2015 Combined AAdvantage Loyalty Program Announced
This morning, American Airlines announced its 2015 AAdvantage Loyalty Program for the combined American and US Airways. As an American elite, the program remains largely un-changed, and that’s a great thing! With that said, there are a few changes to the program that I’ll highlight in this post. The theme of the whole deal is that the combined carrier will run one loyalty program (AAdvantage) for two separate airlines and reservations systems at American and US Airways. This is a bit awkward, but if they make it work like it’s laid out here, it should be fine.
The Changes
Elite Qualification
- From an initial scanning of the new program, the biggest change is an increase in the qualifying criteria for qualifying by segments. The new program features an increase of Elite Qualifying Segments (EQS) for Gold / Platinum / Executive Platinum from 25/50/100 to 30/60/120. The qualification criteria on Elite Qualifying Miles (EQM) and Elite Qualifying Points (EQP) remains the same, and that’s a HUGE sigh of relief.
Elite Benefits Flying on American
- For Gold and Platinum elites, 500-mile certificates will still be needed to upgrade on flights over 500 miles, but upgrades continue to be unlimited for Executive Platinum members when flying American
- Previous US Airways elites will receive 500-mile stickers based on their qualification history so they can upgrade on American flights
Elite Benefits Flying on US Airways
- When flying US Airways, complimentary upgrades will be cleared automatically, based on status (up to 2 /3 /4 days for Gold / Platinum / Executive Platinum)
- Integration of Auto-upgrades at US Airways (AA elites will be auto confirmed on US Airways instead of at check-in) — this is great!
General Elite Benefits and Notes
- All AA elites are now eligible for unlimited complimentary upgrades on flights under 500 miles
- Executive Platinum Systemwide Upgrades (SWUs) can now be used on US Airways flights, too
- Addition of free same-day changes for Executive Platinum Members!
- Mileage balances, elite qualifying miles and segments, and lifetime miles will be combined in early 2015
Mileage Earning
- There are no changes to the mileage earning schemes other than:
- The mileage earning bonus for business class tickets will increase from 25% to 50%.
You can read all the details on the changes here: 2015 AAdvantage Program
The Timeline
Here’s a high-level timeline on when benefits will be available to AAdvantage members:
Right now
January 2015
Second quarter of 2015 (when programs are combined)
More detail on the timeline can be found here: 2015 AAdvantage Integration Timeline
Initial Thoughts
I am very happy with the changes. As an American Executive Platinum member, I view these changes to the 2015 AAdvantage Loyalty Program as all positive (other than the increase in segments needed for qualification). Since I will likely qualify via EQM, this does not affect me. The benefits also increase a bit for Gold and Platinum members, but the level of benefit for those members pales in comparison to what Executive Platinums get.
I was very worried about the addition of a revenue requirement, but that was not included…. for now. We’ll see what happens after the two airlines are fully integrated.
Note: I’ll continue to analyze some of these changes throughout the day and provide more commentary, as needed
