How Do You Get Upgraded From Economy On American Airlines Flight To Orlando?
AA issues electronic upgrades to persons who have status with American Airlines. However, these are folks who usually have flown with the airline for a number of years and are loyal customers. If you don’t have E-upgrades, you can purchase them at the airport or have them deducted from miles (assuming you have enough AA miles). However, if you take this route ASK first what the availability is in the first class cabin. Understand that simply purchasing upgrades does NOT guarantee you an upgraded seat. There have to be seats available! I have never experienced a situation where two persons were simply upgraded from Coach to First without some type of exchange taking place (using upgrades, miles, etc.) Not saying it doesn’t happen. But Orlando flights are usually full of families and children from Disneyworld, so you will have a lot of competition from the crowd.
The answer Gary C gives is accurate to a limited extent, but it has a number of inaccuracies that make it a particularly unhelpful answer in this instance. The electronic upgrades that he refers to cannot be used to and from Europe — they’re only allowed on flights within the US, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Since the person asking this question is from the UK, these upgrades are of no use on the transatlantic leg of the flight, irrespective of whether this person has elite status or not. Further, even if this were a domestic flight, simply stating that she should buy some and see whether she can get upgraded with them will also not work. While persons with AAdvantage status can use them on any paid fare, those who do not have status can only use them on full fare (Y and B) tickets, and even then, the upgrade (if available) clears after all other elite flyers waiting for an upgrade on any given flight. That having been said, there are three ways I can think of that will reliably
