3 Credit Card Strategies To Score Free Upgrades on 2025 Flights
Written by
John Csiszar
Edited by
Brendan McGinley
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Let’s face it, flying domestically has become more uncomfortable than ever. As travel demand picks up and airlines try to squeeze every last dollar out of their passengers, comfort has taken a back seat. Even upgrades are harder to get than they used to be, unless you’re willing to pay for them.
Fortunately, if you have a travel rewards card or an airline-affiliated credit card, you’ve got some additional options to potentially get free upgrades on your 2025 flights.
Get a Card That Can Give You Elite Status
Of course you should continue to look for travel deals and timesavers wherever you find them, but elite airline status is really the holy grail when it comes to scoring free upgrades. Take a look at the domestic upgrade policies for American, Delta and United:
- American Airlines: Elites, along with one companion on the same itinerary, get complimentary upgrades on AA-operated flights within North America — including Hawaii.
- Delta Airlines: As with American, elites on Delta get free upgrades on Delta-operated flights within North America, including Hawaii.
- United Airlines: United offers complimentary premier upgrades (CPU) to upper-tier elites; silver elites may have limited eligibility.
Being an airline elite member, especially top-tier elite, is the best way to get complimentary upgrades. To that end, getting a credit card that makes the path to elite status easier is the foundation of an upgrade strategy.
Buy Upgradeable Fares, Then Use Points/Miles
If you accumulate miles with your credit card, you may be able to use those air miles to upgrade your flight. How that process works varies by airline.
United, for example, offers upgrades based on fare class. On any given flight, United might offer fare classes ranging from J and Y — which are full-fare business- and economy-class tickets, respectively — down to the cheapest economy fare buckets like S, T, L, K and more.
The higher the fare class you book, the easier it is to upgrade. According to The Points Guy, you can upgrade W-fare tickets with 40 PlusPoints, but lower fare buckets, including S, T, L, K or G, require 80 Plus Points. Basic economy fares, which book into the N fare bucket, are not eligible for upgrades.
On American, your cabin class determines your upgrade availability, not your fare class. In addition to the automatic upgrades offered to elite members, you can also use the miles earned with your AA credit card to move up to a better cabin.
In addition to complimentary upgrades and upgrade certificates, you can also use miles to upgrade certain Delta flights. If you have an existing reservation that is eligible for a mileage upgrade, you’ll see it noted on your reservation. Delta allows mileage upgrades at a rate of roughly 1.07 cents per mile, according to The Points Guy. This means that a $60 seat upgrade would cost you roughly 5,600 SkyMiles.
Use Credit Card Travel Credits
Some travel credit cards offer generic credits that you can use for any travel-related expense. For example, certain cards offer annual travel credits that can be used to reimburse travel expenses such as seat selection fees. Sometimes these credits cannot be applied to upgrades, however, so be sure to read the fine print before you apply for a card. It’s all too easy to make mistakes that cost you money when traveling.
Can’t upgrade on the flight you intend to take? Depending where you’re staying, you might save money by flying to an adjacent airport, and discover upgrade opportunities on the indirect approach that are still less than the difference.
The Bottom Line
Even when using a credit card, there isn’t really such a thing as a “free” upgrade. Using the strategies above does involve a cost of some type. But if you can play the game without taking on debt or buying things you shouldn’t just to earn your upgrades, you may be able to maneuver your way into a more comfortable seat in 2025. Just remember not to buy your airline tickets on certain days of a week.
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