It’s a new elite year at American AAdvantage, so in this post I wanted to provide an updated guide to American Airlines’ Loyalty Points program, especially given the program changes being made as of 2023. For context, American made radical changes to its loyalty program in 2022, as the airline completely reimagined how elite status is earned, and eliminated the concept of elite qualifying miles and elite qualifying dollars.
Earning AAdvantage elite status has been significantly simplified, and doesn’t just account for how much you fly with American, but also factors in how much you engage with American’s partners. You can earn top tier status exclusively through credit card spending, if you wanted to.
In this post I wanted to cover everything you need to know about the Loyalty Points program for 2023.
In this post:
Earn American AAdvantage elite status with Loyalty Points
American AAdvantage elite status is earned exclusively based on how many Loyalty Points you rack up. Every qualifying AAdvantage mile accrued earns you one Loyalty Point. For the 2023 program year, AAdvantage elite status requirements are as follows:
- AAdvantage Gold status requires 40,000 Loyalty Points
- AAdvantage Platinum status requires 75,000 Loyalty Points
- AAdvantage Platinum Pro status requires 125,000 Loyalty Points
- AAdvantage Executive Platinum status requires 200,000 Loyalty Points
American’s invitation-only Concierge Key status continues to have unpublished qualification requirements. However, we have reason to believe that some non-flying activity may also be considered toward earning Concierge Key.
Note that with the Loyalty Points program, status is earned between the beginning of March of a particular year and the end of February of the following year, and is then valid through March 31 of the year after that. That means for the 2023 program year:
- You can earn elite status between March 1, 2023, and February 29, 2024
- The status that you earn during the 2023 year would be valid through March 31, 2025
You may be wondering what’s considered “qualifying” for the purposes of Loyalty Points. Yes, spending $200,000 on a credit card would earn you Executive Platinum status, but buying 200,000 AAdvantage miles wouldn’t earn you Executive Platinum status. So let’s go over those details.
How to earn Loyalty Points for flying American Airlines
The most popular way to earn Loyalty Points is by flying with American Airlines. When flying American Airlines:
- You earn 5x base miles per dollar spent, all of which qualify as Loyalty Points; the exception is that basic economy fares only earn 2x AAdvantage miles
- Elite status bonuses also count as Loyalty Points, ranging from 40% to 120%; Gold members get a 40% bonus, Platinum members get a 60% bonus, Platinum Pro members get an 80% bonus, and Executive Platinum members get a 120% bonus
- In other words, aside from basic economy fares, an AAdvantage Gold member earns 7x Loyalty Points per dollar spent, while an Executive Platinum member earns 11x Loyalty Points per dollar spent
- There’s no cap on how many Loyalty Points you can earn with each ticket
How to earn Loyalty Points for flying partner airlines
In addition to being able to earn Loyalty Points for flying with American Airlines, you can also earn Loyalty Points for flying with partner airlines:
- You can earn Loyalty Points for flights on all oneworld airlines, plus JetBlue and GOL
- All the redeemable miles you earn from flying on partner airlines also qualify as Loyalty Points; this includes elite bonuses, which range from 40-120%, as well as cabin bonuses (where you earn miles for flying premium economy, business class, or first class)
Let me give a couple of examples. Say you’re an AAdvantage Executive Platinum member booking an Alaska Airlines first class ticket from Los Angeles to Seattle in the “I” fare class. That flight covers a distance of 954 miles, so how many Loyalty Points do you earn? Based on the mileage earning chart:
- You earn 100% base miles, so that’s 954 miles
- You then receive a 50% class of service bonus, so that’s 477 miles
- You then earn a 120% elite bonus, so that’s 1,145 miles
- Altogether you earn 2,576 AAdvantage miles, all of which would qualify as Loyalty Points
Say you’re an AAdvantage Gold member booking a British Airways first class ticket from San Francisco to London in the “A” fare class. That flight covers a distance of 5,367 miles, so how many Loyalty Points do you earn? Based on the mileage earning chart:
- You earn 100% base miles, so that’s 5,367 miles
- You then receive a 150% class of service bonus, so that’s 8,051 miles
- You then earn a 40% elite bonus, so that’s 2,147 miles
- Altogether you earn 15,565 AAdvantage miles, all of which would qualify as Loyalty Points
How to earn Loyalty Points for credit card spending
Most American AAdvantage credit cards issued by Barclays and Citi earn Loyalty Points:
- You earn one Loyalty Point for every base mile earned on the card, which would generally be the rate of one Loyalty Point per dollar spent
- Welcome bonuses don’t count as Loyalty Points
- If you’re spending in a category that’s bonused, you only earn Loyalty Points for the “base” spending, meaning one Loyalty Point for every dollar spent; in other words, if a card offers two AAdvantage miles per dollar spent on American Airlines flight purchases, you still only earn one Loyalty Point
But long story short, spending $200,000 on a co-branded American Airlines card, whether it’s the no annual fee American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® (review) or the $595 annual fee Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® (review), would earn you Executive Platinum status.
See this post for all the details on earning Loyalty Points with credit cards.
How to earn Loyalty Points for other partner activity
As far as non-flying activities go, there are some other partners beyond credit cards that allow you to earn qualifying Loyalty Points. Specifically, base miles earned with the following partners can earn you Loyalty Points:
- Platforms: AAdvantage Dining, AAdvantage eShopping, SimplyMiles
- Hotels: AAdvantage Hotels, Hyatt, Marriott, IHG, Marriott Vacations, RocketMiles (this includes miles earned with the American & Hyatt partnership)
- Cars: aa.com/car, Avis, Budget, Payless, Hertz, Dollars, Thrifty, Alamo, National, Sixt
- Cruises & vacation packages: bookaacruises.com, aavacations.com
- Retailers: Shell, WeWork, Vinesse, FTD, Vivid Seats, NRG Energy, Reliant Energy, Xoom, Miles for Opinions
Even if you hadn’t considered these programs in the past, these could be worth another look, as you can rack up Loyalty Points based on your everyday purchases.
What activity doesn’t earn Loyalty Points?
There are several types of activity that don’t earn Loyalty Points, including:
- Buying, gifting, or transferring miles
- Government taxes, fees, and other charges associated with buying airline tickets
- Conversion of another program currency to AAdvantage miles (for example, converting Marriott Bonvoy points, rather than selecting Bonvoy points as your earnings preference for stays)
- For AAdvantage credit cards, welcome bonuses don’t qualify, and neither do “accelerators” or “multipliers” (like extra miles for each dollar spent in certain categories)
- Miles earned with Bask Bank, which offers AAdvantage miles based on how much money you have deposited
I find these exclusions to be interesting. I’m not surprised that buying miles doesn’t count toward Loyalty Points, though at the same time, I don’t follow the logic of that:
- Presumably American selling AAdvantage miles directly to consumers is higher margin than when American sells miles to partner programs (whether it’s Citi or SimplyMiles)
- I suppose the logic is that American thinks it would be too easy to earn status that way, and doesn’t want to do that; but what does and doesn’t qualify really doesn’t fully make sense
American AAdvantage Loyalty Point Rewards
American AAdvantage offers Loyalty Point Rewards, whereby AAdvantage members can select the perks that matter the most to them at 11 different Loyalty Points thresholds. These rewards include perks like systemwide upgrades, bonus miles, and much more.
Some major changes were made to this program in 2023, compared to the 2022 program year:
- The good news is that there’s no longer a requirement to fly 30 segments in order to unlock these rewards; the other good news is that there are more thresholds at which you can earn these rewards
- The bad news is that you no longer earn these rewards when qualifying for Platinum Pro and Executive Platinum, as the most valuable thresholds are 50,000 Loyalty Points higher than what’s required for those status tiers
The 11 tiers for the Loyalty Point Rewards program are as follows (and below I’ll talk a bit more about what they are):
- 15,000 Loyalty Points
- 60,000 Loyalty Points
- 100,000 Loyalty Points
- 175,000 Loyalty Points
- 250,000 Loyalty Points
- 400,000 Loyalty Points
- 550,000 Loyalty Points
- 750,000 Loyalty Points
- 1,000,000 Loyalty Points
- 3,000,000 Loyalty Points
- 5,000,000 Loyalty Points
Loyalty Point Rewards at 15,000 Loyalty Points
When earning 15,000 Loyalty Points, you receive Group 5 boarding for the membership year, and can select one of the following:
- Priority check-in, security, and Group 4 boarding for one trip
- Five preferred seat coupons
Loyalty Point Rewards at 60,000 Loyalty Points
When earning 60,000 Loyalty Points, you receive:
- Avis Preferred status
- A 20% Loyalty Points bonus on spending with AAVacations, AAHotels, AAdvantage eShopping, AAdvantage Dining, and SimplyMiles
Loyalty Point Rewards at 100,000 Loyalty Points
When earning 100,000 Loyalty Points, you receive:
- Avis President’s Club status
- A 30% Loyalty Points bonus on spending with AAVacations, AAHotels, AAdvantage eShopping, AAdvantage Dining, and SimplyMiles
Loyalty Point Rewards at 175,000 Loyalty Points
When earning 175,000 Loyalty Points, you can choose one of the following:
- Two systemwide upgrades
- 20,000 bonus miles, or 25,000 bonus miles for AAdvantage credit card members
- Six Admirals Club day passes
- A $200 trip credit, or $250 for AAdvantage credit card members
- A $250 donation to a partner charity
- A 15% AAdvantage award rebate
- The ability to gift AAdvantage Gold status to two people
Loyalty Point Rewards at 250,000 Loyalty Points
When earning 250,000 Loyalty Points, you can choose two of the following:
- Two systemwide upgrades
- 20,000 bonus miles, or 30,000 bonus miles for AAdvantage credit card members
- Six Admirals Club day passes
- An Admirals Club membership (this requires both choices)
- A $200 trip credit, or $250 for AAdvantage credit card members
- A $250 donation to a partner charity
- The ability to gift AAdvantage Gold status to two people
- A selection of Bang & Olufsen products (this requires both choices)
- A Flagship Lounge single visit pass, or two passes for AAdvantage credit card members
Loyalty Point Rewards at 400,000, 550,000, and 750,000 Loyalty Points
When earning 400,000, 550,000, or 750,000 Loyalty Points, you can choose two of the following at each threshold:
- One systemwide upgrades
- 25,000 bonus miles
- An Admirals Club membership (this requires both choices)
- A $200 trip credit, or $250 for AAdvantage credit card members
- The ability to gift AAdvantage Platinum status
- A selection of Bang & Olufsen products (this requires both choices)
- Two Flagship Lounge single visit passes
- One Flagship First Dining visit pass
Loyalty Point Rewards at 1,000,000 Loyalty Points
When earning 1,000,000 Loyalty Points, you can choose one of the following:
- Four systemwide upgrades
- The ability to gift AAdvantage Platinum Pro status
- A mileage rebate of 100,000 AAdvantage miles
Loyalty Point Rewards at 3,000,000 Loyalty Points
When earning 3,000,000 Loyalty Points, you can choose one of the following:
- Six systemwide upgrades
- The ability to gift AAdvantage Executive Platinum status
- A mileage rebate of 300,000 AAdvantage miles
Loyalty Point Rewards at 5,000,000 Loyalty Points
When earning 5,000,000 Loyalty Points, you can choose one of the following:
- 10 systemwide upgrades
- The ability to gift AAdvantage Executive Platinum status
- A mileage rebate of 500,000 AAdvantage miles
How to see your AAdvantage Loyalty Points total
You can always easily see your AAdvantage Loyalty Points total by logging into your AAdvantage account, either through aa.com or the American Airlines app. There’s a simple graphic that shows your status toward qualifying for the various Loyalty Points thresholds.
You can click on the “Activity” tab to see a breakdown of the Loyalty Points you’ve earned for all your AAdvantage accruing activity.
Loyalty Points determine upgrade priority
Complimentary upgrades are one of the best perks of airline elite status. Loyalty Points can play into your odds of getting upgrades. American Airlines upgrades are prioritized first by elite status, and then by your rolling 12-month total of Loyalty Points.
In other words, the more Loyalty Points you rack up on an ongoing basis, the higher your upgrade priority will be within your elite tier. Nowadays all AAdvantage elites are eligible for complimentary upgrades within North America, and upgrades even extend to companions.
However, there are lots of people eligible for upgrades and limited seats to upgrade to, so higher elite status and a higher Loyalty Points total really makes a difference for clearing into an available seat.
How to earn American AAdvantage Million Miler lifetime status
American AAdvantage has lifetime elite status, whereby you can earn AAdvantage Gold or Platinum status for life, for passing one million or two million lifetime miles (respectively). The requirements to earn that are unrelated to Loyalty Points.
Miles toward Million Miler are calculated based on the distance flown for American marketed flights, or base miles earned for travel on eligible partner marketed flights. That means you can’t earn lifetime status through credit card spending (as an example).
Unfortunately American’s lifetime elite status program continues to be woefully uncompetitive, especially in comparison to Delta SkyMiles and United MileagePlus.
Crunching the numbers on AAdvantage Loyalty Points
How hard is it to earn AAdvantage elite status with the Loyalty Points program, compared to the previous one? For context, prior to the pandemic, AAdvantage Executive Platinum status used to require earning 100,000 elite qualifying miles and 15,000 elite qualifying dollars in a year. Now the status requires 200,000 Loyalty Points.
With that in mind, a few thoughts on the math here:
- If you’re earning 11x Loyalty Points per dollar spent on American flights, you’d have to spend ~$18,200 per year on flights to earn Executive Platinum status, which is a significant increase compared to the previous requirement
- Interestingly Executive Platinum status is even harder to earn than before if you’re starting from scratch, since you don’t earn the same 120% mileage bonus from the start; you’d have to spend over $27,000 on flights to get to Executive Platinum status from scratch
- On the other end of the spectrum, spending $200,000 per year on a co-branded credit card would also earn you Executive Platinum status
- To take a hybrid approach, if you’re an Executive Platinum member you could spend $100,000 per year on a co-branded credit card and spend ~$9,100 per year on flights to maintain Executive Platinum status
- The catch is that if you want benefits like systemwide upgrades, you now need to aim for an extra 50,000 Loyalty Points above Platinum Pro or Executive Platinum (you’ll need 175,000 Loyalty Points and 250,000 Loyalty Points, respectively)
Why American shifted to the Loyalty Points system
Some road warriors are confused and frustrated about why American has made these changes, which increasingly incentivize qualifying for status through non-flying means.
The reality is that this reflects how American makes money. Flying is incredibly low margin for airlines. American makes much of its profits through non-flying means, including the AAdvantage program.
So it’s entirely rational that American would want to give people an incentive to engage in the activity that’s profitable and high margin. After all, it’s more or less pure profit when you book a hotel through American’s portal, or use a co-branded credit card.
See this post for more on why this program makes sense.
Bottom line
We’re now into the 2023 American AAdvantage elite year. Status is awarded based on how many Loyalty Points you accrue, rather than based on how many miles you fly, or how much you spend on flights. Loyalty Points can be earned through flying, credit card spending, and activity with AAdvantage partners.
The biggest change from 2022 to 2023 is that the new Loyalty Point Rewards system offers more tiers at which you can be rewarded, though the requirements for the most valuable Loyalty Points tiers have increased. Fortunately there’s no longer a requirement to fly 30 segments to unlock those perks.
Do you have any questions about American’s Loyalty Points system that I haven’t answered? What’s your take on the program?
I know how to earn points but how do I REDEEM them! How to get something in return. Who to ask! …and then they expire in a year! Seems to be much ado for nothing gained,
I have accrued more than 1.5 million miles and was informed by American I have lifetime gold. Yet as this year began, my loyalty points count status started at zero. Is this another case where American spits in the face of its longtime customers?
At the 250,000 mile award, that gives you two choices, can you pick the same item twice?
I am a bit confused. I am working hard to get to platinum status and expect I'll be there in the next couple of months (say September 2023 at latest). I understand Loyalty Point counter will reset to zero on March 1st, but does the new program mean that on March 31 of 2024 my status will revert to "no status", and I have to restart earning my loyalty points to get back up to platinum status? Thanks for your help in understanding the program.
How do you earn with buying an AA issued ticket for a JAL flight? Do you earn based on dollars spent since it is an AA ticket? Or, do you earn with miles multiplier since the flight is on JAL?
Hello! Does anyone know if Etihad flights count for LP?
Thank you in advance!
I would echo some of the previous comments and would appreciate any help in understanding what happened. My wife and I consistently fly AA and consolidate all of our spending on an AA loyalty credit card. While we never qualified for loyalty choice tiers because our total number of flights was relatively low, due to our credit card spend, we had worked our way up to Platinum Pro and seemed to be on track for...
I would echo some of the previous comments and would appreciate any help in understanding what happened. My wife and I consistently fly AA and consolidate all of our spending on an AA loyalty credit card. While we never qualified for loyalty choice tiers because our total number of flights was relatively low, due to our credit card spend, we had worked our way up to Platinum Pro and seemed to be on track for Executive.
Under the new program, it looks like we are back to square one with status being determined by loyalty points (as opposed to a separate program). Maybe I'm not remembering correctly, but I could have sworn the status program accumulated year-over-year as opposed to starting over again each year. It seems like under the new program it will be much harder to qualify yearly for the perks that we value most (boarding group, number of free bags checked, and upgrades/seats.)
Any help in understanding this would be greatly appreciated - really enjoy this site.
Does anyone know when the LP's get deposited?
time of booking flight? or after the flight?
I was short for AA Executive Platinum by 8k points of Feb. 6, 2023, the day my Citi CC points credited to my Advantage Awards account. I had some subsequent purchases which covered the needed 8k LPs and I paid off the balance of the card Feb. 14. I was under the impression I would receive LP credit for activity posted on the AAdvantage Citi card through the end of Feb 2023. They are now...
I was short for AA Executive Platinum by 8k points of Feb. 6, 2023, the day my Citi CC points credited to my Advantage Awards account. I had some subsequent purchases which covered the needed 8k LPs and I paid off the balance of the card Feb. 14. I was under the impression I would receive LP credit for activity posted on the AAdvantage Citi card through the end of Feb 2023. They are now telling me that they are only crediting me with my CC activity through Feb 6 as that is the day the CC credits to AA Awards. To me that is short 22 days from what I feel they represented when saying Feb 28, 2023. Anyone else have this issue. Total BS. On top of that, the Customer Service reps I have been reaching by phone lately have been located in MX. What happened to the US based CS reps?
UPDATE- I just received email from AA telling me they will rectify the issue with crediting LPs though entire month of February 2023. I am fairly surprised I even received a reply. Must not have been the only one raising the issue. Good they did the right thing.
From AA- “Thank you for reaching out to us about your credit card posting. American Airlines just announced There will be a one-time exception to consider...
UPDATE- I just received email from AA telling me they will rectify the issue with crediting LPs though entire month of February 2023. I am fairly surprised I even received a reply. Must not have been the only one raising the issue. Good they did the right thing.
From AA- “Thank you for reaching out to us about your credit card posting. American Airlines just announced There will be a one-time exception to consider all February cobrand spend to count toward the 2022 status
qualification year. Members will receive the Loyalty Points from February spend that was not credited with the last statement. This will
be deposited before the end of the month.
AAdvantage® Customer Service
American Airlines®“
In 2022, AA had a promotion, promotion code LCR22, by which you earned award options by flying 30 segments AND reaching certain thresholds for loyalty points.
With typical AA lack of clarity, this promotion was implied in its T&C throughout 2022 as something separate and distinct from LP progress through elite tiers. So, in principle you could earn XP with 200K loyalty points and w/o flying 30 segments. (If I'm wrong about this, someone kindly...
In 2022, AA had a promotion, promotion code LCR22, by which you earned award options by flying 30 segments AND reaching certain thresholds for loyalty points.
With typical AA lack of clarity, this promotion was implied in its T&C throughout 2022 as something separate and distinct from LP progress through elite tiers. So, in principle you could earn XP with 200K loyalty points and w/o flying 30 segments. (If I'm wrong about this, someone kindly show me where it's mentioned anywhere on the AA site.)
Evidently, though, if you earn XP w/o the segments, you're XP, but you don't get any award options.
By all rights, as described in the T&C, these two paths upward through LPs were, again, separate and distinct. The LCR22 promotion would, in principle, yield award options as its own distinct entity, depending on segments flown and LPs earned. Then, separately, reach the tier thresholds would yield the usual award options granted at each tier threshold.
AA, however, isn't now treating these as separate and distinct. AA's line is that you can only earn one set of award options. If you reach 200K LPs but don't have 30 segments, you're now a disadvantaged XP who doesn't receive any award options. If you reach 200K and have 30 segments, you're no better off than a 2021 XP who earned award options based on miles.
Am I really understanding this correctly? Are there truly newly-minted or renewal XPs who as of 2/28/2023 didn't fly 30 segments and will therefore not receive the usual XP award options? And for those of us who reached 200K and flew 30 segments, aren't we entitled to both the usual XP award options AND the award options from the 2022 LCR22 promotion?
“Am I really understanding this correctly?”
Partly.
“Are there truly newly-minted or renewal XPs who as of 2/28/2023 didn't fly 30 segments and will therefore not receive the usual XP award options?”
Yes.
“And for those of us who reached 200K and flew 30 segments, aren't we entitled to both the usual XP award options AND the award options from the 2022 LCR22 promotion?”
No. You never needed promo LCR22 to obtain the rewards....
“Am I really understanding this correctly?”
Partly.
“Are there truly newly-minted or renewal XPs who as of 2/28/2023 didn't fly 30 segments and will therefore not receive the usual XP award options?”
Yes.
“And for those of us who reached 200K and flew 30 segments, aren't we entitled to both the usual XP award options AND the award options from the 2022 LCR22 promotion?”
No. You never needed promo LCR22 to obtain the rewards. Just fly the segments. Unless you were targeted for some special promo, there was only one set of awards - the ones you got at 125k LPs, 200k LPs, etc… AND also having flown the 30 segments.
Check out: https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-program/aadvantage-status/loyalty-choice-rewards.jsp
BTW, if you have an issue with AA, don't bother asking for Loyalty Points as compensation. I've just been advised by AA that: "We also do not provide "loyalty" points as any form of compensation.
I had 74K loyalty points and was short of 1k points to hit platinum status. However, with this change all points are gone and I had to start from Zero. Absurd! I believe some percentage must roll over or I should not start from zero at least. Seems like AA want us to be loyal but we get nothing for showing that loyalty in a year. Smh
@Raul - I am legitimately perplexed - did you not understand the program and the qualifying requirements? Elite qualification has always been on a 12 month calendar. You didn't "lose" any points. What is absurd? Everyone is starting from zero. Everyone. Why should you start from something different?
What about the "rollover" of LPs earned in January and February 2022? As I understood it, these also counted for 2023-24 status. I earned more than 32,000 LPs in January/Feb 2022 and as of yesterday my account says "0".
same here. i hope it's just a delay in the manual processing of the LP.
Those points earned in January/February 2022 counted in the past year - a "14 month" year. They rolled over into the March 2022 - February 2023 year. Everyone is starting from zero as of March 1, 2023.
@James - "As I understood it, these also counted for 2023-24 status."
No, they counted for 2022-2023 status. Effectively 2022-2023 had 14 months - January 2022 through the end of February 2023.
I was also sure, that I read in the aa.com website the points would rollover this year as well. I think that they updated this information retroactively. But if we find this information in an old version of their website, we might be able to claim the LP-points. If I find the link, Ill post it here.
Over the past year I had two round trips with a total of 6 of 7 segments on AA metal (the other segment was on Qantas). The tickets were purchased for me by a cruise line. After the trips it was clear that the Loyalty Points I earned, for all segments, were based on mileage as if I had flown on a partner airline. The cost of the tickets was not part of the Loyalty...
Over the past year I had two round trips with a total of 6 of 7 segments on AA metal (the other segment was on Qantas). The tickets were purchased for me by a cruise line. After the trips it was clear that the Loyalty Points I earned, for all segments, were based on mileage as if I had flown on a partner airline. The cost of the tickets was not part of the Loyalty Points calculation for any of the segments. I have not found this practice documented anywhere. It would be helpful to know what type of tickets are subject to this LP calculation method.
Any ticket on another airlines' ticket stock rewards LPs based on miles flown. I am flying J on JAL in 2 months - a JAL ticket - and crediting it to AA. AA doesn't know how much I paid JAL, and JAL won't (and can't in many cases) share that info, so LPs and miles are awarded based on mileage flown. Same with cruise lines' tickets (and AA Vacations).
What about using Cash + Avios points or straight up award ticket with Avios points - would this ticket, say on British Airways or Cathay Pacific, earn you loyalty points with American per the usual formula?
I accumulated just over 3000 loyalty points in the past 2 weeks. Now they are gone. No happy about that. So disappointing. SMH Why can't it ever be about doing the right thing by the consumer instead of the airlines bottom line...NOT HAPPY!
@ Christina N. -- I'm sorry for your frustration. In fairness, we always knew that the Loyalty Points program would require annual qualification, as they're different than redeemable miles, which don't expire as long as you have some qualifying activity. Admittedly these programs can be complicated to understand at times.
The status year reset. What are you upset about?
If only AA had informed their customers of this in advance. SAD!
When I reach 175,000 LP I can choose Two systemwide upgrades
When I reach 250,000 I can have 2 more choices, so another 2 Two systemwide upgrades?
And how soon do they grant the upgrade once you make a reservation in main cabin?
Thankd
@ Carla Conti -- At 250,000 Loyalty Points you have two choices, so you could select two systemwide upgrades twice (for a total of four at that threshold). The upgrades can in theory be confirmed at the time of booking, but that's only if American makes upgrade space available in advance, which is rare. If you have to waitlist, the upgrade can clear any time between when you booked and the gate.
No more LP bonus for hitting spending thresholds on the Barclay Silver Aviator?
Great question - would love to confirm that both credit card LP bonuses are still valid for 2023.
Rather than speculate, someone could actually look in their Barclays' account. Or call. It really isn't that hard to find. There *are* spending thresholds that earn LPs in 2023. Same as last year.
I just logged into my Barclay silver MasterCard account and found no mention of LP bonuses for hitting spending thresholds. Earning EQM bonuses is still listed in the "AMERICAN AIRLINES AADVANTAGE AVIATOR SILVER MASTERCARD REWARD RULES" document.
I looks like it's time to downgrade this card.
However...
Per the Barclay MasterCard information on AA's website:
The primary cardmember may earn additional Loyalty Points (as defined in the AAdvantage® section of aa.com) if spend thresholds detailed below are met during the status qualification period. The status qualification period will be the twelve-month period beginning on March 1, and running through the end of February of the following year. The primary cardmember may earn an additional 5,000 Loyalty Points if they spend $20,000...
However...
Per the Barclay MasterCard information on AA's website:
The primary cardmember may earn additional Loyalty Points (as defined in the AAdvantage® section of aa.com) if spend thresholds detailed below are met during the status qualification period. The status qualification period will be the twelve-month period beginning on March 1, and running through the end of February of the following year. The primary cardmember may earn an additional 5,000 Loyalty Points if they spend $20,000 on Net Purchases made with the Card Account with a transaction date during the status qualification period. The primary cardmember may earn an additional 5,000 Loyalty Points during the same status qualification period if they spend $40,000 on Net Purchases with the Card Account. The primary cardmember may earn an additional 5,000 Loyalty Points during the same status qualification period if they spend $50,000 on Net Purchases with the Card Account. The AAdvantage® Aviator® Silver Mastercard® primary cardmember may earn the maximum 15,000 additional Loyalty Points once during each status qualification period, even if the primary cardmember has more than one AAdvantage® Aviator® Silver Mastercard® account and met the spend threshold on each. Net Purchases made by authorized users will count toward the primary cardmember’s qualifying spend. Loyalty Points earned as a result of this benefit will be posted to the primary cardmember’s AAdvantage Account 6-8 weeks after meeting the spend requirement. Full details on AAdvantage® status qualification and Loyalty Points are located at aa.com/aadvantage This benefit may not be achievable based on the assigned credit line and ability to maintain that credit line.
@TravelCat - go to "Rewards Activity" under "Rewards & Benefits" and the LP status progress is right there, underneath Wifi credit and the Companion Certificate.
@TravelCat2 - downgrade if you want, but there *are* LP bonuses. Have you actually looked? They are there.
Thanks @OCTinPH! You are correct. I was looking in the "Earn AAdvantage miles" section.
Glad you found it.
Sorry if I was snippy... another blogger keeps saying that the LP bonuses were only for 2022, despite my repeatedly telling him that is not the case.
I agree with you - without the LP bonuses, the Silver card isn't that much better than the Red. 3x miles (but not LPs) versus 2x just isn't worth it. Not when I can't spend the miles I already have.
Can you use the preferred seat coupons for other people?
Its says non-transferable, but can be used for passengers on same ticket. What I dont understand is if you are already a platinum or even an exec platinum level these 15,000 point rewards are useless honestly. You can already get seats at no cost if family/friends are traveling with you on the same ticket. And the group 5 boarding doesn't get you any higher than what we already have. Very confusing to see how this is a reward.
Congratulations on lifetime Gold 1MM
When will you reach 2MM
Two questions:
1. I fly almost exclusively domestic. But am I was looking at a trip to Japan with biz costing $14,000. As an EP does that mean 14,000 x 5 LP plus 120% EP bonus = 168,000 plus 14,000 points for paying with an AA credit card so almost getting EP with one round trip?
2. How does rank work day 1? I noticed some guys have 600,000 LPs as of 2/28. Do...
Two questions:
1. I fly almost exclusively domestic. But am I was looking at a trip to Japan with biz costing $14,000. As an EP does that mean 14,000 x 5 LP plus 120% EP bonus = 168,000 plus 14,000 points for paying with an AA credit card so almost getting EP with one round trip?
2. How does rank work day 1? I noticed some guys have 600,000 LPs as of 2/28. Do we all reset to zero on 3/1 and if I’m on a trip 3/1 to 3/8 to SYD in F and I get 270k LPs I’m the highest ranked EP?
@ John -- That's correct, if you'd like to drop $14K on a ticket as an Executive Platinum, that will earn you a lot of Loyalty Points (154,000, before factoring in Loyalty Points earned through credit card spending).
As far as Loyalty Points priority goes, it's based on your total over a rolling 12-month period. So even though your account only shows your Loyalty Points total for this program year, American uses data on your...
@ John -- That's correct, if you'd like to drop $14K on a ticket as an Executive Platinum, that will earn you a lot of Loyalty Points (154,000, before factoring in Loyalty Points earned through credit card spending).
As far as Loyalty Points priority goes, it's based on your total over a rolling 12-month period. So even though your account only shows your Loyalty Points total for this program year, American uses data on your rolling total to determine your priority relative to other Executive Platinums.
$14k should get you a F ticket on JAL, or close to it. Why spend $14k on AA, even to help re-qualify? I am flying JAL J in 2 months and will earn ~50k LPs for a $3500 ticket.
seems like you would get 14K x 11x (EP) for the flight 154K and then you really should get 28K for the credit card with almost all AA branded cards so 182K (same end result as yours but slightly different math). I would not pay with an AA card if you can avoid it and go with Amex Plat or another 5x card as it's a decent 70K amex/other currency points you could get that are more flexible and a better return
You would get 28k miles for the credit card (or whatever the multiplier is) but you will only get 14k loyalty points. The bonus spend on credit cards for AA flights (or other categories) do not count as loyalty points.
For upgrades LP points appear to trump everything else down the line except ticket type.
My reading of what Ben wrote is that ranking for upgrades is based on your rolling 12 month total, and that that adjusts every day. Loyalty points for elite qualification and loyalty awards is the count that resets as you qualify for those within the March to February year. If that's what is happening it would be helpful if AA showed separate counts for 'Rolling 12 month LP total' and '2023 Qualification LPs'.
Oh my goodness I have 0 loyalty points. Did I get hacked ?
Same - why are we starting from scratch?
Same, not happy about that! Disappointed in American Airlines.
Huh? Why? Do you not understand LPs are now on a March - February year rather than a calendar year? It was announced 16 or 17 months ago.
All airlines ff programs start from scratch every year. Delta allows some roll over but their program is useless. You can roll over a few points and then spend 500K miles on a ticket