Can I use my airline miles for an upgrade to first class?

Question

I have approx. 60,000 ffm on American Airlines. It will take me 35,000 miles to get to Hawaii in coach class, leaving me with a remainder of 25,000. Can I use these extra miles to upgrade to a first class ticket on this airline? If so, how many of these miles would it require? I cannot seem to find this information on their website. Thank you!

Answer 1

I checked through American Airlines website and it sucks!  It doesn't tell you directly or not if you can upgrade afterwards.  However, I did find that you cannot upgrade unless you have a paid ticket.  (pretty stupid)  Anywho- sorry AA wasn't as customer friendly as NW!

Answer 2

When you're using your AA miles to buy an award ticket, you can either buy it in coach or first but you CAN'T use additional miles to upgrade from that.  Once you use award miles to buy a coach ticket, you're sitting in coach =/

However, if you buy a paid coach ticket, you could use 30,000 miles and pay a fee to upgrade to first class =]

Hope this helps!