American Airlines has made another major update to its AAdvantage loyalty program.
This time, the Fort Worth-based airline has news for both elite and casual flyers. We offer new benefits when you earn loyalty points, the ability to use miles to upgrade with our partners, and more.
Please see below for details.
Earning elite status remains the same
American Airlines’ upcoming Elite Year will run from March 1, 2024 to February 28, 2025. This means he has 12 months to exceed the various loyalty point thresholds required to earn or requalify for status.
As part of the airline’s update, the airline confirmed that the elite threshold will remain unchanged for the next program year.
“We want to make sure that we deliver on that promise, no matter what level we put out,” American Airlines AAdvantage director Chris Isaak said in an interview with TPG. “And when we looked at it this year, we met the criteria and experience required for the various status and loyalty point reward levels, so there was no need to change them.”
To earn elite status in 2024, you must earn the following number of loyalty points:
- Gold: 40,000 loyalty points
- Platinum: 75,000 Loyalty Points
- Platinum Pro: 125,000 Loyalty Points
- Executive Platinum: 200,000 Loyalty Points
New benefits to earn loyalty points
In addition to earning status, America Rewards earns you rewards at various loyalty point milestones. These advantages are Loyalty point benefits will remain largely unchanged in 2024, except for one important addition.
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Starting with the next membership year, the airline will add the ability to redeem loyalty point rewards for additional loyalty points toward AAdvantage status.
You can select 1,000 bonus loyalty points with a threshold of 15,000 loyalty points reward. 5,000 bonus loyalty points on a base value of 175,000 loyalty points. The 250,000 Loyalty Points reward threshold gives you 15,000 bonus Loyalty Points.
Isaac explained that the airline added the new 1,000 loyalty point bonus in direct response to member feedback. Many elites are already eligible to receive benefits granted on a 15,000 loyalty point reward basis, so they asked American Airlines to offer something more meaningful to them.
This new offering, 1,000 bonus loyalty points, is American’s answer. “You could call it a head start on loyalty points,” Isaac said.
Therefore, the loyalty point reward threshold includes these benefits.
15,000 loyalty points
Once you unlock Group 5 boarding for your membership year, you can choose between:
- Priority check-in, security protection, and group 4 boarding in one trip
- 5 priority seat coupons
- 1,000 bonus loyalty points
60,000 loyalty points
Unlock Avis Preferred Plus status and receive a 20% Loyalty Points bonus when you spend with the partners below.
- American Airlines Travel Guide
- American Airlines Hotels
- AAdvantage e-shopping portal
- AAdvantage Dining Portal
- Simply Mile
100,000 Loyalty Points
When you unlock Avis President Club status, you’ll receive a 30% Loyalty Points bonus on your next partner spend within 6 months of unlocking this benefit.
- American Airlines Travel Guide
- American Airlines Hotels
- e-shopping portal
- dining portal
- Simply Miles
175,000 Loyalty Points
You can choose between:
- Two system-wide upgrades
- 20,000 bonus miles (25,000 for AAdvantage credit cardholders)
- Six Admirals Club Day Pass
- $200 travel credit ($250 for AAdvantage credit cardholders)
- carbon offset
- Donate $250 to 1 of 10 partner charities
- 15% one-time benefit rebate
- Gold status gift (gift for 2 people)
- Save 35,000 miles with Mastercard Priceless Experiences
- 5,000 loyalty points
250,000 Loyalty Points
You have two choices:
- Two system-wide upgrades
- 20,000 bonus miles (30,000 for AAdvantage credit cardholders)
- Six Admirals Club Day Pass
- Admirals Club Individual Membership (2 choices required)
- $200 travel credit ($250 for AAdvantage credit cardholders)
- carbon offset
- Donate $250 to 1 of 10 partner charities
- Gold status gifts (you can gift to 2 people per pick)
- Bang & Olufsen products (requires two choices)
- One (1) single-entry Flagship Lounge pass (2 passes for AAdvantage credit cardholders)
- Save 35,000 miles with Mastercard Priceless Experiences
- 15,000 loyalty points
400,000, 550,000, 750,000 loyalty points
Once you cross the 400,000, 550,000, and 750,000 Loyalty Points thresholds, you will collect two choices from the following menus.
- One upgrade for the entire system
- 25,000 bonus miles
- Admirals Club Individual Membership (2 choices required)
- $200 travel credit ($250 for AAdvantage credit cardholders)
- carbon offset
- Platinum status gift
- Bang & Olufsen products (requires two choices)
- 2 single entry passes to the Flagship Lounge
- 1 Flagship First Dining visit pass
- Save 40,000 miles with Mastercard Priceless Experiences
1 million points
You can choose between:
- Four system-wide upgrades
- Gift of Platinum Pro Status
- 100,000 miles back
- Save 150,000 miles with Mastercard Priceless Experiences
- carbon offset
3 million points
You can choose between:
- Six system-wide upgrades
- Executive Platinum Status Gift
- 300,000 miles back
- Save 350,000 Miles with Mastercard Priceless Experience
- carbon offset
5 million points
You can choose between:
- 10 system-wide upgrades
- Executive Platinum Status Gift
- 500,000 mile rebate
- Save 550,000 miles with Mastercard Priceless Experiences
- carbon offset
3 new ways to earn and redeem miles
American Airlines is offering three new ways to earn or redeem miles in 2024.
First, travelers will (eventually) be able to earn redeemable miles and additional loyalty points when they pay cash to upgrade to a premium cabin. In recent months, American Airlines has been aggressive in selling post-purchase upgrade discounts, but these purchases did not include additional AAdvantage miles or loyalty points.
Fortunately, that’s set to change this year (no date has been announced yet). As with standard paid tickets, you earn redeemable miles and loyalty points towards upgrade fees.
This move is a double-edged sword. While it’s likely to be advantageous for those purchasing these discounted upgrades, it may make it more difficult for elites to enjoy free upgrades on domestic flights. As more premium seats are sold, there are simply fewer upgrades available in the days and hours leading up to departure.
Second, American Airlines will allow Platinum Pro, Executive Platinum, and Concierge Key members to use their miles to visit the United States. Flagship First food and beverage facilities at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), Miami International Airport (MIA), and, if they reopen from pandemic-related closures, Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). It remains to be seen what the mileage rate will be.
Interestingly, this move comes months before American Airlines officially discontinued its Boeing 777-300ER and Airbus A321T first class products. Even without selling first-class tickets, airlines seem to think they can fill their facilities with mileage redemptions.
Finally, American Airlines plans to introduce the ability to use AAdvantage miles to upgrade flights on select partner airlines in late 2024. This is a big tease from American Airlines, as the airline declined to provide additional details about this upcoming service.
6 changes to becoming an AAdvantage member
Later this year, American Airlines plans to make six more changes to its loyalty program for all members.
This includes giving AAdvantage members an additional six-month grace period. Use your travel credit when canceling your flight voluntarily on the American website. Travel credits are typically valid for one year from the date of issue, so AAdvantage members have 18 months to use these credits.
This is a great perk and a great way to generate loyalty sign-ups for travelers who aren’t participating in the program when booking flights.
Additionally, later this month, American Airlines will allow AAdvantage members to voluntarily cancel basic economy tickets for partial travel credits for a $99 fee (deducted from the ticket price).
Previously, Basic Economy tickets could not be changed or refunded after the 24-hour cancellation grace period expired. Again, this is another nice perk of joining the AAdvantage program.
American Airlines is touting four other new members-only benefits as “exclusive” for AAdvantage travelers. These four “new” benefits include:
- 24-hour free ticket retention
- Ability to purchase Admirals Club day passes
- You can now purchase a one-time pass to the Flagship Lounge
- Free same day standby
American Airlines says these benefits will now be exclusive to AAdvantage members, but the company previously offered all of these benefits to all travelers, whether they were AAdvantage members or not. .
As such, American Airlines appears to be focused on expanding its membership base with these new benefits, as the airline adds new benefits or limits access to other benefits to AAdvantage members only. It will be interesting to see if.
“Just being a member gives you access to certain things. Some of these are assets that we currently have, but this is something that we, as AAdvantage members, can do to make your travels better. Think of it as the foundation of what you do,” says Isaac. He said.
conclusion
American Airlines’ AAdvantage program underwent a major overhaul during the pandemic with the introduction of loyalty points, improving the benefits of loyalty to the airline.
In 2024, American Airlines will not strip or devalue the benefits of AAdvantage membership. Of course, that could change later this year, but the initial announcement focused on careers in 2024 should be good news overall for members.
Who knows if this will lead to more AAdvantage sign-ups, but it certainly seems to be the airline’s focus right now. After all, loyalty members are more interested in airlines and more likely to sign up for co-branded credit cards, which ultimately drives up airline revenue.
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