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

October 2017
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Part 4 of a series on how to hit Grand Slams using Elastic Plastic, AKA credit cards that earn Transferable Points. Read on for First Class deals on American, British Airways, and Emirates.

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 First Class tickets for less than in-the-box thinkers pay for Business.

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 give you access to numerous loyalty programs, via simple transfers. The ultra-elastic points program (46 partners) is Starwood Preferred Guest.

Just look at the chart below, which uses the baseline cost for the lowest Business Class saver award on American, 115,000 miles round-trip to Europe, or 115,000 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—to Europe on American, British Airways, and Emirates, if you follow FCF’s Upgrade Mindset, and corollary data analysis.

[aside headline="" alignment="aligncenter" width="big" 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; here for 13 Ways United MileagePlus Loyalists Can Upgrade to Europe for Very Little, Free, or Less than Free; and here for 26 Ways American AAdvantage Loyalists Can Upgrade to Europe for Less than Free, Free, or Very Little—by Adopting the Upgrade Mindset.[/aside]

16 Ways to Upgrade Your Europe Experience to First Class for Less-than-Free or Little More than American Charges for Business Class

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[["<b>To \/ From<\/b>","<b>Loyalty Program<\/b>","<b>Operating Airlines<\/b>","<b>First Class Mileage Award Cost<\/b>","<b>Get Miles Via Partner; \"Elastic Plastic\" Credit Cards<\/b>","<b>Net Cost After \"Elastic Plastic\" Points Transfer<\/b>","<b>THE DEAL: Relative to Business Class with American AAdvantage miles (115,000)<\/b>"],["U.S. & Europe","American*","American","170,000","<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aa.com\/i18n\/aadvantage-program\/miles\/program-offers\/convert-starpoints-to-aadvantage-miles.jsp\">SPG (up to 30% bonus deal)\u00a0<\/a>","108,400","<strong><span style=\"color: #009966;\">Less than free upgrade: <\/span><\/strong>6,600 miles less than Business"],["#rowspan#","#rowspan#","British Airways","#rowspan#","#rowspan#","#rowspan#","#rowspan#"],["London & Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Toronto, Washington, DC","British Airways","British Airways","136,000 low season, 160,000 high season","SPG","111,000 (to 130,000)","<strong><span style=\"color: #009966;\">Less than free upgrade: <\/span><\/strong>Can be 4,000 miles less than Business"],["#rowspan#","#rowspan#","#rowspan#","#rowspan#","AMEX, CHASE","136,000 (to 160,000)","<strong>Cheap upgrade:<\/strong> Can be 21,000 fewer miles than Business"],["London & New York","Japan Airlines","American","100,000","SPG","80,000","<strong><span style=\"color: #009966;\">Less than free upgrade: <\/span><\/strong>35,000 miles less than Business"],["London & Dallas, Miami ","#rowspan#","#rowspan#","105,000","#rowspan#","85,000","<strong><span style=\"color: #009966;\">Less than free upgrade: <\/span><\/strong>30,000 miles less than Business"],["London & Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle, Toronto, Washington, DC","#rowspan#","British Airways","100,000","#rowspan#","80,000","<strong><span style=\"color: #009966;\">Less than free upgrade: <\/span><\/strong>35,000 miles less than Business"],["London & Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Miami, Seattle, Vancouver","#rowspan#","#rowspan#","105,000","#rowspan#","85,000","<strong><span style=\"color: #009966;\">Less than free upgrade: <\/span><\/strong>30,000 miles less than Business"],["London & Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose","#rowspan#","#rowspan#","115,000","#rowspan#","95,000","<strong><span style=\"color: #009966;\">Less than free upgrade: <\/span><\/strong>20,000 miles less than Business"],[" New York & Athens, Milan ","#rowspan#","Emirates","105,000","#rowspan#","85,000","<strong><span style=\"color: #009966;\">Less than free upgrade: <\/span><\/strong>30,000 miles less than Business"],["London & Los Angeles","#rowspan#","American","115,000","#rowspan#","95,000","<strong><span style=\"color: #009966;\">Less than free upgrade: <\/span><\/strong>20,000 miles less than Business"],["London & Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle, Toronto, Washington, DC, Vancouver","Cathay Pacific","British Airways","120,000","SPG","100,000","<strong><span style=\"color: #009966;\">Less than free upgrade: <\/span><\/strong>15,000 miles less than Business"],["#rowspan#","#rowspan#","#rowspan#","#rowspan#","AMEX, CITI","120,000","<strong>Cheap upgrade:<\/strong> 5,000 miles more than Business"],["London & Dallas, Miami and New York","#rowspan#","American","#rowspan#","SPG","100,000","<strong><span style=\"color: #009966;\">Less than free upgrade: <\/span><\/strong>15,000 miles less than Business"],["#rowspan#","#rowspan#","#rowspan#","#rowspan#","AMEX, CITI","120,000","<strong>Cheap upgrade:<\/strong> 5,000 miles more than Business"],["U.S. & Europe","Alaska**","American","125,000","SPG","100,000","<strong><span style=\"color: #009966;\">Less than free upgrade: <\/span><\/strong>15,000 miles less than Business"],["U.S. & London","#rowspan#","British Airways","140,000","#rowspan#","115,000","<strong><span style=\"color: #009966;\">Free upgrade: <\/span><\/strong>First Class for same price as Business"]]
<small>AMEX = American Express Rewards, CHASE = Chase Ultimate Rewards, CITI = CITI ThankYou, SPG = Starwood. *Up to 30% transfer bonus valid till Oct. 15. **Rate change: Alaska partner rate for American is valid until Dec. 31, new rate starts on Jan. 1, 2018 for 170,000 miles.</small>