Even for the more expensive upgrade, you can only upgrade from the three most expensive of the 13 different
basic economy fare classes.
When you book flights with British Airways in the
lowest economy fare class, the number of Avios you earn is equal to 25 % of the miles you fly.
If American follows that path once it designates a separate
Premium Economy fare class, it's likely the cost those seats would work out to be more than just $ 190 each way.
That's for two reasons: it can only be redeemed for tickets in Lufthansa's most
expensive economy fare classes (H, M, Y, and B), and it requires you to pay all the taxes and fees associated with a paid ticket.
They award miles based on the fare class you purchase and
economy fare classes don't come out of this looking too good.
Upgrades with miles are available for fares in Y, B, R, L, U and
M economy fare classes to premium economy for an amount tied to the length of the flight, around 10,000 miles for U.S. - to - U.K. flights.
Many economy fare classes will earn fewer miles whereas business and first class tickets on American Airlines will earn more.
When you book flights with British Airways in the
lowest economy fare class, the number of Avios you earn is equal to 25 % of the miles you fly.
Before it can institute a separate
Premium Economy fare class, however, American must roll out the product across more of its fleet.
Medium and medium - long flights will not see a chance except for the
cheapest economy fare classes (S, N, Q) and long - haul flights in business class and first class will not get a bump either.
If a 75K flies 1,000 miles in a
basic economy fare class, they would earn a total of 2,250 redeemable miles (1,000 base miles + 1,250 elite bonus miles).
If you earn AAdvantage status using Elite Qualifying Points (EQP), you're actually marginally better off under the new chart because two of
the economy fare classes (S & N) will now earn 1.0 EPQ per mile rather than 0.5 EQP.
While some of the premium classes will actually have an INCREASE in the amount of Avios earned, most
economy fare classes are going down, with Q, O, and G economy fare classes now earning only 25 % of the miles flown.