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AAdvantage is the
frequent-flyer program A frequent-flyer program (American English) or frequent-flyer programme (British English) is a loyalty program offered by an airline. Many airlines have frequent-flyer programs designed to encourage airline customers enrolled in the program ...
of
American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...
. Launched May 1, 1981, it was the second such
loyalty program A loyalty program is a marketing strategy designed to encourage customers to continue to shop at or use the services of a business associated with the program. Today, such programs cover most types of commerce, each having varying features and ...
in the world (after the first at
Texas International Airlines Texas International Airlines Inc. was a United States airline, known from 1940 until 1947 as Aviation Enterprises, until 1969 as Trans-Texas Airways (TTa), and as Texas International Airlines until 1982, when it merged with Continental Airlines. ...
in 1979) and remains the largest, with more than 67 million members as of October 2011. Miles accumulated in the program allow members to redeem tickets, upgrade service class, or obtain free or discounted car rentals, hotel stays, merchandise, or other products and services through partners. The most active members, based on the amount and price of travel booked, are designated AAdvantage Gold, AAdvantage Platinum, AAdvantage Platinum Pro, and AAdvantage Executive Platinum elite members, with privileges such as separate check-in, priority upgrade and standby processing, or free upgrades. They also receive similar privileges from AA's partner airlines, particularly those in
oneworld Oneworld (stylised as oneworld; Computer reservations system, CRS: *O) is an airline alliance founded on 1 February 1999. The alliance's stated objective is to be the first choice airline alliance for the world's frequent international traveller ...
. AAdvantage co-branded credit cards are also available and offer other benefits. These cards are issued by Barclaycard and CitiCards, subsidiary of
Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking ...
in the United States, by
Butterfield Bank Butterfield, officially The Bank of N. T. Butterfield & Son Limited, is a bank founded and based in Bermuda. It provides services to clients from Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Guernsey and Jersey, where its principal banking operations are locate ...
and
Scotiabank The Bank of Nova Scotia (french: link=no, Banque de Nouvelle-Écosse), operating as Scotiabank (french: link=no, Banque Scotia), is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. One of Canada ...
in the Caribbean. AAdvantage allows one-way redemption, starting at 5,000 miles.


History

Increased competition following the 1978
Airline Deregulation Act The Airline Deregulation Act is a 1978 United States federal law that deregulated the airline industry in the United States, removing federal control over such areas as fares, routes, and market entry of new airlines. The Civil Aeronautics Boa ...
prompted airline marketing professionals to develop ways to reward repeat customers and build brand loyalty. The first idea at American, a special "loyalty fare", was modified and expanded to offer free first-class tickets and upgrades to first class for companions, or discounted coach tickets. Membership was seeded by searching American's SABRE computer reservations system for recurring phone numbers. The 130,000 most frequent flyers, plus an additional 60,000 members of the airline's Admirals Club were pre-enrolled and sent letters with their new account numbers. The name was selected by American's advertising agency and is consistent with other American Airlines programs featuring "AA" in the name and logo. The original logo was designed by
Massimo Vignelli Massimo Vignelli (; January 10, 1931 – May 27, 2014) was an Italian designer who worked in a number of areas including packaging, houseware, furniture, public signage, and showroom design. He was the co-founder of Vignelli Associates, with his ...
. Less than a week later, rival
United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.
launched its
MileagePlus MileagePlus is the loyalty program of United Airlines and Aeromar that offers rewards to passengers traveling on certain types of tickets. Following the 2011 merger agreement between United Airlines and Continental Airlines, United Mileage Plus w ...
program; other airlines followed in the ensuing months and years. The rapid appearance of competition changed the nature of the program, and as airlines began to compete on the features of their frequent flyer programs, AAdvantage liberalized its rules, established partnerships with hotel and rental car agencies, and offered promotions such as extra free beverages. In 1982 AAdvantage also became the first program to cooperate with an international carrier; members could accrue and redeem miles on British Airways flights to Europe. In 1988, major airlines, including American, offered triple miles. This led to increases in the number of miles needed for awards. During this time, miles, which originally had no expiration, began to have an expiration of three years, later reduced to 18 months, where an account would be closed if there was no activity during this time. In 2005 American Airlines joined other major U.S. carriers in introducing an online shopping portal allowing shoppers to earn AAdvantage miles when shopping online. In 2016, AAdvantage began crediting miles based on the amount of the airfare, not the distance traveled. This change was accompanied by increases in miles needed for an award. In 2022, American Airlines simplified the method of keeping track of earning miles for AAdvantage status. It was formally required to keep track of three metrics: EQM (Elite Qualifying Miles), EQS (Elite Qualifying Segments), and EQD (Elite Qualifying Dollars). The update replaced the three metrics with a single metric: Loyalty Points. Besides flying, members can use their AAdvantage credit card for purchases.


Membership tiers

There are five membership tiers in AAdvantage: standard, Gold, Platinum, Platinum Pro and Executive Platinum. Gold status requires 30,000 Loyalty Points. Gold status confers priority boarding, expedited security, complimentary same-day standby, discounted Admirals Club membership, and the ability to earn and redeem 500-mile upgrades. All fares receive one free checked bag. Gold status also confers a 40% mileage bonus to all flown segments, a 500-mile minimum on each segment, complimentary auto-requested upgrades on flights 500 miles or less, complimentary preferred seats, 50% off Main Cabin Extra seats (complimentary at check-in), 24-hour upgrade window for flights over 500 miles with the ability to upgrade one companion traveling on the same flight with 500-mile upgrades. Gold status provides oneworld Ruby status when flying a oneworld partner airline. Platinum status requires 75,000 Loyalty Points. Platinum status confers priority boarding, expedited security, priority baggage delivery, complimentary same-day standby, discounted Admirals Club membership, and the ability to earn and redeem 500-mile upgrades. All fares receive one free checked bag except flights to many Central American and Caribbean nations, for which a $25 fee still applies. Platinum status also confers a 60% mileage bonus to all flown segments, a 500-mile minimum on each segment, complimentary auto-requested upgrades on flights 500 miles or less, complimentary preferred seats, complimentary Main Cabin Extra seats, 48-hour upgrade window for flights over 500 miles with the ability to upgrade one companion traveling on the same flight with 500-mile upgrades. It also confers a greater standing on upgrade lists and a special phone line. Platinum status provides oneworld Sapphire status when flying a oneworld partner airline. Platinum Pro status requires 125,000 Loyalty Points. Platinum Pro status confers priority boarding, expedited security, priority baggage delivery, complimentary same-day standby, discounted Admirals Club membership, and unlimited, auto-requested complimentary upgrades on flights regardless of the number of miles. All fares receive two free checked bags. Platinum status also confers an 80% mileage bonus to all flown segments, a 500-mile minimum on each segment, complimentary preferred seats, complimentary Main Cabin Extra seats, 72-hour upgrade window for flights with the ability to upgrade one companion traveling on the same flight with 500-mile upgrades. It also confers a greater standing on upgrade lists and a special phone line. Platinum Pro status provides oneworld Sapphire status when flying a oneworld partner airline. Executive Platinum status requires 200,000 Loyalty Points. Executive Platinum status confers priority boarding, expedited security, priority baggage delivery, complimentary same-day standby, complimentary same-day flight change, discounted Admirals Club membership, unlimited, auto-requested complimentary upgrades on flights regardless of the number of miles, waived ticket service change, guaranteed availability in the Main Cabin, waitlist priority for purchased First or Business Class, complimentary alcoholic beverage and snack in Main Cabin. All fares receive three free checked bags. Executive Platinum status also confers a 120% mileage bonus to all flown segments, a 500-mile minimum on each segment, complimentary preferred seats, complimentary Main Cabin Extra seats, and a 100-hour upgrade window for flights with the ability to upgrade one companion traveling on the same flight with 500-mile upgrades. It also confers a greater standing on upgrade lists and a special phone line. Executive Platinum status provides oneworld Emerald status when flying a oneworld partner airline. Individuals who accumulate 1,000,000 miles earned on American receive lifetime Gold status. Individuals who accumulate 2,000,000 miles earned on American receive lifetime Platinum status. Beginning January 1, 2016, elite qualifying points were removed from AAdvantage's tier qualification system, while elite qualifying miles and flown segments will continue to be used to determine tier status and qualification. Beginning January 1, 2017, elite qualifying dollars were added to AAdvantage's tier qualification status. Beginning 2022, elite qualifying miles/segments/dollars were replaced with Loyalty Points.


Partnerships

In addition to its oneworld and
American Eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...
partnerships, American Airlines offers frequent flier partnerships with the following airlines: ;Airlines *
Air Tahiti Nui Air Tahiti Nui is the flag carrier of the French overseas collectivity of French Polynesia, with its head office in Papeete and its daily operations office in Faaa, Tahiti. It operates long-haul flights from its home base at Faa'a International ...
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Cape Air Hyannis Air Service Inc., operating as Cape Air, is an airline headquartered at Barnstable Municipal Airport in Hyannis, Massachusetts, United States. It operates scheduled passenger services in the Northeast (US), Northeast, the Caribbean, Midw ...
*
China Southern Airlines China Southern Airlines Company Limited is an airline headquartered in Baiyun District, Guangzhou, Baiyun District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province and is the largest airline in China. Established on 1 July 1988 following the restructuring of ...
*
Etihad Airways Etihad Airways ( ar, شَرِكَة ٱلْاِتِّحَاد لِلطَّيْرَان, sharikat al-ittiḥād li-ṭ-ṭayarān) is one of two flag carriers of the United Arab Emirates (the other being Emirates). Its head office is in Khalifa ...
*
Fiji Airways Fiji Airways (trading as and formerly known as Air Pacific) is the flag carrier airline of Fiji and operates international services from its hubs in Fiji to 13 countries and 26 cities including, Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, K ...
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GOL Airlines Gol may refer to: Places * * Gol, Gilan, a village in Gilan Province, Iran * Gol, South Khorasan, a village in South Khorasan Province, Iran * Gol, Bukan, a village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Gol, Chaldoran, a village in West Azerbaijan ...
*
Hawaiian Airlines Hawaiian Airlines ( haw, Hui Mokulele o Hawaiʻi ) is the largest operator of commercial flights to and from the U.S. state of Hawaii. It is the tenth-largest commercial airline in the United States, and is based at Honolulu, Hawaii. The airl ...
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JetBlue JetBlue Airways Corporation (stylized as jetBlue) is a major American low cost airline, and the seventh largest airline in North America by passengers carried. The airline is headquartered in the Long Island City neighborhood of the New York C ...
*
Seaborne Airlines Seaborne Virgin Island Inc, operating as Seaborne Airlines, is a FAR Part 121 airline headquartered in Carolina, Puerto Rico, near the territory's capital of San Juan. It operates a seaplane shuttle service between St. Croix and St. Thomas. O ...


Miles expiration

When American first started their frequent-flyer program, miles credited to AAdvantage members’ accounts never expired. In 1989, American implemented an expiration policy where miles would expire if there wasn’t any account activity over a three-year period. In 2012, American revised their policy by lowering the required activity timeframe to 18 months. Miles that were not previously subject to expiration were given a 25% bonus before adopting the new 18-month expiration policy. In March 2022, American again revised their expiration policy by increasing the timeframe for required activity to 24 months. Miles in members' accounts who are under 21 years of age are exempt from the account activity requirement. Expired miles cannot be used for award travel. To reactivate previously earned miles, AAdvantage plan members can pay a fee ranging from $200–$600. Of the three main legacy carriers in the United States, American is the only one that continues to maintain an expiration policy; Delta and United both relinquished such policies in recent years.


References

{{Customer loyalty programs Frequent flyer programs American Airlines ru:AAdvantage