American Airlines offered me a 3-month trial of their Gold status, during which time I was treated like a Gold member, and could achieve Gold status for next year by flying a certain amount of miles in those 3 months (I think it was around 7,000).
I tried using my 500-mile credits on American to get upgrades for all legs of the trip (American’s 500-mile program is a bit confusing, which I will describe in later posts). For my flight there – from San Francisco to Charlotte to Providenciales, Turks & Caicos, as an American Gold member none of my 500-mile Upgrades were accept, but I was able to move into Main Cabin Extra seats for free for both flights home (PLS to CLT and CLT to SFO) at check in.
On the way back, though. The angels opened the sky and behold the e-mail that I received telling me I was upgraded to Business class for my flight from Providenciales to Charlotte.
Unfortunately, I took this flight before I decided to start blogging, so I don’t have many photos, but I do have some impressions of the trip.
On a more broad perspective, if I can’t have both, I would always prefer to have my business/first class flight heading home, so that I can look forward to that flight, rather than dreading leaving. So, being upgraded almost a day in advance made me feel a little less bad about leaving the gorgeous paradise of Grace Bay.
The service was decent. The seats in business are set up in a 2-2 configuration that gives you extra space and slightly increased recline. That said, I was in a window seat and passenger sat next to me passed out, and I awkwardly had to climb over him to go to the bathroom. So, keep in mind that if you’re in the passenger seat, you’ll likely need your neighbor’s help in getting out.
I was welcomed with a Bloody Mary that didn’t taste amazing (they were out of Worcestershire sauce), but it was good enough for me. The crew was super friendly and there was a talkative woman in the front row who had injured her leg, and I think they gave the empty Business class seat because she had a connection she would have missed otherwise because of her injury. I have to say, she was hilarious, and I normally don’t enjoy talkative people on my flights.
The flight was less than 3 hours and I would recommend getting a window seat so that you can see the beautiful Turks & Caicos while leaving. The meal service was decent (I got some kind of pasta dish), but what was really worth it was the priority seating – if I wasn’t seated towards the front of the plane, it would have been hard for me to make my connection to San Francisco.
I would definitely use my American Airlines 500-mile Upgrades for this flight again, as the extra comfort made leaving the island a little more bearable.
Josh Trips 