Some American Airlines frequent flyers are waking up on Wednesday to find some additional Loyalty Points in their accounts.The Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier appears to have started the conversion process for 500-mile upgrade certificates, a plan which was first unveiled back in late February.At the time, American shared the (mixed) news that every elite tier would be eligible for complimentary, space-available upgrades on most domestic and short-haul international flights. Previously, lower-tier elites would need to redeem 500-mile upgrade certificates to be added to the upgrade list.Want more airline-specific news? Sign up for TPG’s free biweekly Aviation newsletter.Earlier this month, the carrier formally announced that companion upgrades would become complimentary as of July 14. Lower-tier elites would previously need to redeem 500-mile upgrades — sometimes called “e500s” — to put a companion on the upgrade list.(Photo by Zach Griff/The Points Guy)Now that upgrades are complimentary, there’s no longer a need for 500-mile upgrade certificates.Instead of simply retiring the e500 program, American announced that it would convert any unexpired certificates into 250 Loyalty Points apiece, beginning in late July.Don’t leave points and miles on the table! The free TPG App alerts you when your points are about to expire.Well, now that we’re four days from the end of the month, American is making good on its promise just in the nick of time.Sign up for our daily newsletterEmail addressSign upI would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. The Points Guy will not share or sell your email. See privacy policy.To see if your 500-mile upgrades have been converted into Loyalty Points, log in to your AAdvantage account and open the activity tab. You should see a tile titled “500 mile upgrade conversion to Loyalty Points.“Clicking into that tile will give you detailed information on how many Loyalty Points you earned from the conversion.In my case, I had 36 unexpired 500-mile upgrades in my account as of July 26. At a rate of 250 Loyalty Points per e500, I received 9,000 Loyalty Points during the conversion process.(Screenshot from aa.com)Many members of the TPG editorial team also reported receiving their conversions on Wednesday morning.While you won’t earn any redeemable AAdvantage miles as part of the conversion process, Loyalty Points are American’s new elite currency. The more you earn, the higher your status will be. Entry-level Gold status requires 30,000 points, while top-tier Executive Platinum requires 200,000 points.You can learn more about Loyalty Points in our detailed guide.While most members may see a status boost on Wednesday, others might’ve already cashed out their unexpired e500s for AAdvantage miles or cash.In April, TPG first reported that American offered alternative compensation for 500-mile upgrades purchased with cash or miles. In those cases, the airline offered flyers a refund or an attractive conversion into AAdvantage miles.
