American Airlines is changing its frequent flier program, becoming the latest carrier to have passengers earn miles based on how much they spend rather than how far they fly.
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American’s AAdvantage loyalty program changes, which begin in the second half of 2016, affect both accumulating reward miles and redeeming them, or “earn and burn”.
The airline industry’s oldest customer loyalty program is getting an overhaul.
American had held off making any changes to its program until it finished its merger with US Airways. She added that the airline is “eager to be more transparent” in the implementation of its awards for all consumers. Customers who travel on flights this holiday season and during the first half of next year will accrue miles in their frequent flier account under the current mile-flown method.
American Airlines spokesperson said it’s looking to reward “our most loyal and most valuable customers”.
Until the new award mile earning structure takes effect, members will still earn award miles based on the distance flown.
The carrier said award miles earned on flights operated by its partner airlines, such as British Airways or Japan Airlines, will be based on a percentage of the flight distance and whether it was a first class, business class or economy ticket.
For tickets booked on or after March 22, award-redemption levels to popular destinations in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America will be reduced, American said.
But while American has followed Delta and United in tying frequent-flier miles to fares, it did not match one other big change made by its rivals since 2014.
The move, long anticipated by investors, makes it harder for travelers to attain elite status and benefits on American by booking flights on the cheap that log thousands of miles.
“We’ve spent a lot of time studying the competitive marketplace”, Suzanne Rubin, President of AAdvantage, told reporters on Tuesday. Starting in January, AAdvantage members can qualify for elite status in two ways: elite qualifying miles (EQMs) or elite qualifying segments (EQSs) at the same thresholds as now. Flights of the same number of miles could cost $200 or $1,000, depending on a host of factors. The two airline programs combined members’ mileage balances and aligned elite member levels and criteria back then.
For example, each dollar spent by a regular AAdvantage member will earn five miles on the program, but “Executive Platinum” members will early 11 miles for every dollar spent. “They basically adopted Delta’s and United’s earning structure”.
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Industry experts said the change to a revenue-based rewards program seemed inevitable, and the changes to the program overall balanced the financial needs of the airline with the desires of its frequent fliers.
