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If you're after American Airlines AAdvantage® elite status, you'll need to focus on one thing: Loyalty Points. In this comprehensive guide, we look at the many ways to earn American Airlines Loyalty Points — what counts and what doesn't — to help you on your way toward AAdvantage elite status.
Let's dig into the many ways to earn American Airlines Loyalty Points — and the ways that yield AAdvantage miles but no elite status earnings.
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What Are American Airlines Loyalty Points?
On March 1, 2022, American Airlines completely overhauled its AAdvantage loyalty program and introduced Loyalty Points. Ever since that shakeup, Loyalty Points have been the single metric you need to accrue to earn AAdvantage elite status.
You'll need to earn the following amounts of Loyalty Points for the status tiers in American Airlines AAdvantage:
- Gold: 40,000 Loyalty Points
- Platinum: 75,000 Loyalty Points
- Platinum Pro: 125,000 Loyalty Points
- Executive Platinum: 200,000 Loyalty Points
Those are big numbers for sure, but there are dozens of ways you can earn the Loyalty Points necessary to enjoy those first-class upgrades, free bags, and a whole lot more.
How to Earn American Airlines Loyalty Points
So, how do you earn these Loyalty Points? Here are the various activities for earning and the rates at which you earn.
Flying with American Airlines
You'll earn Loyalty Points (almost) every time you fly with American Airlines. On AA flights, every AAdvantage mile that you earn nets you a Loyalty Point.
The following chart from AA shows that all of its fare codes for American Airlines-operated flights qualify for Loyalty Points:
However, the earning rate will depend on how much you pay for your ticket and your AAdvantage status level. When flying with American Airlines, you earn AAdvantage miles based on the base cost of your ticket at the following rates:
- General member (no status): 5 miles per $1 spent
- Gold: 7 miles per $1 spent
- Platinum: 8 miles per $1 spent
- Platinum Pro: 9 miles per $1 spent
- Executive Platinum: 11 miles per $1 spent
American Airlines basic economy tickets earn Loyalty Points. However, travelers only earn a base of 2 Loyalty Points per dollar spent on basic economy fares — instead of the standard 5x.
Note that American Airlines announced plans to require travelers to book directly through American — or belong to the AAdvantage Business program — to earn AAdvantage miles and American Airlines Loyalty Points. However, American Airlines ditched these plans in late May 2024. So, travelers no longer have to worry about where they book flights to earn miles.
Earning example
If you book a $100 flight (before taxes and fees) Main Cabin fare, you will earn the following AAdvantage miles and Loyalty Points:
- General member: 500 AAdvantage miles and 500 Loyalty Points
- Gold: 700 AAdvantage miles and 700 Loyalty Points
- Platinum: 800 AAdvantage miles and 800Loyalty Points
- Platinum Pro: 900 AAdvantage miles and 900 Loyalty Points
- Executive Platinum: 1,100 AAdvantage miles and 1,100 Loyalty Points
Flying with American Airlines partners
Travelers also earn Loyalty Points when flying most types of fares on American Airlines' many partners.
You'll earn miles and Loyalty Points on Oneworld airlines and with the majority of AA's non-alliance partners. Most non-alliance partner airlines award Loyalty Points on flights credited to AA, but only if AA markets the itinerary.
It's worth consulting AA's partner webpage to confirm that you'll earn miles and Loyalty Points on your itinerary before you book it. This way, you'll know for sure that miles and Loyalty Points are in your future. Plus, if AA changes the earning structure for a particular partner, you'll catch it before you pay for a flight you won't earn towards status on.
AA Vacations
When you book a combination of flights, hotels, and rental cars at AAvacations.com, you earn miles and Loyalty Points on the total package value — less the taxes and fees.
Earnings depend on whether or not you have American Airlines elite status. Those with any level of status will earn 5 miles and Loyalty Points per dollar spent, while those without will earn 1 mile and Loyalty Points per dollar spent.
Plus, remember that American Airlines flights booked as part of these packages will also earn Loyalty Points.
AA Cruise portal
Cruise bookings made through bookaacruises.com earn 1 mile per $1 spent on cruises. If you pay with an American Airlines co-branded credit card, you get an extra mile per $1 spent.
Any “base” AAdvantage miles earned on this site will also earn Loyalty Points at a 1:1 ratio. Any AAdvantage mileage bonuses on top of this base earning rate likely won't count as Loyalty Points.
Booking hotels
If you book a stay at aadvantagehotels.com (powered by Rocket Travel), you can earn up to 10,000 miles per night. However, that is the maximum; most stays earn far less than this. These AAdvantage mileage earnings count as Loyalty Points and can be an excellent way to get a lot of Loyalty Points. However, note that you won't earn hotel elite status on these bookings, nor will hotels recognize the status you have with them.
You can also earn Loyalty Points on stays with Hyatt. After linking your accounts, you'll earn 1 AAdvantage mile and 1 Loyalty Point for every $1 spent on qualifying Hyatt stays.
With Marriott (including Vacations by Marriott), you earn 1-2 miles per dollar spent. Lower-tier properties earn 1 mile, while higher-tier properties earn 2 miles per dollar spent. These earnings qualify for Loyalty Points at a 1:1 ratio.
For stays at IHG properties, you earn 2 miles per $1 spent at all brands — except Candlewood Suites and Staybridge Suites. At these properties, you earn 1 mile per $1 spent. All of these AAdvantage mileage earnings count as Loyalty Points (at 1:1 ratio).
Stays at Wyndham do not qualify for Loyalty Points. More on that in the section on “what doesn't count.”
Important note: To earn American Airlines miles (and thus Loyalty Points) with IHG and/or Marriott, you need to change your account settings in the partner program. You won't earn points from the hotel program when you choose to earn AA miles on your hotel stays.
Take that into consideration, as this means you wouldn't earn Marriott Bonvoy points on Marriott stays, for example. This is especially important given that many hotel promotions require you to earn their points (not some partner program) to qualify for the promotions. You'll need to decide if it's worth forfeiting the hotel points to bank AA miles and Loyalty Points.
Car rentals
As with vacations, hotels, and cruises, American Airlines offers a rental car portal at aa.com/car. All miles earned from these bookings qualify for Loyalty Points at 1:1.
For example, with Avis, Budget, and Payless, you will earn miles and Loyalty Points based on a few things, like AAdvantage status and if you use an AA credit card. But at a bare minimum, you'll earn 2 miles and Loyalty Points per dollar spent with preferred rental partners.
All base mileage earnings will give you 1 Loyalty Point for each mile you earn on rentals with these partners. Any mileage bonuses or promotions likely won't count for Loyalty Points.
You can also earn AA miles (and Loyalty Points) on bookings with Alamo, Avis, Budget, Hertz, National, Payless, and Sixt. As with the hotels above, you will need to choose to earn AA miles (and not points from the car rental program) to earn Loyalty Points on these bookings.
Online shopping portals
American Airlines' own shopping portal and SimplyMiles both provide mileage earning when clicking through before making purchases. You will get 1 Loyalty Point for each base mile you earn through these portals.
Be sure to check any current new member bonuses if you have never used the AA eShopping portal before. Just note that this new member bonus likely won't count as Loyalty Points.
For SimplyMiles, you must live in the U.S. and have a Mastercard to enroll.
Related: Beginner's Guide to Shopping Portals
American Airlines dining program
The AAdvantage Dining program offers miles if you sign up, store a credit card in your profile, and then eat at participating restaurants.
New member bonuses for this program are common, so be sure to check for any bonus mile opportunities. Again, though, these mileage bonuses likely won't count as Loyalty Points.
As with other programs, any miles you earn will also earn Loyalty Points at a 1:1 ratio. However, promotions and new member bonuses do not count toward Loyalty Points earning.
Related: Beginner's Guide to Dining Programs
Credit card spending on AA credit cards
This represents the most significant change to AAdvantage status because you can earn Loyalty Points by spending on American Airlines co-branded credit cards. The earning of Loyalty Points applies only to daily spending, however.
Every $1 spent on virtually all U.S.-issued American Airlines credit cards from Barclays and Citi will yield 1 Loyalty Point. This includes the following U.S. cards:
- AAdvantage® Aviator® Blue Mastercard®
- AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard®
- AAdvantage® Aviator® Silver Mastercard®
- AAdvantage® Aviator® World Elite Business Mastercard®
- American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® Card
- Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®
- Citi® / AAdvantage® Gold World Elite™ MasterCard®
- Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®
- Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard®
Remember that you only earn 1 Loyalty Point per $1 spent. Category multipliers where you earn extra miles for certain types of spending will not yield extra Loyalty Points. An example is the American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® Card, which earns 2 miles per $1 spent at grocery stores. While you would earn 100 AA miles after spending $50 at the supermarket, you would still earn just 50 Loyalty Points.
One exception to the general rule that you'll earn 1 Loyalty Point per $1 spent: The AAdvantage® Aviator® Mastercard® issued in the U.S. earns just 1 mile/1 Loyalty Point for every $2 spent.
Additionally, American Airlines issues some international co-branded credit cards. Some of these can earn 1.5-2 Loyalty Points per $1 spent. Check the list of countries here to see which cards are available in your country and what the earning rates are.
As mentioned, only daily spending counts toward Loyalty Points earning with credit cards. Bonus category earnings, welcome offers, sign-up bonuses, retention offers, referrals for your friend to sign up for the card — none of those will generate Loyalty Points.
Related: AA adjusts how card spending counts toward AAdvantage status
Bonus Loyalty Points from credit card spending
Although credit card “bonus miles” don't count toward Loyalty Points, you can still earn bonus Loyalty Points through credit cards. Clear as mud, right?
Cardholders of certain American Airlines credit cards can earn bonus Loyalty Points by hitting credit card spending thresholds:
- Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® — earn 10,000 additional Loyalty Points after spending $40,000 in eligible purchases during the qualification year.
- AAdvantage® Aviator® Silver Mastercard® — earn 5,000 Loyalty Points if you spend $20,000 on purchases, another 5,000 Loyalty Points if you spend $40,000 on purchases, and another 5,000 Loyalty Points if you spend $50,000 or more on purchases during the qualification year.
Utility payments
American Airlines has partnered with NRG Energy, Reliant Energy, and Xoom Energy. Payments to these companies earn miles, which also earn Loyalty Points at 1:1.
Only available in select states in the U.S., these electricity companies offer energy at variable rates (meaning prices can go up and down). Take that into consideration if you sign up, but these companies sometimes offer welcome bonuses of 10,000-15,000 AA miles for new members. While these new member bonuses might not qualify as Loyalty Points, you'll earn AA miles and Loyalty Points when paying your monthly bill.
Retail partners
You can earn AA miles (and Loyalty Points at 1:1) when purchasing gas with Shell. You will need to link your rewards accounts on this page. Note that the same applies to the hotel and rental car partners: you will no longer earn Fuel Rewards points or save 3-5¢ per gallon at the pump if you earn AA miles via this program. Additionally, you only earn miles (and thus Loyalty Points) on the first 20 gallons of fuel in each purchase.
You can also earn Loyalty Points from select partners on the AA promotions page. The list of partners fluctuates, but reading the fine print is an easy way to see which partners offer Loyalty Points and which don't.
Additionally, you can earn miles for taking surveys with Miles for Opinions. These will qualify for Loyalty Points.
What Doesn't Count for American Airlines Loyalty Points?
Now that we know what counts, here's a look at what doesn't. These activities can generate AAdvantage miles (which you can redeem for flights), but those will not translate to Loyalty Points. Thus, they don't help you achieve elite status.
Flying with non-alliance partners
Simply put: if it's not a Oneworld partner and the partner page on AA's website doesn't say you will earn Loyalty Points, then you won't.
AA has a large list of partners, but flights on China Southern Airlines, Etihad, Fiji Airways, and Hawaiian Airlines, and a few others won't earn Loyalty Points — even though you can earn AA miles when flying on these airlines.
There's a workaround, though. If you can book the flight with an American Airlines flight number, you'll earn AAdvantage miles and Loyalty Points as if you're flying on an American Airlines flight number.
Bask Bank
While the Bask Bank savings account is popular because you can earn AA miles as the interest on your account, these earnings will not convert to Loyalty Points. They are miles that you can redeem for travel, but these are not elite status-qualifying earnings.
Related: Bonus AAdvantage® miles for opening a new Bask Bank account
Points transfers
While you can transfer numerous different types of points and miles to American Airlines AAdvantage, none of these generate Loyalty Points. This includes transfers from Bilt Rewards and even transfers from Marriott — despite Marriott being a preferred hotel partner (see above).
Buying and gifting miles
Gifting, buying miles outright, and transferring miles to a friend or family member won't count toward Loyalty Points. Otherwise, this would be a really easy way to secure AAdvantage elite status!
Wyndham hotel stays
Even though you can earn AA miles from stays with Wyndham, you won't earn Loyalty Points. This is different from the hotel partners mentioned above, which do generate Loyalty Points.
Charity donations
You can earn 10 miles per dollar if you donate $25+ to Stand Up to Cancer through its partnership with American Airlines. Unless AA changes course, these donations will not qualify for Loyalty Points.
Loyalty Points Impact American Airlines Upgrade Priority
One of the perks of having elite status with American Airlines is complimentary upgrades to domestic first class. But what happens when you have a few people with the same status tier on the upgrade list? Who goes to the front of the line?
The tiebreaker is based solely on the rolling 12-month Loyalty Point earnings.
Note on Loyalty Points & American Airlines Status Timeline
The American Airlines status qualification year runs from March 1 to the end of the following February. Status earned during that period will be valid through March 31 of the year following the end of the qualifying year.
For example, suppose you earn 75,000 Loyalty Points between March 1, 2024, and February 28, 2025. At the moment your 75,000th Loyalty Point posts to your account, you'll earn AAdvantage Platinum status. You will enjoy that status from that date until the end of March 2026 — since that's the end of March in the year after the end of the qualifying period.
Final Thoughts
If you want status on American Airlines, you'll want to get to know Loyalty Points. There are hundreds of ways to earn them, but admittedly, it's a challenge figuring out what activities earn Loyalty Points and what don't.
Next time you're unsure about what counts, consult this guide. For those chasing AAdvantage elite status, this is a resource you'll want to keep in your back pocket.
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