American introduces AAdvantage Business, a new loyalty program for eligible small businesses

19.10.2023 - 12:17 / thepointsguy.com

American Airlines introduced strict spending requirements two years ago on its once-generous Business Extra program. Now, the airline plans to retire Business Extra as it introduces AAdvantage Business, a new loyalty program for eligible small businesses.

Most airline business programs only reward the business with extra rewards, but this program will give extra rewards to both the business and the traveler. That said, the program won't offer the same customizability as the old Business Extra program.

Here's what you need to know about AAdvantage Business.

If you have a business in the U.S. or Canada with a Federal Employer Identification Number, you can register to AAdvantage Business with no minimum spending requirement here. However, in order to access the full complement of perks in the program, you must either:

If you fulfill the first requirement, you can earn 1 AAdvantage mile for every dollar spent on eligible business travel, while new CitiBusiness AAdvantage cardholders can earn the business an additional 2 AAdvantage miles for these purchases when charged to the card. To be clear, with the CitiBusiness AAdvantage card, the business gets 2 miles. So it's a total of 1 mile from the program and 2 miles from the card, making for a total of 3 miles per dollar for the business.

Additionally, for that same dollar spent, eligible individual travelers earn 1 Loyalty Point that counts toward their accrual for earning status as an AAdvantage member. These Loyalty Points are in addition to any miles or Loyalty Points the traveler earns as an AAdvantage member. Again, the traveler gets an extra Loyalty Points for the program and an extra Loyalty Points for the CitiBusiness AAdvantage card making for 2 extra Loyalty Points.

To earn miles with the AAdvantage Business program, you must book directly through American (i.e., aa.com, the app or AA reservations) and add your company's AAdvantage Business number when booking.

The information for the CitiBusiness AAdvantage Platinum Select Mastercard has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

The business' miles can be transferred to individual travelers and redeemed like any other AAdvantage miles.

Related: Are these airlines really the best and worst for business-class travel?

AAdvantage Business has a fairly clear earning structure, that allows you to earn redeemable AAdvantage miles and Loyalty Points that help you qualify for elite status.

As a general AAdvantage member, you earn 5 Loyalty Points and miles per dollar spent on eligible American Airlines flights (AAdvantage Gold status earns 7 per dollar, AAdvantage Platinum status earns 8 per dollar, AAdvantage