Upgrades
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Contact American
When frontline employees provide exceptional customer service, there are various ways to reward them.
For American Airlines, top-tier frequent flyers under the AAdvantage program receive 6 certificates per year to award to employees. More commonly known as Above & Beyond Many Thanks, these certificates can be handed to employees which can then be redeemed through American Airlines’ Jetnet system. You can always request more certificates by calling ACS. Expired certificates are still redeemable by employees.
The certificates can be given to any type of employee, whether that be a Flight Attendant, a gate agent, a reservations agent via phone, an Admirals Club agent, or the AAdvantage desk. Employees are then entered into a quarterly raffle to win various prizes, and of course, get recognized by receiving a certificate. Those certificates are also converted into points (each is worth 100 points) and the points can be redeemed for gift cards and other cool rewards.
Since some flights are operated by other carriers, there are some limitations on who can redeem them. Certificates can be redeemed by employees on flights operated by:
- Mainline
- Envoy
- PSA
- Piedmont
Employees on the following regional carriers are not eligible to redeem certificates:
- Mesa
- Republic
- SkyWest
While employees on the above carriers are not eligible for recognition certificates, there are other ways to recognize these employees.
For example, you can use the customer relations form on aa.com to send in your compliments. Although not as effective, you can tweet @AmericanAir with the flight number, employee name, and compliment.
By writing in, the compliment is forwarded to the recognized individual’s management. Their management can then award higher point values based on the compliment. This is known as a “Spot On” and can be worth substantially more than a regular A&B certificate.
Lastly, there are other ways to recognize all employees regardless if they’re eligible for certificates such as bringing gift cards to Starbucks or Amazon. And of course, you can always write a letter to customer relations.
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For urgent issues, the primary communication method should be via phone. The first time you call you can opt for a call back if the wait time is too high. Then, call back the second time and remain on hold.
When calling, the estimated wait time does not factor in any status with American Airlines. If you stay on hold, you will be connected in a shorter time. For example, if you have Gold status, your wait time will be shorter than general callers. Or if you’re Executive Platinum, you will be at the top of the queue. Ensure that your phone number is updated in your AAdvantage profile. If you opt for a call back, you will be put into the general population queue.
If you have a Twitter account, you can send a direct message to the American Airlines account.
The American Airlines app also has a chat feature.
The best strategy involves utilizing as many channels as possible. For full information on available contact information, visit Saleslink.
Reservation Needs
In the United States, dial +1 800 433 7300. Other language options are available at aa.com, with generally shorter wait times and bilingual agents (speaking English) in US/Canada.
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Reservations
American Airlines has various inventory buckets. These “buckets”, or fare codes, dictate what is available to be purchased or how many upgrades are available on a particular flight. Every flight is different.
A fare class chart from 2019 can be found here. This chart explains different buckets, their tiers, and what they’re used for.
For upgrades, the main inventory bucket used for economy to business is C. Note that AA has begun to also use C for revenue tickets. Read more on how to find availability here.
For revenue, each flight has a certain amount of each inventory bucket. As cheaper inventory buckets are sold, only more expensive (“full fare”) buckets are left.
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