American Airlines Aadvantage Screwing Members Again

At that place's been a trend over the past several years for airline to award status based on ticket spending. United took this to the most extreme place, dropping miles and flights and in favor of a straight-up pend counter. Information technology'due south crass, and it's not very engaging. It also misses the point that the customers who spend the well-nigh aren't necessarily the most profitable, or the ones with whom a program can influence wallet share.

It'due south been obvious for two decades that frequent flyer programs were the highest value role of an airline. Mileage Plus was the only assisting slice of United when the airline filed bankruptcy 20 years ago. They secured debtor-in-possession financing from their co-make card partner, and when times were crude pre-sold miles to provide the airline with liquidity. During the pandemic the largest airlines raised $six.5 to $ten billion apiece against the future income streams of their frequent flyer programs alone.

Nonetheless it took the pandemic for airlines to try new things, to motility out of lock step with each other in their race to the bottom. American Airlines did something truly revolutionary (if non obvious) in declaring that the company's best customers aren't just the ones who spend the virtually on low margin airline tickets. Instead spending money with the airline's co-brand credit card, shopping through their portal, and engaging in myriad other transactions with their partners that cause those partners to purchase miles from the airline are the sine qua non of a profitable client.

Elite condition will require:

• Gold: xxx,000 points earned
  
• Platinum: 75,000 pointss earned
  
• Platinum Pro: 125,000 points earned
  
• Executive Platinum: 200,000 points earned

A minimum of 30 flights will exist needed to earn 'choice awards' that offset at 125,000 Loyalty Points per year. But status itself tin can exist earned without always setting foot on an airplane. And upgrade lists are prioritized based on aristocracy status followed by the number of loyalty points y'all've earned in the preceding 12 months.

Why do I say this is fun?

• I think 20 years ago driving around to find gas stations that accustomed Diners Social club. At present mayhap it makes sense to drive around looking for Shell gas stations, though you but earn a loyalty point per dollar and demand a lot of gas to motility the needle on your status and you're capped at earning 1560 miles per year this manner.

  I was never going to have a gas preference based on 1500 miles per year (especially when it meant giving up cash back) just every fiddling chip helps towards status and could make the departure in clearing an upgrade.

• Groups of frequent flyers earn their travel funds past buying products through shopping portals and reselling those products to suspension even or earn a profit, with their margin coming from the shopping portal in the form of miles or cash back. Those folks can leverage the American Airlines shopping portals towards tiptop status for the first fourth dimension. Figuring out what products you tin can practice this with will be – for some – a manner to net elite status without coming out of pocket at all, but of course in that location are inventory risks. Figuring out online sales – being an entrepreneur – can earn aristocracy status with American Airlines AAdvantage.

  At present that @AmericanAir status tin be earned making purchases through the AAdvantage portal they should rename Executive Platinum "Reseller Elite"

  — gary leff (@garyleff) January 2, 2022

• Stack offers for maximum effect. Yous'll want to look for offers where you can pay with a Mastercard and earn miles for the transaction (via SimplyMiles) and brand the purchase online earning miles through the shopping portal (AAdvantage Shopping) and pay with an AAdvantage co-make credit card all at the same time with each of those 3 things separately earning Loyalty Points for the same transaction.

  Earning 40 miles per dollar sending flowers is no longer heady the way it was xx years ago. Simply when you tin stack a bill of fare-linked offering, and when the credit card charge earns miles and when all three activities earn elite status too you're going to want to jump on it. It brings to mind the quondam AAdvantage credit card ad, "Was he sad? Or was it the miles?" Or my favorite of the series with a diamond ring, "Was it love? Or was it the miles?"

  

• You're going to desire to get out of your mode to generate charges on an AAdvantage co-brand credit card (something that hasn't made sense for most people in many years). You might pay your car payment via Plastiq charging to an AAdvantage credit card (ii.85% fee) and pay your mortgage via Plastiq, Mastercards are accepted for this and fortunately U.S. AAdvantage co-brands are Mastercards. Pay quarterly takes (pay1040.com charges 1.87%) with credit menu also. Tax time has an upside for your elite status.

There are still some misses in the American Airlines aristocracy qualifying program, similar failing to count seat acquirement, bag fees, and purchase ups to showtime class (high margin products all) and imposing new onerous requirements on customers in regions without the opportunity to engage with as many aristocracy-earning partners. Nevertheless this is a pace towards 'getting' both what customers are actually profitable to the business concern and incentivizing customers to engage in more than profitable activity.

And they've made the program fun again by creating something for members to chase. They've gamified their elite status to the do good of both themselves and their members. This is new, and there will certainly need to be tweaks as they meet how it works out in practice. Just it's been so long since these programs have been genuinely heady.

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Source: https://viewfromthewing.com/americans-new-way-to-earn-elite-status-makes-frequent-flyer-programs-fun-again/

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