Which frequent flyer is American Airlines?
This paper focuses on the American Airlines Advantage, which is a frequent flyer program of American Airlines.
AAdvantage, one of the largest travel incentive programs available worldwide, is another tool American Airlines owns. Initiated in 1981, it was among the first airline loyalty programs meant to inspire regular passengers. With over 100 million members expected in 2022, AAdvantage is now among the biggest worldwide reward programs, having grown over the years.
The rundown of how the AAdvantage Program works
AAdvantage's simple concept is that the passenger flies with American Airlines or any of the related carriers, earning points. These can be gathered and subsequently used to cover further flights or other advantages of company membership. One's membership level increases with increasing miles accrued in a given account, along with additional incentives and privileges.
Earning Miles
Members are rewarded with flying miles depending on the amount of money spent on the air tickets rather than the actual distance. Typically, you earn:
- Five miles for every dollar spent on the base airfare when flying on American Airlines flights.
- Up to 500–1000 miles extra for passengers who book tickets of a higher class, such as the business class.
- Up to 11 miles per $1 on flights on participating airlines
Other ways to earn miles with AAdvantage include: Other ways to earn miles with AAdvantage include:
- American Airlines credit cards: this option allows you to earn miles for all your spending.
- Hotel stays
- Car rentals
- Product purchase from the Advantage e-shopping store
Redeeming Miles
This allows one to redeem award flights with American Airlines and other airline partners using the total miles. The particular mileage needed for reward tickets depends on: The exact kilometers needed for reward tickets depend on:
Destination
- Type of ticket (Economy, Business, First) For instance, a round-trip business ticket from New York to London will cost anything between 100,000 and 120,000 miles
- In addition to flights, miles can also be redeemed for:
- Upgrades
- Vacation packages
- Hotels
- Cars
- Specific subcategories of food and ‘retail gift cards and merchandise’
Elite Status Tiers
The frequent flyer program of this airline is called ‘Elevate,’ and being a member of this program is free, but as it was mentioned before, the more elite status a member has within this program, the more benefits and privileges he or she receives. Some of the privileges that come with this status include priority check-in and boarding, check-in baggage allowance, preferred seats, priority upgrade vouchers, and Bonus mile earnings.
The different status levels are: The different status levels are:
Gold: 25,000 flying miles or 30 flight segments Platinum is achieved through 50,000 miles or 60 segments. Platinum Pro: 75,000 raw miles and 90 upgraded segments The next elite status is Executive Platinum, which offers 100,000 miles or 120 segments of travel.
If you have been maintaining the lifetime status and have flown enough to get such elite-level status in the next 20 years or even less based on the targeted mileage, then you will be given a lifetime status.
Partnerships
American is a member of the OneWorld Alliance, that connects with various companies around the world. Some of the major frequent flyer partners are British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, and Qantas. This increases the opportunity of both earning and redeeming the AAdvantage for hundreds of locations across the globe.
There are also contractual relationships with other industries, such as credit card providers- (Citizen and Barclays), hospitality and retail industries, and car rental providers. Some examples of this category are Hyatt Hotels, Avis car rentals, and Best Buy retail stores. There are also extra miles that members earn at other places known to the company.
Benefits and Privileges
Some key benefits offered to Advantage members include:
- Free checked bags
- Complimentary upgrades
- Preferred/priority boarding
- Reduced mileage awards
- Fee waivers
- Exclusive member promotions
- There are no restrictions on reward flights; passengers can travel at any time.
Eddie, if you fly in a higher status, then you are privileged when it comes to American Airlines flights and its partner when it comes to things such as extra checked bags, bonus miles, priority access to the plane, and so on.
Additional Perks
Over its 40+ year run, the Advantage program has incorporated innovative features for an enhanced member experience: Over its 40+ year run, the Advantage program has incorporated innovative features for an enhanced member experience:
- Web gateway for convenience to easily access accounts on both the laptop and desktop.
- Mileage expiration: Where before the miles wore off after a certain period, now they don’t as long as the activity has been active once every 18 months.
- Let’s earn back miles. Ways to requalify the expired miles
- Point/money amalgamation: Use cash to get tickets. Some of the points earned can be exchanged for money to buy tickets.
- Mileage transfers: the transfer of miles from the points earned on the credit card.
- Upgrade awards: They use miles to upgrade when seats remain open.
In Summary
Since its establishment three decades ago, America has continued to explore and implement new ideas that enhance this loyalty program. It also keeps building on the aspects that let the members redeem more often, and have better control over their accounts and better privileges. The extensive airline and non-airline partners make AAdvantage mileage balances life a great advantage in flexibility. This cannot be otherwise if you are a frequent flyer with American Airlines, since it is undoubtedly the best loyalty program in which one would want to be enrolled.
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