26 Ways American AAdvantage Loyalists Can Upgrade to Europe for Less than Free, Free, or Very Little—by Adopting the Upgrade Mindset

September 2017
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Part III of a series on how to hit Grand Slams using , AKA Transferable Points. Read on for Business Class deals on Air France, American, British Airways, Emirates, and Iberia.

When you read ‘free’ and ‘very little,’ you know exactly what we mean. It’s plain English.

But ‘less than free’? Isn’t free as low as you can go? After all, free is an absolute.

One thing we do here at FCF is propound a mindset, a way of thinking about getting the best deal on airfares that emphasizes thinking out of the box. (We call it the Upgrade Mindset.) Free is a kind of box: Once you’re in it, you stop thinking.

You can do better.

In terms of premium air travel, a “less than free upgrade” means booking Business Class tickets for less than in-the-box thinkers pay for economy.

This report focuses on cheap, free, and less than free upgrade opportunities using what FCF calls Elastic Plastic Points. That just means using credit card points that gives you access to numerous loyalty programs, via simple “transfers”. The ultra-elastic points program (46 partners) is Starwood.

[aside alignment="alignright" width="half" headline_size="default"]See our previous report here for Nine Ways Delta SkyMiles Travelers Can Upgrade to Europe for Free or Little More Than Coach, using Elastic Plastic Credit Card points; and here for 13 Ways United MileagePlus Loyalists Can Upgrade to Europe for Very Little, Free, or Less than Free.[/aside]

Just look at the chart below, which uses the baseline cost for the lowest ‘saver’ award on American at 60,000 miles in coach round-trip to Europe, or 60,000 miles earned on your American co-branded credit card.

In most cases, you can upgrade for free, little more than free, or less than free—for travel to Europe on Air France, American, British Airways, Emirates, and Iberia, if you follow FCF’s Upgrade Mindset, and corollary data analysis.

26 Ways to Upgrade Your Europe Experience for Less-than-Free or Little More than American Charges for Coach

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[["To \/ From","Loyalty Program","Operating Airlines","Business Class Mileage Award Cost","Get Miles Via Partner; \"Elastic Plastic\" Credit Cards ","Net Cost After \"Elastic Plastic\" Points Transfer ","THE DEAL: Relative to\nCoach on American"],["London & Boston, Chicago,<br>New York, Philadelphia, Washington, DC","British Airways","British Airways","100,000 low season <br>(120,000 high season)","<strong>SPG<\/strong>","80,000<br>(to 100,000)","<strong>Cheap upgrade: <\/strong>as low as 20,000 miles more than coach"],["#rowspan#","#rowspan#","#rowspan#","#rowspan#","<a href=\"https:\/\/rewards.americanexpress.com\/myca\/loyalty\/us\/catalog\/view\/ptlanding\/detail\/5629f224e4b0b3d3bd79cd1e?tier=MR\">Amex (40% bonus deal) <\/a>","71,500<br>(to 85,750)","<strong>Cheap upgrade: <\/strong>as low as 11,500 miles more than coach"],["Madrid & Boston, Chicago,<br>New York ","Iberia","Iberia","68,000 low season <br>(100,000 high season)","<strong>SPG<\/strong>","58,000<br>(to 80,000)","<strong><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Less than free upgrade<\/span><\/strong>: as low as 2,000 miles less than coach"],["Madrid & Los Angeles, Miami ","#rowspan#","#rowspan#","85,000 low season <br>(125,000 high season)","#rowspan#","70,000<br>(to 100,000)","<strong>Cheap upgrade:<\/strong> as low as 10,000 miles more than coach"],["Madrid & Boston, Chicago,<br>New York ","#rowspan#","#rowspan#","68,000 low season <br>(100,000 high season)","<a href=\"https:\/\/rewards.americanexpress.com\/myca\/loyalty\/us\/catalog\/view\/ptlanding\/detail\/5629f257e4b0b3d3bd79cd48?tier=MR&intlink=us-mr-travelhub-transferpoints-seedetails\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">AMEX (40% bonus deal)<\/a>","48,750<br>(to 71,500)","<strong><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Less than free upgrade<\/span><\/strong>: as low as 11,250 miles less than coach"],["Madrid & Los Angeles, Miami ","#rowspan#","#rowspan#","85,000 low season <br>(125,000 high season)","#rowspan#","60,750<br>(to 89,500) ","<strong><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Almost free upgrade<\/span><\/strong>: as low as 750 miles more than coach"],[" New York & Athens, Milan ","Emirates","Emirates","90,000","<strong>SPG<\/strong>","75,000","<strong>Cheap upgrade:<\/strong> 15,000 miles more than coach"],["Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, or Raleigh Durham & Barcelona, Dublin, London, Madrid, Manchester, Paris, Rome, Zurich ","Japan Airlines","American","63,000","<strong>SPG<\/strong>","53,000","<strong><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Less than free upgrade<\/span><\/strong>: 7,000 miles less than coach"],["Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, New York & Barcelona, London, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Frankfurt\n","#rowspan#","#rowspan#","65,000","#rowspan#","55,000","<strong><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Less than free upgrade<\/span><\/strong>: 5,000 miles less than coach"],["Los Angeles, Dallas & Frankfurt, London","#rowspan#","#rowspan#","80,000","#rowspan#","65,000","<strong>Cheap upgrade:<\/strong> 5,000 miles more than coach"],["London & Boston, Chicago,<br>New York, Philadelphia, Washington, DC","#rowspan#","British Airways","63,000","#rowspan#","53,000","<strong><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Less than free upgrade<\/span><\/strong>: 7,000 miles less than coach"],["London & Atlanta, Denver, Houston, Miami, Seattle","#rowspan#","#rowspan#","65,000","#rowspan#","55,000","<strong><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Less than free upgrade<\/span><\/strong>: 5,000 miles less than coach"],["London & Las Vegas,<br>Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco,<br>San Jose","#rowspan#","#rowspan#","80,000","#rowspan#","65,000","<strong>Cheap upgrade:<\/strong> 5,000 miles more than coach"],["Paris & Boston, Detroit, New York,<br>Washington, DC","#rowspan#","Air France","63,000","#rowspan#","53,000","<strong><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Less than free upgrade<\/span><\/strong>: 7,000 miles less than coach"],["Paris & Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, Minneapolis","#rowspan#","#rowspan#","65,000","#rowspan#","55,000","<strong><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Less than free upgrade<\/span><\/strong>: 5,000 miles less than coach"],["Paris & Houston, Los Angeles,<br>San Francisco","#rowspan#","#rowspan#","80,000","#rowspan#","65,000","<strong>Cheap upgrade:<\/strong> 5,000 miles more than coach"],["Madrid & Boston,<br>New York","#rowspan#","Iberia","63,000","#rowspan#","53,000","<strong><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Less than free upgrade<\/span><\/strong>: 7,000 miles less than coach"],["Madrid & Chicago, Miami","#rowspan#","#rowspan#","65,000","#rowspan#","55,000","<strong><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Less than free upgrade<\/span><\/strong>: 5,000 miles less than coach"],["Madrid &<br>Los Angeles","#rowspan#","#rowspan#","80,000","#rowspan#","65,000","<strong>Cheap upgrade:<\/strong> 5,000 miles more than coach"],[" New York & Athens, Milan ","#rowspan#","Emirates","65,000","#rowspan#","55,000","<strong><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Less than free upgrade<\/span><\/strong>: 5,000 miles less than coach"],["Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Miami,<br>New York, Philadelphia, Raleigh Durham & Barcelona, Dublin, London, Madrid, Manchester, Milan, Paris, Rome, Zurich ","Cathay Pacific","American","80,000","SPG","65,000","<strong>Cheap upgrade:<\/strong> 5,000 miles more than coach"],["London & Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Miami,<br>New York, Philadelphia, Seattle, Washington, DC","#rowspan#","British Airways","80,000","#rowspan#","65,000","#rowspan#"],["Boston, Chicago, Miami,<br>New York & Madrid","#rowspan#","Iberia","80,000","#rowspan#","65,000","#rowspan#"],["Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Miami,<br>New York, Philadelphia, Raleigh Durham & Barcelona, Dublin, London, Madrid, Manchester, Milan, Paris, Rome, Zurich ","#rowspan#","American","80,000","AMEX, CITI","80,000","<strong>Cheap upgrade:<\/strong> 20,000 miles more than coach"],["London & Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Miami,<br>New York, Philadelphia, Seattle, Washington, DC","#rowspan#","British Airways","80,000","#rowspan#","80,000","#rowspan#"],["Madrid & Boston, Chicago, Miami,<br>New York","#rowspan#","Iberia","80,000","#rowspan#","80,000","#rowspan#"],["U.S. to Europe","Alaska*","American","100,000","SPG","80,000","#rowspan#"]]
<small>AMEX = American Express Rewards, CITI = CITI ThankYou, SPG = Starwood. <a href="https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mileage-plan/how-to-earn-miles/airline-partners/american-airlines.aspx">*Rate change: Alaska partner rate for American is valid until Dec. 31; new rate starts on Jan. 1, 2018 for 115,000 miles.</a></small>