Air passengers are facing severe disruption on Tuesday as the Northeast is hit by a strong winter storm.
25.01.2024 - 03:35 / thepointsguy.com
In early March 2022, American Airlines switched from elite qualifying miles, dollars and segments to Loyalty Points as the qualifying metric to earn elite status.
Nowadays, the number of Loyalty Points you earn is largely tied to your spending instead of how much you fly. As a result, you'd theoretically be able to spend your way to top-tier Executive Platinum status without stepping foot on a plane — not that we necessarily recommend doing that.
Beyond flying, you can earn Loyalty Points by spending and engaging with American Airlines' partners. American added a few new methods of earning Loyalty Points in 2024 when it unveiled 10 changes to the AAdvantage program, including new Loyalty Points rewards and the ability to earn Loyalty Points for upgrades.
Here are some of the best ways to earn Loyalty Points to earn American Airlines elite status.
The traditional way to earn elite status — by flying on the airline — is still applicable under American's Loyalty Points program.
You earn 1 Loyalty Point for each eligible AAdvantage mile from flying on American. Depending on your status tier, redeemable miles are awarded at a multiplier between 5 times and 11 times your base ticket price.
In simple math, if you paid $200 for a ticket (before taxes) from New York to Los Angeles, you'd earn 1,000 AAdvantage miles and 1,000 Loyalty Points as a general member with no elite status. If a top-tier American Executive Platinum member booked the same ticket, they'd earn 2,200 AAdvantage miles and 2,200 Loyalty Points.
You don't need to keep track of elite qualifying miles, dollars or segments. One redeemable mile earned from flying on American will translate to 1 Loyalty Point.
Related: Last-minute strategies for earning American AAdvantage elite status
When flying with one of American's airline partners, things get a little more complicated.
For flights marketed and operated by most of the airline's Oneworld partners, redeemable miles (and therefore Loyalty Points) are earned based on distance flown, fare class and the airline.
However, that changed in October 2023 for flights on British Airways and Iberia, which now earn miles and Loyalty Points based on the price of their tickets instead of distance flown and fare class.
It's important to note that American's partnership with JetBlue is coming to an end in early 2024. Flyers on JetBlue-operated flights will only receive American Airlines benefits if their AAdvantage or TrueBlue Mosaic member number was added prior to July 21, 2023, and if the travel was booked through Jan. 31, 2024.
Additionally, when crediting a partner flight to American AAdvantage that hasn't been bought directly with American, you'll want to look at the earnings tables on American's
Air passengers are facing severe disruption on Tuesday as the Northeast is hit by a strong winter storm.
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