American Airlines and Hyatt announced a new partnership today which will launch later this year.
The new partnership will allow double dipping; American Airlines AAdvantage elite members will earn Hyatt points plus AA bonus miles for every Hyatt stay. Meanwhile, Hyatt elite members will earn AA miles plus World of Hyatt points on AA flights.
- In addition to World of Hyatt points earned through Hyatt hotel stays, AAdvantage Gold, Platinum, Platinum Pro, Executive Platinum and ConciergeKey members will be able to earn one AAdvantage bonus mile for every eligible dollar spent at qualifying Hyatt properties.
- In addition to AAdvantage miles earned by flying on American, World of Hyatt Discoverist, Explorist, and Globalist members will be able to earn one World of Hyatt bonus point for every eligible dollar spent on qualifying American flights.
The biggest winners are American Concierge Key members, who will receive complimentary Hyatt Globalist (top-tier) status. As a multi-year, very loyal Hyatt fan, I underscore here how valuable a benefit that is, even if the Concierge Key member only stays a few nights per year at Hyatt.
But What About Status On AA?
Although the details have not been announced, elites from both American and Hyatt will “have the opportunity to participate in limited time status challenges.” As One Mile at a Time notes, this snippet from the press release below is all we know:
Upon registering, these elite members will be able to immediately enjoy their new loyalty benefits in the reciprocal program tier as they work to maintain that elite tier status. AAdvantage elite members will have access to World of Hyatt elite status benefits, including a dedicated check-in area, late check-out upon request, room upgrades and free premium internet. World of Hyatt elite members will have access to AAdvantage elite status benefits such as priority boarding, free checked bags, free preferred seats and more.
Thus, we are in a wait or see mode.
My Hope On the Status Match Front
American Airlines has about 11,300 Concierge Key members, all of whom will receive top-tier status in Hyatt with no strings attached. We don’t know how many Globalist members are in the World of Hyatt program, but I’d like to see a reciprocal offer for Globalists. Obviously not for Concierge Key, which arguably is far more valuable for Globalist. Not for Executive Platinum or Platinum either. No, I just mean Gold status. Base-level status with no strings attached. Such status would certainly not make me “loyal” to AA but it would make me more likely to choose AA over Alaska or Delta when not traveling on United. And it would be a nice gesture since over 10K new Globalists will now be chasing the same limited number of suites.
Let’s be clear. This isn’t a demand. This is not an entitlement. And this ceritanly not meant to downplay what will be an excellent partnership even absent any status matches. But since the details have not been released, I’m happy to offer unsolicited input now.
CONCLUSION
Good news today for elites from both American and Hyatt. I’ll be watching the status match opportunities very closely.
How does this new partnership between American and Hyatt impact you?
I have 73 Advantage 500 mile upgrades in my account. Been Gold or Plat for many years. Upgrades NEVER clear. I just don’t see any point in the Advantage program any more.
Wish you could donate them to me! I”ve had good luck using them.
Literally have not had a single upgrade clear in 3 years. AA Platinum
I agree that Globalists should get Gold status, that would match other programs. However, as a former EXP who is looking to add it back and currently holds gold now, a status challenge that waives the $200 fee is welcome news to me.
American would lose a lot of money if they converted Globalists to even Gold as Gold waives the $75 ticketing fee within 14 days whereas all the rest of the benefits are not direct losses of money for them.
Although they will allow Status matches which would limit the amount of upgraded statuses long term.
You just want Globalists to get status because that’s what YOU have with Hyatt! Your pursuit of self-interest on this blog is so clear!
As a Globalist myself, I absolutely have some self-interest here, and could not agree more with Matthew. Top AA elites make out like bandits and top Hyatt elites get plenty of nothing. Are Globalists supposed to want many tens of thousands of people to have the top status with Hyatt with no reciprocal benefits to balance things out?
As a Starwood refugee who’s now titanium with Marriott, the most valuable benefit for me is the United silver status. I’ll miss that next year when I drop to regular status.
As a Hyatt Globalist, I have a concern about the lack of suite upgrades that will be available once the AA elites come on board.
I think your skepticism is warranted. AA makes out like a bandit. Hyatt? Wait and hope. Jeez. Can’t the suits at Hyatt nail down the negotiations? If there was good news for Hyatt elites in this deal, they would’ve included it in the announcement.
I cannot fathom Hyatt’s new strategy. They made it harder for their own Globalists to renew status, yet they give away Globalist for only 20 nights to others, they let people earn it through MS on the CC. Now they give away Globalist to the CKs without any reciprocal status for their own top elites.
What will larger numbers do to on property benefits? There will obviously be an increased burden born by the franchisees not Hyatt, as well as increased competition for benefits, born by the existing Hyatt loyalists not Hyatt.
Make Hyatt Great Again. Don’t devalue the globalist with an influx of Concierge Key members who likely have status SOMEPLACE. And please…fix the eggs at Hyatt Place – the new recipe is gross.
This is a lot weaker for Hyatt elites than the Marriott/United tie-up is for the Marriott elites. What was Hyatt thinking? Why AA and not Delta? As so far described, this holds no interest for this Globalist.
May this possibly be “much ado about nothing?”
EXP and Concierge Key members are not necessarily changing their hotel reservations as we speak.
We (the points and miles bunch) are a subgroup that is probably not representative of the average elite members of hotel and airline “loyalty” platforms.
It is probably a nice perk, but I am not worried about masses of sudden Globalists overrunning the Elite lines at Hyatt Hotels.