40k miles ( not what I’d recommend)
How do I signify that I’d like to use my 500-mile upgrades?
You will be prompted when buying the flight.
Who is given priority?
- Elite Status
- Date and Time of original request
The one thing that I would assume, because it’s effective with Executive Platinum SWU, is that your EQD would play an impact in priority as well. Whether that would trump status is unclear to me at this point. Meaning, would a Gold who wants to use 500s and has spent $12k trump a Platinum, who has spent $5k? Most times
What was my success like?
500-mile upgrades are iffy. You’re up against Exec Plats and Platinum Pros who get complimentary upgrades and don’t even have to use 500s. I was Platinum last year and got upgraded about 50% of the time I elected to use them. But everyone who’d accumulated 50-100 EQM/EQP was on the same playing field. I wasn’t up against a new elite status, Platinum Pro, and mainly applied them to flights where I thought I’d have a really good shot. I did clear on a LAX-MIA flight that utilized a 77W. That was pretty awesome…even with a broken seat. The day before I cleared there were over 20 open seats in business and I cleared as I was boarding.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card went through a major refresh in 2026 adding new bonus categories, travel protections, statement credits, and remains one of the best travel starter cards in the market. It earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott. Note that Hyatt is now a 4:3 transfer partner
Welcome Offer
Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Earn
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on gas and EV charging
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on vacation homes at top brands
- Cardmembers will earn 3x points on vacation homes at these top brands: Airbnb, Vrbo, Plu Guide, HomeAway, Homestay.com and Vacasa.
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 2x on all other travel
- 1x on everyday purchases
- 5x points on Lyft rides Earn 5x total points on eligible Lyft rides including ride share, bike and scooter rides and subscription and membership products through September 30, 2027.
- 5x total points on Peloton equipment Earn 5x total points on eligible Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $150 through December 31, 2027.
Benefits and Credits
- $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- NEW: $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS fee credit Cardmembers will receive one statement credit of up to $120 every four years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to the card.
- NEW: Complimentary Apple TV subscription for one year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is great starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Chase Ink Business Cash® , Chase Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into the Sapphire Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee remains quite low at $95 a year and if you use the $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠ you’ll wipe out that annual fee every year. It has great bonus categories and other useful statement credits to enhance your travel.
One thing that is a bummer is Chase lowered the transfer ratio to World of Hyatt from 1:1 to 4:3.
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