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When American Airlines AAdvantage overhauled its loyalty program, another major change included the perks offered to elites in the form of Loyalty Point Rewards. These are perks that you earn based on reaching certain thresholds of Loyalty Points. American Airlines originally called these Loyalty Choice Rewards, but the name has now changed to Loyalty Point Rewards.
So, what are the Loyalty Point Rewards for this year? Here's a look at how you can earn them, your options, and some quick comparisons on value.
Page Contents
Quick Recap on the New AAdvantage Program
Firstly, you should note that the Loyalty Point Rewards are a similar product to what American Airlines offered to elites in the past. Previously, we saw these called Elite Choice Rewards, then Loyalty Choice Rewards. In short, you earn Loyalty Point Rewards by earning enough American AAdvantage Loyalty Points.
In addition, Loyalty Point Rewards previously required earning top tiers of AAdvantage elite status. However, you can now earn rewards at intermediate levels. Earning Loyalty Points still qualifies you for elite status, of course.
As a quick recap, American Airlines status tiers currently have the following Loyalty Points requirements:
- Gold: 40,000 Loyalty Points
- Platinum: 75,000 Loyalty Points
- Platinum Pro: 125,000 Loyalty Points
- Executive Platinum: 200,000 Loyalty Points
Amazingly, you can qualify for any of these elite status levels without taking a single flight with American Airlines (or any airline at all). For more information, read our complete guide to American Airlines Loyalty Points.
Qualifying for American Airlines Loyalty Point Rewards
In short, Loyalty Point Rewards are perks that are offered to you as you qualify for American Airlines AAdvantage elites status. Also, they are offered to you at some intermediate Loyalty Point milestones.
Rewards include a choice from among several options. The number and value of options increase as you move up the ladder of Loyalty Point Rewards, offering perks like systemwide upgrades, flight credit, Admirals Club day passes, Admirals Club membership, and more.
How to Qualify for Loyalty Point Rewards
To qualify for Loyalty Point Rewards, you need to earn the required amount of American AAdvantage Loyalty Points. You can do this by flying with American Airlines or its partners, booking vacation packages or cruises through AA, booking hotels or car rentals through AA, and using online shopping or dining portals. You also do this by spending on an American AAdvantage co-branded credit card.
Related: How to Get Airline Elite Status Without Flying
You can technically qualify for both AAdvantage status and for American Loyalty Point Rewards without taking a single flight. You could also accomplish this through credit card spending and some of the other listed ways to earn Loyalty Points that don't involve boarding a plane.
Things to Know Before Choosing Your Loyalty Point Rewards
Importantly, you should know that any tiers offering two choices allow you to choose two different rewards or choose the same reward twice. However, a few rewards count as two choices. These are noted in the lists of options below.
The deadline for choosing your Loyalty Point Rewards is March 31 of the year when your status period ends. Since the new qualification year is March to the following February, that could be confusing.
Here are some examples:
- For the qualification period from March 2022 to February 2023 :
- Status earned in this period will be valid until March 31, 2024.
- You must choose your Loyalty Point Rewards by March 31, 2024.
- For the qualification period from March 2023 to February 2024:
- Status earned in this period will be valid until March 31, 2025.
- You must choose your Loyalty Point Rewards by March 31, 2025.
Since you don't have to choose your Loyalty Point Rewards until the last day, there is no rush. In fact, it can be beneficial to wait, choosing your Loyalty Point Rewards when you have a plan for using them. That's because some options, like American Airlines systemwide upgrades, expire based on the date that you select them.
American Airlines Loyalty Point Rewards Levels
The first award is offered at just 15,000 Loyalty Points. The number of additional points required after that varies, with the final level at a whopping 5,000,000 Loyalty Points. Below is a list of Loyalty Point Rewards and AAdvantage elite status benefits.
| Total Loyalty Points Required | Ongoing Benefits | One-Time Selection |
|---|---|---|
| 15,000 | - Group 5 Boarding for membership year | Choose 1 reward from: - Priority privileges and Group 4 boarding for one trip - 5 Preferred Seat coupons |
| 40,000 | - AAdvantage Gold elite status and all its benefits | |
| 60,000 | - Avis Preferred Plus status - 20% Loyalty Point bonus with select partners | |
| 75,000 | - AAdvantage Platinum elite status and all its benefits | |
| 100,000 | - Avis President's Club status - 30% Loyalty Point bonus with select partners | |
| 125,000 | - AAdvantage Platinum Pro elite status and all its benefits | |
| 175,000 | Choose 1 reward from: - 2 systemwide upgrades - 20,000 bonus miles (25,000 for AAdvantage credit cardmembers) - 6 Admirals Club One-Day passes - $200 trip credit ($250 for AAdvantage credit cardmembers) - Carbon offset - $250 donation to select nonprofit organization - 15% award rebate for one award* - 2 gifts of AAdvantage Gold status - COMING SOON: 35,000 miles toward a Mastercard Priceless Experience | |
| 200,000 | - AAdvantage Executive Platinum elite status and all its benefits | |
| 250,000 | Choose 2 rewards from: - 2 systemwide upgrades - 20,000 bonus miles (30,000 for AAdvantage credit cardmembers) - 6 Admirals Club One-Day passes - Admirals Club membership (requires 2 choices)** - $200 trip credit ($250 for AAdvantage credit cardmembers) - Carbon offset - $250 donation to select nonprofit organization - 2 gifts of AAdvantage Gold status - Bang & Olufsen product (requires 2 choices)*** - 1 Flagship Lounge Single Visit pass (2 passes if you're an AAdvantage credit cardmember) - COMING SOON: 35,000 miles toward a Mastercard Priceless Experience | |
| 400,000 | Choose 2 rewards from: - 1 systemwide upgrade - 25,000 bonus miles - Admirals Club membership (requires 2 choices)** - $200 trip credit ($250 for AAdvantage credit cardmembers) - Carbon offset - Gift of AAdvantage Platinum status - Bang & Olufsen product (requires 2 choices)*** - 2 Flagship Lounge visit passes - 1 Flagship First Dining visit pass - COMING SOON: 40,000 miles toward a Mastercard Priceless Experience | |
| 550,000 | Choose 2 rewards from: - 1 systemwide upgrade - 25,000 bonus miles - Admirals Club membership (requires 2 choices)** - $200 trip credit ($250 for AAdvantage credit cardmembers) - Carbon offset - Gift of AAdvantage Platinum status - Bang & Olufsen product (requires 2 choices)*** - 2 Flagship Lounge visit passes - 1 Flagship First Dining visit pass - COMING SOON: 40,000 miles toward a Mastercard Priceless Experience | |
| 750,000 | Choose 2 rewards from: - 1 systemwide upgrade - 25,000 bonus miles - Admirals Club membership (requires 2 choices)** - $200 trip credit ($250 for AAdvantage credit cardmembers) - Carbon offset - Gift of AAdvantage Platinum status - Bang & Olufsen product (requires 2 choices)*** - 2 Flagship Lounge visit passes - 1 Flagship First Dining visit pass - COMING SOON: 40,000 miles toward a Mastercard Priceless Experience | |
| 1,000,000 | Choose 1 reward from: - 4 systemwide upgrades - Carbon offset - Gift of AAdvantage Platinum Pro status - Up to 100,000 miles back on award redemptions - COMING SOON: 150,000 miles toward a Mastercard Priceless Experience | |
| 3,000,000 | Choose 1 reward from: - 6 systemwide upgrades - Carbon offset - Gift of AAdvantage Executive Platinum status - Up to 300,000 miles back on award redemptions - COMING SOON: 350,000 miles toward a Mastercard Priceless Experience | |
| 5,000,000 | Choose 1 reward from: - 10 systemwide upgrades - Carbon offset - Gift of AAdvantage Executive Platinum status - Up to 500,000 miles back on award redemptions - COMING SOON: 550,000 miles toward a Mastercard Priceless Experience |
Notes
*15% off award discount will be applied after travel, for up to two passengers traveling round-trip anywhere on American Airlines, American Eagle, Oneworld Airlines, or partner airlines.
**Admiral’s Club membership option may be selected only once.
***Beoplay HX 3rd Gen. over-ear noise-canceling headphones, Beoplay E8 Sport wireless earbuds, or Beosound Explore portable Bluetooth speaker. While supplies last.
Valuation of American Airlines Loyalty Point Rewards
Now that we know what the options are, it's worth evaluating which can provide the most value to you.
- Systemwide upgrades: These are difficult to assign a fixed value. Because American Airlines applies these only when there is available space for confirmed upgrades, experiences vary.
- Bonus miles: AA miles have a baseline value of 1.3-1.5¢ per mile, so a baseline value of ~$140 per 10,000 AA miles.
- Admirals Club day passes: These cost $59 or 5,900 AA miles, so a pack of six of these could be worth $354 if you assign them face value.
- Flagship Lounge Single Visit passes: These lounges are much nicer than Admirals Clubs. It's difficult to assign concrete value, but I'd ballpark $80-100 per pass. Or you can assign them the $150 face value that American sells them for.
- Flagship First Dining visit pass: The equivalent of a nice dinner. I'd ballpark $50 per pass.
- $200/$250 American Airlines Trip Credit: This should be worth face value when purchasing future AA flights. We suspect this won't be applicable to taxes & fees on award bookings since flight vouchers currently can't be applied to awards (just cash bookings).
- Carbon emissions offset: People will value this in different ways.
- $250 charity donation: Worth face value to the charity, but how you value it for yourself will vary.
- One-time 15% off award discount: This could present huge value if you book a round-trip, premium award requiring 170,000 miles or more. You would receive 25,500 miles back on a ticket that costs 170k AA miles, making this more valuable than the 25k bonus miles option.
- Award redemption rebates: It's unclear how this works, but it could provide incredible value. Receiving 100,000 miles back on redemptions is worth at least $1,300!
- Gift of AAdvantage status: Depending on the value you assign to each status tier, this could represent savings and benefits when using perks like upgrades for you and a companion, free checked bags, priority check-in, and discounted membership to Admirals Club membership. However, these benefits will be enjoyed by the person you gift the status to — not by you.
- Admirals Club membership: This requires using two of your choices. An annual membership to the Admirals Club costs $500-650, depending on your status level and whether you are starting or renewing a membership.
- Bang & Olufsen premium product: Another option that requires using two choices, the Beosound Explore speaker costs $199. The headphones options cost $350–500, depending on sales and where you buy them.
- COMING SOON: Mastercard Priceless Experience discount: It's likely that these values will vary tremendously.
Thinking Critically About Loyalty Point Rewards Options
If you're interested in an Admirals Club membership, you should consider that this requires using both choices at a reward level. A cheaper route to membership may be holding the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®, which has an annual fee of $595 and includes Admirals Club membership. Holding this card would allow you to get the Admirals Club membership you want and preserve your 2 Loyalty Point Rewards for another option.
Additionally, consider the opportunity cost with the Bang & Olufsen products. Do you really want to give up 2 choice rewards for headphones or a speaker? The purchase price of these products is lower than the redemption value of several other items that don't require using both choices.
Gifting American AAdvantage Elite Status
Another item available at most Loyalty Point levels is the ability to gift American AAdvantage elite status. Think hard before you choose this option. If the recipient is someone who travels with you regularly, your status should make this person eligible for upgrades, priority check-in, and free checked bags (assuming you're on the same ticket).
Since complimentary upgrades include one traveling companion, this benefit is most valuable in two situations. For example, it's valuable for your spouse when you have children and are seeking upgrades for the whole family. It's also beneficial if you're gifting status to someone who doesn't travel with you yet you don't care about the other options. I wouldn't bother gifting AAdvantage Gold since it carries few benefits, most of which can be obtained through the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®.
Items with varying values are harder to compare. Bonus miles are a choice at numerous levels. Those with AAdvantage credit cards could choose AA miles at all five levels to amass 205,000 miles by Level 13 (earning 750,000 total Loyalty Points). That's almost enough for three business-class awards from the U.S. to anywhere in the Middle East, Central Asia, or South Asia.
See also: Sweet Spots with American Airlines AAdvantage Awards
15% Award Rebate
Lastly, you shouldn't underestimate the 15% award rebate if you're planning big mileage redemptions. You will need to have enough miles to pay for the tickets upfront (the miles come back to you after you travel, not as a discount at the time of booking), but this rebate could be huge.
Two people flying round-trip in business class to the Maldives or the Middle East might pay 280,000 miles. A 15% rebate represents 42,000 AA miles coming back to you. You could book multiple domestic economy flights with those miles.
If you manage to hit the upper tiers, the award redemption rebates could offer excellent value as well. However, you'd have to pick this instead of multiple systemwide upgrades.
Bottom Line
With its revamped AAdvantage program, American Airlines has a new set of offerings for its elite members via Loyalty Point Rewards. These rewards include choices from multiple options at some reward levels, and you can select what benefits you the most.
Luckily, you don't have to choose immediately. You can consider the options and find which works best for you. Then, you can choose the Loyalty Point Rewards that provides the most value to you at a time when you are able to use them. In short, this will help to enhance your American Airlines loyalty experience.
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I definitely wouldn’t value the group 5 option very highly, the gold tier is much more attractive and surely comes with better group boarding options too
The change done is better for those with AAdvantage credit cards or alternatives ways of earning miles bit harder for those that we flight as the number of floght to be flown are more than im the past.
Esto me resulta muy complejo.
Estos cambios serán finalmente beneficiosos?
Esto depende de la persona para decidir. Para quienes realizan otras actividades (programa gastronómico, cruceros, gasto con tarjetas de crédito AA) es un beneficio. Para aquellos que en el pasado obtuvieron beneficios de estatus solo por volar, ahora será más difícil obtener el estatus de élite solo por volar.
Thanks for sharing . Excellent information summarized in one page .
Thanks
Tom