Airline Loyalty Program Changes in 2024

28.12.2023 - 14:59 / skift.com / Delta Skymiles / Henry Harteveldt / Meghna Maharishi

Reaching status with an airline loyalty program may feel more difficult in 2024, as airlines opt to incentivize passengers willing to spend more.

Delta Air Lines made headlines earlier in the year for revamping its loyalty program to further reward those who spend more on tickets versus those who rack up miles. 

Revenue-based loyalty programs are not new for the airline industry. Virgin America started one of the first based heavily based on revenue in 2008, and since then, an increasing number of airlines have been changing programs to reward those who spend the most on airfare and with co-branded credit cards. 

“When you reward people based on spend, it reflects the value that they are bringing you versus rewarding them on distance,” said Jonathan Kletzel, transportation and logistics head at PwC. 

Loyalty programs are a multi-billion dollar business for airlines. For example, American Airlines’ AAdvantage program and United Airlines’ MileagePlus program are valued at $24 billion and $22 billion, respectively. 

The new year is also the first time where most of eased pandemic-era status requirements are gone, with airlines opting to bring back pre-pandemic status tiers as they grapple with overcrowded lounges and a high volume of fliers reaching elite status. 

American hasn’t announced any changes regarding its AAdvantage loyalty program, and it’s possible that the carrier won’t be making adjustments, according to Henry Harteveldt, president of market research firm Atmosphere Research Group. 

“I don’t think American will make too many changes,” he said. “I think that American recognizes that if they don’t make a lot of changes, if they keep elite status qualification levels pretty similar to where they have been in 2023, they may gain some of the disaffected Delta passengers that are out in the market.”

Combined with a loss in corporate business travel and a lower on-time performance rate compared to United and Delta, American may avoid sweeping changes.

Delta led the pack when it announced sweeping changes to its SkyMiles loyalty program, making it more difficult for travelers to earn Medallion status and limiting the number of times travelers with the carrier’s co-branded credit card can visit its lounges. 

The sole criteria for achieving status is Medallion Qualification Dollars, rewarding travelers who spend more on flights.

With the changes, Delta initially said travelers would need to hit a $35,000 spending threshold within the year to reach the carrier’s top-tier Diamond Medallion status. 

The changes drew significant backlash from the carrier’s frequent fliers that it decided to scale back some of the changes. For example, for 2025, travelers would instead need to spend $28,000 to reach