I knew it was only a matter of time, but American Airlines dutifully matched Delta and United and will offer a full-year status extension to AAdvantage elite members. But wait, three’s more!
American Airlines Extends AAdvantage Elite Status For One Year
Elite status set to expire on January 31, 2021 will now expire on January 31, 2022. All those currently holding status, even people like me who were comped from World of Hyatt, will receive the extension.
New systemwide upgrades will not be issued for those who do not re-earn status this year, but existing systemwide upgrades will have their expiry date moved from January 31, 2020 to July 31, 2021. Thresholds for earning additional status and systemwide upgrades will also be loosened, as I discuss below.
Earn AAdvantage Elite Status Faster In 2020
For those without status or looking to earn a higher tier, American will make it easier in 2020 to do so. Here’s what it will take to earn elite status:
Comparing that to “standard” chart, we see savings of 33-50% off normal requirements.
American Airlines also offers threshold awards to Executive Platinum members to incentivize additional spending once status has already been earned. Traditionally, these awards kick in upon earning 150,000, 200,000, and 250,000 EQMs. At each milestone, you can choose one of the following:
- 2 systemwide upgrades
- 40,000 redeemable miles
- Gift status to someone (Gold at 150K, Platinum at 200K or 250K)
AA has knocked down those thresholds substantially, with milestone award now available upon crossing 90,000, 120,000, and 150,000 EQMs.
Other Positive News From AA
AA also announced other positive news, including:
- Offering $300-400 AA Vacation vouchers for AAdvantage elites
- Extending Admirals Club membership and one-time vouchers six months beyond current expiration dates
- Counting AAdvantage co-branded credit card spending toward million miler status between May and December 2020
- Lowering or eliminating change/redeposit fees on many AAdvantage tickets (I’ll break this down in a subsequent post)
CONCLUSION
The status extension was expected, but the extra goodies including a new award fee structure and counting credit card spending toward lifetime status demonstrates commendable creativity and represents positive news for customers. I’ll unpack the award fee changes and lifetime mileage earning in greater detail in future posts.
In case my alliterative title threw you off, the AAdvantage augmentations are status match extensions, the advantageous award adjustments reference the reduced fees to change or cancel awards, and the auspicious (favorable) auxiliary (extra) allocations (distributions) reference the free AA vacation vouchers coming to elite members…
Are you happy AA finally extended status for elite AAdvantage members?
Love the title!
Alliteration accolades author!
You must be happy. Hyatt EXP Poacher Status was even extended.
I am admittedly pleased. I know you are not. 😉
Oh that title. LOL.
Forget about the thread!
The title should be nominated for the “ title of the year in a blog”….. if there is a such an award!
Sadly, I think this title was too daunting for most, because it trafficked poorly today! 😉
Ran across a thesaurus recently?
Guilty.
As.
Charged.
“A lot of alliteration from anxious anchors placed in powerful posts!”
😉
Oh social distancing is fun!
An absolutely ambitious and aspiring article. Awesome!
Love it Gary!