6 ways that American Airlines could enhance Loyalty Points

18.09.2023 - 18:25 / thepointsguy.com

It's been a year and a half since American Airlines launched Loyalty Points, an entirely different way to qualify for AAdvantage elite status. Instead of solely crediting status based on flight activity, American flyers can also earn status through non-flight activities such as staying at hotels, spending on cobranded credit cards and using the airline's shopping portal.

When Loyalty Points were launched last year, there were ample opportunities to earn on everyday purchases. But across the TPG team, we're disheartened by the slashed Loyalty Points-earning sweet spots, lackluster flight accruals and underwhelming SimplyMiles offers. Many American elite members are feeling like the fun spirit of Loyalty Points is gone.

Now, with Delta Air Lines poised to make massive changes to Medallion qualification next year, American has a real opportunity to pick up those disaffected elite members while simultaneously energizing its existing members.

Here's how American Airlines could enhance Loyalty Points.

When American launched Loyalty Points, it claimed it would "simplify the way members earn status" by crediting a Loyalty Point for every redeemable mile earned.

While "one mile earned, one Loyalty Point earned" remains the basis of the program, plenty of transactions earn miles but don't earn Loyalty Points — or earn miles and Loyalty Points at different rates. For example, the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® (see rates and fees) earns 4 miles per dollar on eligible American Airlines purchases; however, you earn just 1 Loyalty Point per dollar on these charges.

Select partner-issued tickets are also ineligible for Loyalty Points. I recently traveled to Fiji on a Fiji Airways ticket that I credited to my AAdvantage account. Despite earning miles, Fiji Airways-issued tickets don't earn Loyalty Points.

Likewise, you don't earn Loyalty Points on Bask Bank's high-yield savings accounts that earn miles instead of interest.

These are among the reasons why senior writer Katie Genter isn't feeling the love from American. A few months ago, she published an article on why top-tier American Airlines Executive Platinum status isn't a must for her, citing multiple pitfalls of the program, including the long road to Loyalty Choice Rewards, disappointing Loyalty Points-earning opportunities and little incentive to pursue Executive Platinum over Platinum Pro status.

American could improve loyalty by following through on the claim to simplify the program by crediting 1 Loyalty Point per 1 mile earned.

Related: American revamps AAdvantage program with new benefits, some devaluations

Earlier this year, I published an article on how AAdvantage members could earn over 75,000 miles and Loyalty Points on a