Guide to the American Airlines AAdvantage program

The American Airlines AAdvantage program is a frequent flyer loyalty program. The more money you spend with American Airlines and its partners, the more miles you earn and the more loyalty points you earn. Earning points helps you toward AAdvantage elite status.

Here are some reasons to love the American Airlines AAdvantage program:

• Generous award chart with some  flights available for as few as 12,500 miles
• No fuel surcharges on American Airlines award flights and somec Oneworld alliance carriers
• An extensive list of American Airlines AAdvantage partners, including Oneworld members and non-alliance carriers
• Multiple earning opportunities that don’t involve flying

However, no program is perfect. Here are some of the drawbacks of the AAdvantage program:

• Earning miles is based more on how much you spend rather than how much you fly
• Unless you hold an eligible cobranded AAdvantage credit card, miles expire if your account is inactive for 24 months
• Stopovers are not permitted on award flights (though you can book one-way flights to create an open jaw-type situation)
• There’s a fee of $5 per 1,000 miles to transfer  miles with family members or friends

Overall, the AAdvantage program offers a lot of bang for the buck, primarily because it offers reward flight options to nearly anywhere you’d want to fly. The introduction of Loyalty Points can make achieving elite status easierr to achieve. Any frequent flyer knows that earning status – the higher the tier, the better – makes traveling more comfortable and, in some cases, less expensive.

Yes, the American Airlines loyalty program is completely free. More than that, being a member could ultimately lead to earning enough miles to redeem for reward flights or other cost-saving redemptions.

Those who frequently fly with the airline will be rewarded with perks and additional reward miles for flights and other redemptions.

Every time you earn an eligible AA mile, you’ll also earn a Loyalty Point. While miles can be used for flights, upgrades, and other redemption options, Loyalty Points are solely used to earn status with the airline, and different status tiers come with different benefits which we’ll outline below.

There are three ways to earn miles.

1. Travel on status-qualifying airlines: This includes flights on American Airlines, Oneworld members and partner carriers. For every $1 you spend on airfare booked directly with the airline, you’ll earn five miles (Basic Economy only earns two miles per $1); therefore, a $250 flight earns you 1,250 redeemable miles and 1,250 loyalty points as well. Furthermore, if you achieve an AAdvantage Elite status, you’ll get more miles than five for every $1 spent. (Tiers are discussed in further detail below.)
2. Purchase things with your AAdvantage credit card: For almost every American Airlines credit card, one eligible mile earned equals one Loyalty Point. Note that bonuses and accelerators don’t earn Loyalty Points; therefore, earning three miles per $1 spent on gas, for instance, with a co-branded card will still only earn you one Loyalty Point per $1 spent. However, the AAdvantage Aviator Mastercard earns just one mile for every $2 spent on non-American Airlines purchases. Other rewards credit cards can earn up to two or more miles for every $1 you spend.
3. Shopping programs: Members can also earn Loyalty Points by spending through programs such as eShopping, AAdvantage Dining and SimplyMiles.

As you accumulate more miles, you progress through four levels of elite status. You earn status based on the number of Loyalty Points you accrue during each 12-month period from March 1 to February 28 of each calendar year.

The different AAdvantage status levels include:

Base level status (qualify with 15,000 Loyalty Points)

• Earn five miles per dollar on base flight miles earned when traveling on American Airlines or with an eligible partner. American Airlines defines an eligible partner as flights marketed by American Airlines, Oneworld Airlines, and GOL Airlines.
• Group 5 boarding for the remainder of the status year.
• Your choice of one reward of either priority privileges and Group 4 boarding for one trip or five preferred seat coupons. 

Gold status (qualify with 40,000 Loyalty Points)

• A 40% status mileage bonus on base flight miles earned when traveling on American Airlines or with a partner. In other words, when you buy airfare and hold Gold status, you’ll earn seven miles per $1 spent, a 40% bonus.
• Complimentary upgrades if space is available on North American flights. It’s automatic; if there’s an upgrade available, you’ll get it without asking.
• Complimentary preferred and Main Cabin Extra seats for you and up to eight passengers traveling on your reservation.
• Priority lane access through the airport at check-in, security and Group 4 boarding.
• One free checked bag
• Same-day standby priority
• Access to Gold reservations agents
• Confers Ruby status with Oneworld alliance partners
• 24-hour upgrade window (if you want to make upgrades 24 hours before your flight, you can)
• At 60,000 Loyalty Points, get Loyalty Rewards of Avis Preferred Plus status and a 20% Loyalty Point bonus when you spend with select partners within six months of unlocking this reward

Platinum status (qualify with 75,000 Loyalty Points)

Gold status benefits, plus:

• A 60% bonus on base flight miles earned when traveling on American Airlines or with a partner airline. This means, having Platinum status, when you purchase a ticket, you’ll earn eight miles per $1, a 60% bonus.
• Premium cabin upgrades on North American flights for you and one traveling companion, confirmed as early as 48 hours before traveling. Plus, complimentary upgrades on Alaska Airlines.
• Two free checked bags plus priority handling
• Group 3 priority boarding
• Access to Platinum reservations agents
• Confers Sapphire status with Oneworld alliance partners
• 48-hour upgrade window
• Loyalty rewards at 100,000 Loyalty Points granting Avis President’s Club status and a 30% Loyalty Point bonus when you spend with select partners within six months of unlocking this reward

Platinum Pro (qualify with 125,000 Loyalty Points)

Gold and Platinum benefits, plus:

• AAdvantage Platinum Pro members earn nine points per $1, an 80% bonus
• Discounts on Admirals Club day passes, and with select partners including hotel and car rental award bookings 
• Unlimited upgrades for North American flights with confirmation as early as 72 hours before traveling
• Three free checked bags plus priority handling
• Free same-day flight changes and standby priority
• Access to Platinum Pro reservation agents
• Confers Emerald status with Oneworld alliance partners
• At 175,000 Loyalty Points choose one of the following Loyalty Rewards:
  • 5,000 Loyalty Points
  • 2 systemwide upgrades
  • 20,000 bonus miles (25,000 bonus miles – AAdvantage credit cardmember exclusive)
  • 6 Admirals Club® One-Day Passes
  • $200 Trip Credit ($250 Trip Credit – AAdvantage credit cardmember exclusive)
  • Carbon offset
  • $250 donation to select nonprofit organization
  • 2 Gifts of AAdvantage Gold® status
  • 35,000 AAdvantage® miles toward a Mastercard Priceless Experience (AAdvantage® credit cardmember exclusive)

Executive Platinum (qualify with 200,000 loyalty points)

Gold, Platinum and Platinum Pro benefits, plus:

• A 120% bonus on base flight miles earned when traveling on American Airlines or with a partner airline. You’re now earning 11 miles per $1 (a 120% bonus).
• Unlimited upgrades for North American flights with confirmation as early as 100 hours before traveling.
• Complimentary food and drink when traveling in the main cabin
• Access to Executive Platinum desk with no reservation service fee
• At 250,000 Loyalty Points choose two of the following Loyalty Rewards:
  • 15,000 Loyalty Points
  • 2 systemwide upgrades
  • 20,000 bonus miles (30,000 bonus miles – AAdvantage® credit cardmember exclusive)
  • 6 Admirals Club® One-Day Passes
  • Admirals Club® membership
    (requires 2 choices)
  • $200 Trip Credit ($250 Trip Credit – AAdvantage® credit cardmember exclusive)
  • Carbon offset
  • $250 donation to select nonprofit organizations
  • 2 Gifts of AAdvantage Gold status
  • Bang & Olufsen product (requires 2 choices)
  • 1 Flagship® Lounge Single Visit Pass (2 Flagship® Lounge Single Visit Passes – AAdvantage® credit cardmember exclusive
  • 35,000 AAdvantage miles toward a Mastercard Priceless Experience (AAdvantage credit cardmember exclusive)
• At 400,000 Loyalty Points choose two rewards from:
  • 1 systemwide upgrade
  • 25,000 bonus miles
  • Admirals Club® membership
    (requires 2 choices)
  • $200 Trip Credit ($250 Trip Credit – AAdvantage® credit cardmember exclusive)
  • Carbon offset
  • Gift of AAdvantage Platinum® status
  • Bang & Olufsen product
    (requires 2 choices)
  • 2 Flagship® Lounge Single Visit Passes
  • 1 Flagship® First Dining visit pass
  • 40,000 AAdvantage® miles toward a Mastercard Priceless® Experience* (AAdvantage® credit cardmember exclusive)

Once you hit a million miles traveled, you gain Million Miler status and Gold status for life. Those who make it to 2 million miles receive Platinum status for life. Additional bonus miles and upgrades come with these levels as well.

Currently, the consensus among travel websites is that an AAdvantage® bonus mile is worth about 1.5 cents. However, the value of your miles will vary significantly depending on how you use them.

Award flights start at 7,500 in the U.S., although flights at that mileage typically are domestic short-haul flights. American Airlines has an award chart showing the least possible number of miles required to book a seat one-way between different regions of the world. In practice, you may be required to use significantly more miles than the listed price based on destination and demand.

AAdvantage also allows members to redeem miles for vacations through AA vacations or buy passes for lounge access through the Admirals Club. Miles can also be transferred to hotel and car rental programs for redemption or donated to charity. However, all these options usually result in lower value than redeeming miles for flights.

As you accumulate AAdvantage miles, redeeming them can mean free flights (or at least lower-cost flights) to more than 350 destinations in more than 60 countries around the world. You can redeem your miles to bring the price down of vacation packages, car rentals and hotel rooms. You can redeem them for online shopping purchases. You also redeem points to purchase or renew your membership in the Admirals Club lounge (there are 50 of them in airports around the country and more than 60 partner lounges around the world).

Where the American Airlines AAdvantage program really shines, however, is in the world of upgrades. All of the elite tiers offer an opportunity to be upgraded. If you’ve been racking up Loyalty Points with the American Airlines AAdvantage program, upgrades are complimentary in certain situations, and that’s a big selling point. You also may wind up with free checked bags and priority boarding.

Yes, it absolutely is, if you fly American Airlines often, there’s no downside to joining the loyalty program. The program offers a chance to earn miles that you can use towards reducing the cost of future flights, or other American Airlines spending like seat upgrades or lounge access. If your loyalty lies with another airline it may not be as beneficial, but as it’s free to join, signing up can’t hurt.