AA To End Upgrade Award Chart, Will Use Dynamic Pricing on Instant-Confirm Upgrades

There’s good news and bad news in American Airlines’ upcoming change to its upgrade pricing.

The good news? You’ll be able to instantly confirm upgrades to a better seat using your miles. The bad news, however, is that these upgrades will be priced dynamically.

That means the current, fixed upgrade award pricing will go away on August 12, 2025. Here’s what you need to know.

American Airlines’ Current Upgrade System Using Miles

Presently, American Airlines passengers can use AAdvantage miles at fixed amounts if they want to move into a better seat. This follows United’s announcement that it will move to a similar system on August 21.

The chart is easy to follow, clearly displaying how much you’ll pay to move from economy or premium economy into business class. The number of miles and any cash co-pay are listed clearly in a chart with pricing that changes based on where you’re flying from and to.

Here’s the current pricing, for reference:

This system will be gone after August 11, though. The positive thing about this chart is that you know what you’ll pay, but you need to request these upgrades from AA directly — they aren’t available to book online, and they aren’t confirmed instantly. Rather, you may end up on a waiting list.

AA’s New Dynamic, Instant-Confirm Upgrades

American’s new system is already available. After August 12, 2025, this will be the only option for redeeming AA miles for a seat upgrade. (The system for upgrades based on your AA elite status won’t change.)

This new upgrade option launched today, June 12, 2025, and you can upgrade all segments of an upcoming trip or choose to upgrade just a single flight if you want. For example, if you’re connecting in New York before a flight to Europe, you could choose to remain in economy for your flight from Columbus (CMH) to New York (JFK) while redeeming miles to upgrade the longer segment.

If you’re eligible for an upgrade, you’ll see that option during the booking process on AA’s website.

AA has provided some information about the new upgrade system here, and you should instantly notice the “from” pricing. That means upgrades will be priced dynamically, and you won’t really know how much they cost until you start pricing them while making a reservation.

This mirrors what American Airlines does with cash upgrades, pricing them dynamically and letting you instantly confirm an upgraded seat.

If you’re going to upgrade with miles, it’s worth comparing the cost of an upgrade to booking yourself into a higher seat outright. Then, book the cheaper option.

Final Thoughts

American Airlines has rolled out a new upgrade system for moving into a higher cabin using your AAdvantage miles. The positive thing about this change is that you can instantly confirm these upgrades at the time of booking, and you can do it online, which is very convenient. The negative aspect is the move to dynamic pricing for upgrades, so you might not get a good price — and you won’t know how much it costs until you start searching for flights.