Update, 2/15/23: Reminder that there are potentially just 2 weeks left for American’s award chart, as the airline previously told DansDeals it will go fully dynamic for award pricing on American flights in March. Gary Leff flags a 2/3/23 memo confirming that this will happen in multiple phases “over the next several weeks.” It’s still unclear how exactly that will affect partner award bookings on American and the airline had no comment for DansDeals on that issue.
If you are aiming for earning status from loyalty points earned since last year, you need to complete that by 2/28. However you may be better off next status year starting on 3/1 with more valuable loyalty point rewards that will no longer require American flight segments as they do this status year.
Originally posted on 12/15/22:
Table of Contents
Game changer in loyalty
Last year, American announced that they would change the elite status loyalty game for good, by ditching the flying requirements to earn status.
It was reflective of the reality that airlines today make more (or in some cases all of their) profit selling miles to partners like credit card banks, than they do flying airplanes. In other words, they fly airplanes as a method to support their credit card programs in order to tempt people with award travel. Banks in turn hope that you’ll use their credit cards and fall into a debt trap with interest payments. However if you’re disciplined to spend within your means, the credit card game can be quite lucrative.
Overall, the airline is pleased with the experiment. They have gained elite members and cardholders in markets like NYC that they didn’t have before, thanks to making elite status earning possible solely through credit card spending.
Award chart changes
The airline tells DansDeals that award tickets for American flights will go fully dynamic, with the elimination of mileage sAAver and AAnytime awards and award charts. All awards on American going forward will be web specials. However American says that unlike their competitors, they will be the only major US airline that will continue to maintain an award chart for their own flights, which will show the range of potential pricing for award tickets. They say that their members value the guidance of an award chart to help make award opportunities easier to understand. Those charts will launch in March 2023, so we’ll have to wait and see how this will turn out.
American also tells DansDeals that they will maintain their static award chart for partner flights, something that their competition also no longer offers.
It’s unclear what this will mean for using partner miles, like BA Avios, for American flights. Currently, BA can only book American saver award space, but if that goes away, it’s unclear what inventory they will have access to book. Then again, Delta doesn’t have any saver awards, but they provide hidden saver award inventory that is only bookable by their partner airlines, so perhaps American will copy that approach. United doesn’t have an award chart, but they continue to offer saver award space which is bookable with United and partner miles. American tells DansDeals that those details are still being hammered out for now.
It’s a pity that American’s saver award chart is going away, but it’s good that they are committed to maintaining award charts and not following Delta down their Skypesos path.
Basic economy downgrade
American is taking the axe to basic economy earnings.
Currently, American’s basic economy is the least punitive level around, with regular mileage earning and elites allowed to select seats and get upgraded. The only difference is that basic economy ticket can’t be changed.
However as of 3/1/23, earnings on basic economy tickets will go down from 5 base points per dollar to just 2 base points per dollar.
Elites will still get a 40% Gold, 60% Platinum, 80% Platinum Pro, or 120% Executive Platinum bonus, but that will be a bonus based on 2 points per dollar spend instead of 5 points per dollar spent.
Uncapped earnings
American is matching Delta in removing the cap of 75K miles that can be earned on a ticket, with mileage earnings now uncapped for very expensive flights. I’d expect United to match this as well.
Elite status changes
American’s qualification year runs through the end of February, so changes will begin on 3/1/23.
In a page out of JetBlue’s changes announced last week, there will be rewards for both elite and non-elite members hitting loyalty point thresholds.
Currently you need to fly on 30 flight segments to earn those rewards, but as of next year, that requirement goes away and the only thing that will matter are loyalty points.
You can earn loyalty points from American, OneWorld, and JetBlue flights, credit card spending (but not credit card signup bonuses or bonus points on purchases), stays at partner hotels when crediting the points to American, AAdvantage Dining, SimplyMiles, eShopping, American Airlines Vacations, staying in hotel partners, rental car partners, American Airlines Cruises, and select other sources of American miles.
Buying or transferring miles do not count as loyalty points.
For 2023, you’ll need to earn 40K loyalty points for Gold, 75K for Platinum, 125K for Platinum Pro, and 200K for Executive Platinum. The only change from the current year is Gold, which goes up from 30K to 40K points. That’s in contrast to other airlines which massively increased the status level requirements across the board.
New Loyalty Point Rewards to choose from
Here is how things will work for the 2023 year, which can be earned from 3/1/23-2/29/24:
- At 15K loyalty points you will obtain group 5 boarding and can select one of these Loyalty Point Rewards:
- Group 4 boarding for a trip
- 5 preferred seat coupons
- At 40K loyalty points you will obtain Gold status. Benefits include OneWorld Ruby status, JetBlue benefits, Alaska benefits, 40% bonus loyalty points on flights, a free checked bag, group 4 boarding, upgrades for you and a companion when available starting 24 hours before flights, preferred seats at booking, and main cabin extra seating at checkin.
- At 60K loyalty points you will earn Avis Preferred Plus status and a 20% loyalty point bonus with AA Vacations, eShopping, SimplyMiles, AA dining, and AA hotels.
- At 75K loyalty points you will obtain Platinum status. Benefits include OneWorld Sapphire status, JetBlue benefits, Alaska benefits, 60% bonus loyalty points on flights, 2 free checked bags, priority baggage handling, group 3 boarding, OneWorld business class lounge access when flying internationally, upgrades for you and a companion when available starting 48 hours before flights, and main cabin extra seating at booking.
- At 100K loyalty points you will earn Avis President’s Club status and a 30% loyalty point bonus with AA Vacations, eShopping, SimplyMiles, AA dining, and AA hotels.
- At 125K loyalty points you will obtain Platinum Pro status. Benefits include OneWorld Emerald status, JetBlue benefits, Alaska benefits, 80% bonus loyalty points on flights, 3 free 70 pound checked bags, priority baggage handling, group 2 boarding, free same day flight changes, OneWorld first class lounge access when flying internationally, upgrades for you and a companion when available starting 72 hours before flights, upgrades for you and a companion on Alaska, and main cabin extra seating at booking.
- At 175K loyalty points you can select one of these Loyalty Point Rewards:
- 2 systemwide upgrades
- 20K bonus miles or 25K bonus miles for AA cardholders
- 15% award rebate
- 6 Admirals Club day passes
- $200 trip credit or $250 trip credit for AA cardholders
- Carbon offset
- $250 donation to select nonprofits
- 2 gifts of AAdvantage Gold status
- 35K miles towards a Mastercard Priceless Experience
- At 200K loyalty points you will obtain Executive Platinum status. Benefits include OneWorld Emerald status, JetBlue benefits, Alaska benefits, 120% bonus loyalty points on flights, 3 free 70 pound checked bags, priority baggage handling, group 1 boarding, free same day flight changes, OneWorld first class lounge access when flying internationally, upgrades for you and a companion when available starting 100 hours before flights, upgrades for you and a companion on Alaska, upgrades on award tickets for you and a companion, guaranteed availability in coach, free drink and snack in coach, expanded award space, and main cabin extra seating at booking.
- At 250K loyalty points you can select two of these Loyalty Point Rewards:
- 2 systemwide upgrades
- You can select this twice, and earn a total of 6 systemwide upgrades if you also select this at the 175K level.
- 20K bonus miles or 30K bonus miles for AA cardholders
- You can select this twice, and earn a total of 85K miles if you also select miles at the 175K level.
- 6 Admirals Club day passes
- 1 Flagship Lounge visit or 2 visits for AA cardholders
- Admirals Club membership (requires 2 rewards)
- Bang & Olufsen product (requires 2 rewards)
- $200 trip credit or $250 trip credit for AA cardholders
- Carbon offset
- $250 donation to select nonprofits
- 2 gifts of AAdvantage Gold status
- 35K miles towards a Mastercard Priceless Experience
- 2 systemwide upgrades
- At 400K, 550K, and 750K loyalty points you can select two of these Loyalty Point Rewards:
- 1 systemwide upgrade
- 25K bonus miles
- 2 Flagship Lounge visits
- 1 Flagship First Dining pass
- Admirals Club membership (requires 2 rewards)
- Bang & Olufsen product (requires 2 rewards)
- $200 trip credit or $250 trip credit for AA cardholders
- Carbon offset
- $250 donation to select nonprofits
- 1 gift of AAdvantage Platinum status
- 40K miles towards a Mastercard Priceless Experience
- At 1M loyalty points you can select one of these Loyalty Point Rewards:
- 4 systemwide upgrades
- Up to 100K miles back on award redemptions
- Carbon offset
- 1 gift of AAdvantage Platinum Pro status
- 150K miles towards a Mastercard Priceless Experience
- At 3M loyalty points you can select one of these Loyalty Point Rewards:
- 6 systemwide upgrades
- Up to 300K miles back on award redemptions
- Carbon offset
- 1 gift of AAdvantage Executive Platinum status
- 350K miles towards a Mastercard Priceless Experience
- At 5M loyalty points you can select one of these Loyalty Point Rewards:
- 10 systemwide upgrades
- Up to 500K miles back on award redemptions
- Carbon offset
- 1 gift of AAdvantage Executive Platinum status
- 550K miles towards a Mastercard Priceless Experience
The reward choices for non-elite members aren’t as lucrative as JetBlue’s, but it’s better than nothing I suppose.
Platinum Pro and Executive Platinum members will need to earn more loyalty points to get rewards choices than in the past, but the 30 flight segment is being eliminated. In other words, American is rewarding their credit card spenders even more, while being less generous to people actually flying on American.
You can choose rewards up until March 30 of the following year.
You’ll earn 1 loyalty point per dollar spent on most Citi, Barclays, and other AA credit cards. That includes cards like:
- The CitiBusiness AAdvantage Platinum World Mastercard is offering 65,000 AA miles for opening the card and spending $4,000 in 4 months.
- The Citi AAdvantage Platinum World Elite Consumer Mastercard is offering 50,000 AA miles for opening the card and spending $2,500 in 3 months.
- The Citi AAdvantage Executive World Elite Consumer Mastercard is offering 50,000 AA miles for opening the card and spending $5,000 in 3 months. Earn 10K bonus loyalty points when you spend $40K in a loyalty year on this card.
- The Citi AAdvantage MileUp Consumer Mastercard is offering 10,000 AA miles and a $50 statement credit for opening the card and spending $500 in 3 months. No annual fee and earn double miles on groceries.
What do you think of these changes? Will you go for American elite status in 2023?
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43 Comments On "[Final Weeks For Award Chart And Earning 2022 Loyalty Points] American’s 2023 Mileage, Elite Status, And Award Chart Changes: The Good, The Bad, And The Unknown"
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Any thoughts on the probability this will adversely affect partner redemptions using AA miles? Such as QSuites?
It doesn’t seem like there will be any changes to that.
Woohoo!
Part of the benefit of the program was their simplicity ,however offering a percent bonus of only loyalty points with the bonus varying on status ,how you are earning miles etc. introduces a level of complexity that I thought they were trying to avoid
also clearly it was a success and they are doubling down as you mentioned by offering the loyalty choice awards without any flying at all moving further away from rewarding their frequent flyers and instead rewarding the ones that earn them money.
The question is if other airlines will follow.
Great update, thank you. I’m a Lifetime (of program) Plat. Is the only Basic Economy change for Elites lower point accrual? Are they keeping seat choices and luggage?
Yes, just lower point accrual.
lets see what the awards flights are..
pre-covid, jfk to tlv flights could be had for like 45K in coach.
Now i never see good dates for less than 80K. I have a stockpile (>1M) points but they are pretty worthless (to travel to Israel).
any conversion of existing points to loyalty happening?
I’ve yet to see an airline cc that really makes it worth regularly spending on it. I’d do 25K on a card per year, if it came with something meaningful. IF i skimmed this correctly, do 40K in spend for a few minor perks?
You can’t convert miles to loyalty points.
Yes, 40K earns gold status. If you earn that in March 2023 you would have status through February 2025.
Hey Dan – how can award pricing go “fully dynamic” while maintaining an award chart?
Aren’t those two in conflict?
Yes, I asked American about that as I thought to as well.
From what I understand, the award chart will show a range of prices, and it will be dynamic within that range. But we won’t see what that means until March.
Can u tell us we’re it is better to work on status? Between JetBlue mosaic and AA in your opinion Dan
Depends on where you fly, which status benefits you use, etc.
I think I will MS my way to 175k to earn that carbon offset.
Jokes aside, I don’t hate the changes. Of course we’ll have to see how awards are priced but they haven’t nuked their program like DL has and EP is said to be very good. Might be worth the 200k LP. I wish there was a card that earned more than 1 LP per dollar though
I already have exscutive platinum but not the 30 segments, will I be able to select the loyalty rewards now or it will only go into affect next march and I need to first earn 200k before selecting?
No, this is for the year starting March 2023, so you would need to earn 175K starting then before you can pick the valuable rewards.
How do systemwide upgradea work? Is that the best loyalty option to choose?
Valid on any paid ticket systemwide from economy to business, subject to availability. It can clear at booking with availability or be waitlisted.
Did does it also work from economy to flagship?
Paid economy to business or paid business to first.
Hi Dan great summary. Thanks
We need a spreadsheet to figure how many points per dollar you actually are gonna end up earning if you choose the point bonus from the loyalty point rewards at each threshold. Also how does the award point rebate work ? Is it a percentage with a cap and the cap changes at each threshold ?
Thanks!
I meant AA points per dollar thru cc spend counting the bonuses. This gives spending on AA cards a little more value. In the past i spent exactly enough to earn the executive plat status. Maybe now it might be worth it spend some more as in essence you are getting substantially more than 1 point per dollar.
can you get lifetime status just through spend?
Not anymore.
Can paid travel on partner airlines accrue AA loyalty points if you select Aadvantage mileage program? Points per dollar, or points per traveled mile? Does a paid business class ticket on partner airline collect more points?
I got AA loyalty points per traveled miles on British Airways flights.
Bask Bank AA miles do not earn LP
Kinda confused. So just flying JetBlue in itself will earn AA miles? So we can get JetBlue points and AA points on one JetBlue flight? Do is it need to be booked on an AA credit cards? AA number entered somewhere?
You need to choose earning AA miles or JetBlue points and give JetBlue the number you want to accumulate with.
Tx
If I fly jet blue, will I get my AA benefits? Free bags, upgrades etc?
I didn’t get it for BA flights.
Off topic but, Is anybody else getting only part two of every two part text message from DansDeals?
It is not my phone and I even tried switching sms programs.
It’s buggy.
What cell phone service do you have?
Can you switch to Whatsapp, Telegram, or Twitter?
Same here
Will expanded award availability for executive platinum disappear together with the milesAAver awards?
Does that actually exist?
This post mentioned expanded award availability for EXP. On AA.COM it says expanded milesAAver availability for EXP.
I know it says it exists. I’m just not sure that it actually exists 🙂
Hi Dan, i am AA executive plat until March 31 2024 (earned thru cc spend). Is it worth to spend the $200K between 3/1/2023-2/29/2024 to keep status thru 2025 or should i defer the $200K spending until March 2024 ? (I would spend the $200K during march of 2024 to earn status thru March 2025) By doing this i would save $200K in AA citi spending and rather spend on other cards with more value. Or is it worth to spend during 2023 to get the loyalty choice rewards?
I always use an every other year elite strategy.
I read somewhere that free baggage will go to 70lbs and down to 2 free bags from 3 for Plat pro and higher, is that true? Are there going to be any changes to the elite benefits themselves?
1.whats the difference between system wide upgrade and a 24/48 hour upgrade before flight?
2. do these upgrades work even from the lowest class ticket
1. Systemwide upgrades work systemwide. Those are for domestic flights.
2. Yes.