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American AAdvantage Program Updates – November 2016

November 9, 2016 By Trevor 3 Comments





American Airlines continues to release AAdvantage Program Updates, as we move toward the “go live” of a few new aspects of the program, previously announced in June.

Just a brief summary of the AAdvantage Program Updates announced in June:

AAdvantage Redeemable Mileage went Revenue Based (for the most part)

AAdvantage RDM earn rates as of 1 August 2016 - courtesy of American airlines.

AAdvantage RDM earn rates as of 1 August 2016 – courtesy of American airlines.

Of course, we’ve learned subsequently that there are a handful of ways that you can accrue mileage based on miles flown, rather than the price of your ticket. For example, revenue tickets booked with Citi Thank You Points (TYP) categorize as a “Special Fare” and receive miles flown.

A New Status Level and I don’t just mean Platinum Pro

American AAdvantage previously made this chart available, highlighting their new mid-tier Platinum Pro, which will no doubt make many legacy US Airways elites happy.

Four AAdvantage Status Levels in 2017. Courtesy of American Airlines.

Four AAdvantage Status Levels in 2017. Courtesy of American Airlines.

Except that when talking about upgrade windows, AAdvantage snuck in the ConciergeKey level, as essentially another level of status, at least for upgrades.

AAdvantage Program Changes

More visibility for ConciergeKey

Time will tell, as to how much more information will become publicly available about ConciergeKey membership, but I think we’re seeing the early vestiges of a 5th status level.

Elite Qualifying Dollars (EQD) – The best part of these AAdvantage Program Updates!

We knew before what the required Elite Qualifying Dollar (EQD) requirements would be for the various status levels, those are here:

AAdvantage Program Changes

The interesting piece that AAdvantage highlights in the most recent update, is that it is possible to earn EQDs by spending with their AAdvantage Aviator Red, Blue, Business, and Silver cards. These are all issued by Barclays, however, not currently taking on new applicants. Gary Leff reports that will change.

AAdvantage Program Changes

Barclay Aviator Product Line

Here are the details from American with respect to earning up to $6,000 EQDs:

Reach elite status faster

AAdvantage® AviatorTM Red, AviatorTM Blue and AviatorTM Business MasterCard® accounts can earn up to $3,000 EQDs by spending $25,000 on qualifying net purchases during the calendar year.

AAdvantage® AviatorTM Silver MasterCard® accounts can earn up to $6,000 EQDs by spending $50,000 on qualifying net purchases each calendar year. They’ll earn $3,000 EQDs after spending $25,000 on qualifying purchases and another $3,000 EQDs after $50,000 on qualifying purchases.

I find it very interesting, that Citi, who has long had a very strong co-brand partnership with American, has absolutely no play in the EQD game. Recall that American did not make an exclusive credit card deal the last go-round, I assumed this was just a negotiating strategy. But for Barclays cardholders to be the only ones to accrue EQD’s through spend, that, sends quite the message to Citi, and not a good one.

Wrapping Up

American’s AAdvantage Program Updates are mostly positive, in my opinion. They’ve clarified things where we definitely had questions. American has also provided more insight into ConciergeKey, though I think there are still questions, as it starts to become as public as United’s Global Services. The real positive here is the way to earn Elite Qualifying Dollars (EQDs) through spend on your Barclaycard Aviator cards. I think this is a huge positive, but it leaves open the big question: What about Citi AAdvantage card holders? I suppose only time will tell, whether Citi balks at this slight, or if there is something bigger in the works.

What do you think about the updates? Does the EQD announcement change your strategy for next year?

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Filed Under: Airline Programs Tagged With: AAdvantage, American Airlines, Elite Status

Trackbacks

  1. The Lifetime Hotel Status Conundrum - Tagging Miles says:
    April 3, 2017 at 6:05 am

    […] points requirement is the hardest one to make, and it really becomes like the Elite Qualifying Dollar (EQD) requirement that American Airlines introduced last year. Its hard to make even having the Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card (which incidentally has the […]

    Reply
  2. Blogger to give up AA Top Status, Airline Growth, Cows delay train - Tagging Miles says:
    April 21, 2017 at 11:18 am

    […] something wrong when even The Points Guy is giving up the pursuit of top tier status… Guess American’s changes to the program last year were the final nail in the […]

    Reply
  3. Weekend Roundup: JetBlue Mosaic, Economics of timeshares, United - Tagging Miles says:
    July 16, 2017 at 10:07 am

    […] airline has gone from industry leading to borderline bottom. I’m not just talking about the AAdvantage devaluation, but everything seems to be moving down, including the lack of In Flight Entertainment (IFE) on […]

    Reply

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