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Yesterday, American Airlines announced tweaks to its AAdvantage program for 2025. The changes were mostly positive, including adding new tiers to its Million Miler program, extending the validity of systemwide upgrades, and adding even more ways to redeem AAdvantage miles (although likely for subpar value).
However, what's arguably more interesting than what American Airlines is changing about the program is what it's not changing. Some of these non-changes are positive. For example, American Airlines didn't increase the Loyalty Point requirements for AAdvantage elite status.
But there are several things American Airlines didn't change this year that I really wish it would. In the spirit of the holidays, here are three things on my AAdvantage program wishlist.
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American Airlines Should Match Competitor Million Miler Programs
Each of American Airlines' U.S.-based competitors offers a Million Miler program. After recent changes, each competitor now offers its second tier of elite status upon hitting one million miles:
- Alaska Million Miler: MVP Gold
- Delta Million Miler: Gold Medallion — as of an October 2023 improvement
- United Million Miler: Premier Gold
This week's announcement included added tiers to American Airlines' Million Miler program, making it the perfect time for American Airlines to match its competitors. However, AA didn't include any improvements to its first two tiers of Million Miler status. And higher tiers of lifetime elite status require substantially more miles than any other competitor.
That means AAdvantage will continue to offer a less lucrative Million Miler program than its competitors up and down the chart:
| Lifetime Mileage Earnings | American | Delta | United | Alaska |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000,000 miles | Lowest tier (Gold) | Second tier (Gold) | Second tier (Gold) | Second tier (MVP Gold) |
| 2,000,000 miles | Second tier (Platinum) | Third tier (Platinum) | Third tier (Platinum) | Third tier (Platinum) |
| 3,000,000 miles | " " | Top tier (Diamond) | Top tier (1K) | Top tier (MVP Gold 100K) |
| 4,000,000 miles | Third tier (Platinum Pro) | " " | Invitation-only (Global Services) | " " |
| 5,000,000 miles | Top tier (Executive Platinum) | Invitation-only (360°) | " " | " " |
As you can see in the chart above, Alaska, Delta, and United all offer their top tier of elite status at 3,000,000 lifetime miles. Meanwhile, the AAdvantage program still only offers the second tier of elite status at this threshold — requiring another 2 million miles to achieve Executive Platinum status.
When I asked American Airlines about this, AAdvantage directors noted that they will continue to look at the Million Miler program for changes. However, considering AAdvantage just changed the Million Miler program, I'm not optimistic that it will fix these discrepancies anytime soon.
American Airlines Should Add Elite Status Earnings on Award Travel
Historically, flying on award travel didn't earn you any elite status credits on any airline. Then in 2020, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club was the first major loyalty program to offer Tier Points on award flights operated by Virgin Atlantic. Next, Delta added MQD earnings on award flights.
For 2023, United added PQP earnings on United award flights. Most recently, Alaska announced it would add EQM earnings on award flights in 2025. That makes four airlines that offer elite status credits on award travel — including all of American's major U.S. competitors.
That set the stage for American Airlines to make similar changes for 2025. And I was particularly optimistic that it would do so, especially after AA offered a targeted and short-lived promotion in September-October 2024 to earn up to 20,000 Loyalty Points from award travel.
Yet, this week's announcement doesn't even mention Loyalty Point earnings on award travel, much less implement it. So, American Airlines travelers still won't earn any Loyalty Points for flying American Airlines on award bookings. And that's not the only way that American lags its competitors…
American Airlines Should Actually Reward Flying
The American Airlines AAdvantage program was one of the first frequent flyer programs. Now, earning miles and elite status from flying seems to be an afterthought for AAdvantage.
Some members have no issue playing the Loyalty Points game, getting creative with credit card spending and booking throw-away hotel bookings and car bookings to earn Loyalty Points for status without stepping foot on a plane. However, travelers who want to earn status from flying can find it a Herculean task.
Starting from scratch, an AAdvantage member would need to spend $8,000 before taxes and fees on American Airlines flights just to achieve AAdvantage Gold — American's entry tier of elite status. That compares with $5,000 for Delta Silver Medallion and $5,000 of comparable spending to earn United Premier Silver (increasing to $6k in 2025 if you don't earn enough qualifying flight segments).
Instead, American Airlines makes it much more rewarding to spend through its shopping and travel portals. For example, in the current AAdvantage program, an AAdvantage member can earn:
- 2,770 Loyalty Points from flying a $1,500+ American Airlines round-trip flight from Los Angeles to Paris, France ($1,385 eligible spending x 2 Loyalty Points per dollar in basic economy)
- 5,000 Loyalty Points from a $99 Motley Fool subscription through the AAdvantage eShopping portal
American Airlines doesn't have to award more AAdvantage miles on flights to narrow the gap between flying and non-flying earnings. It could offer bonus Loyalty Points for flying activity, as it already does for earnings through shopping portals and select partners through the Loyalty Point Rewards program.
Bottom Line
American Airlines led the way in 1981 with the launch of one of the first frequent flyer programs. And a few years ago, American led the way once again in rewarding airline elite status credits for non-flying activities like credit card spending and portals. However, AAdvantage has fallen behind all of its competitors in actually rewarding flyers.
It's not too late for American Airlines to start rewarding flying once again. Boosting Loyalty Point earnings on paid travel, adding Loyalty Point earnings on award travel, and at least matching its competitors' Million Miler programs would be a great start.
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