For pretty much all air passengers, receiving a free or cheap seat upgrade notification on their phone feels like a welcome surprise.
If you have another person to consider, however, you may want to give it a thought or try to duplicate the offer. By then, you may lose your chance. According to one Utah passenger, this rule is too unforgiving.
In her TikTok video, which got over 8,000 views, TikTok creator Aluxeandra (@aluxeandra) says something similar happened to her with American Airlines, and shares how she tried to deal with it.
What Happened With This American Airlines Upgrade?
“I have a bone to pick with American Airlines,” Aluxeandra says.
According to her, American Airlines sometimes sends passengers notifications offering an upgrade for a surprisingly low price.
“Sometimes they will send you a notification in the app that’s like, ‘Upgrade your seat now’ for like pennies, like $200, right?” she says.
Aluxeandra says she got one of those notifications, but her friend Becca did not.
“And because I’m a good friend, I’m not gonna leave her in the back of the plane,” she says.
So, instead of clicking the offer for herself right away, Aluxeandra says she passed on it and went to the customer service desk to see if Becca could also get the upgrade.
That didn’t go too well.
“They’re like, you can only upgrade your flight if you click that one notification that you get only one time before your flight or 48 hours ahead of time on an international flight,” she says.
Aluxeandra says she did not believe that was the full story because she claims she had upgraded at the gate before a previous flight to Greece.
“That’s my bone,” she says. “Why is this a thing?”
She questions the system. “Why do they only let you click on that notification one time and that’s your one and only chance to upgrade your seat before your flight?” she asks. “What kind of process is that?”
Why Can’t You Save The Cheap Upgrade For Later?
American Airlines’ Instant Upgrade offers are generally real-time, availability-based offers. That means that you can’t be sure you’ll see it again if you don’t act immediately.
American Airlines says customers may receive Instant Upgrade offers by email, while viewing a reservation on aa.com, in the mobile app, or through AA Reservations. The airline also says these offers depend on availability and may apply to part or all of the itinerary.
While passengers can ask about upgrades at the reservations desk, seeing a cheap upgrade on your phone does not necessarily mean the same seat, price, or offer will still be available later with a gate agent or customer service desk.
Until a passenger actually completes the upgrade purchase, the airline is most likely holding that seat or that price. The seat may sell, the upgrade inventory may change, or the offer may simply disappear.
Commenters Shared Their Thoughts
In the comments, many viewers thought the airline’s side made sense, even if the situation was frustrating.
“Other people got that notification too,” one commenter wrote. “They were allowed to upgrade. You passed. No longer available.”
Another person had a different theory.
“WRONG! Can’t do it at the gate, EVER. Those upgrades are sent ONLY VIA APP,” they wrote. “YOU made the decision not to upgrade so don’t blame AA.”
Someone else said they have watched upgrade prices change over time.
“I click no thanks multiple times to watch the Price drop,” they wrote. “Sometimes I’ll get a notification for $600 to upgrade and then a day or two before the flight. It might be as low as $200.”
That same commenter suggested that customer service agents may not always know how the app-side offers work.
“The customer service agent doesn’t know what they’re talking about most of them,” they wrote. “They only know what they can see on their software.”
BroBible has contacted American Airlines via email and Aluxeandra via TikTok messages for comment.