American Airlines announced today that like Delta and United they are extending elite status by a year, reducing elite status requirements for 2020 if and when it is safe to travel again, and waiving award change fees in at least some cases. Additionally, certain current benefits (like systemwide upgrade certificates) will also be extended. Essentially, American is doing everything you’d expect them to on the heels of similar announcements from Delta and United given the current COVID-19 situation.
Extending status
First and foremost, if you currently have American Airlines elite status that is scheduled to expire January 31, 2021, it is now extended to January 31, 2022. That includes those who earned status based on last year’s flight activity, those who completed status matches already that granted status through January 2021, those who were gifted status or got it from a promotion (like the free matches from Hyatt Globalist last year), etc.
The only folks whose status isn’t automatically extended are those who have status for a shorter period of time than until January 31st. For example, if you are in the midst of a not-yet-completed status match and your temporary status is set to expire on April 30th, 2020 (just as an example), American is not yet extending your status. They are intending to address the folks in that situation, but haven’t yet announced how they will handle it. My guess (purely a guess) is that they’ll likely extend the match period by at least several months and perhaps until the end of the year to meet the match requirements — but we don’t yet know.
For everyone who currently has status through 1/31/21, this is great news — you’ll get another full year of status.
Waived redeposit fees
American is finally waiving award redeposit fees for travel booked by 5/31 for travel through 9/30/20. This is long overdue.
If you book award travel after 6/1/20, all members will be able to make changes or redeposit miles for free if you do so at least 60 days in advance of departure. I don’t know if this new policy has an end date and it isn’t clear to me whether this replaces the current policy that allows date and routing changes as long as origin and destination remain the same. The new change fees within 60 days of departure vary based on status:
| Status | More than 60 days prior to departure | 7-59 days prior to departure | Within 7 days of departure |
| Executive Platinum | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Platinum Pro | $0 | $50 | $75 |
| Platinum | $0 | $75 | $100 |
| Gold | $0 | $100 | $125 |
| No elite status | $0 | $125 | $150 |
Again, this is welcome news for those with award travel booked between now and September 30th. Even beyond, the ability to cancel and redeposit for free 60 days in advance is a nice change.
Earning 2020 status
When it becomes safe to travel again, 2020 American Airlines elite status will be much easier to obtain. This will only really apply to you if you don’t currently have American Airlines status (if you have status, it will be extended). In order to earn 2020 status for the 2021 year (which would be valid until 1/31/22), you would need to earn as per the following:
- Gold: 15K EQMs / 15 EQS / $1500 EQDs
- Platinum: 30K EQMs / 30 EQS / $4000 EQDs
- Platinum Pro: 45K EQMs / 45 EQS / $6000 EQDs
- Executive Platinum: 60K EQMs / 60 EQS / $9000 EQDs
Gold status could be pretty easy to obtain with just a couple of trips if and when travel resumes. It’s hard to say how obtainable the various levels will be until we have a better picture of what the rest of 2020 will look like.
Other benefits and memberships also extended
If you have systemwide upgrades or an admirals club membership, those things are also being extended. You’ll find full details on the AA site dedicated to the changes.
Credit card spend to count toward million miler status
Perhaps the simultaneously most and least interesting part of today’s announcement is that American will be offering a special promotion from May 1st to December 31st, 2020: during that window, every dollar spent on an American Airlines credit card will count toward million miler status. From the announcement:
We’re introducing a limited-time promotion to help you reach Million Miler℠ status and receive benefits like elite status. For all eligible Citi / AAdvantage® and AAdvantage® Aviator products, as well as select AAdvantage® credit cards outside the U.S., every dollar spent on net purchases that post between May 1, 2020, – December 31, 2020, will count as 1 mile toward Million Miler℠ status.
On the one hand, with Simon Mall allowing $25K in gift card purchases per day online, that seems like it could be a heck of an opportunity for anyone within reach of that milestone. On the other hand, what good will that status be if American decides that you’ve abused the program and shuts down your account? As far as I’m concerned, this is an empty promotion since it is nearly impossible to trust that your AA account and all associated miles won’t be cancelled out. Having read Craig’s story at Middle Age Miles (who in my opinion didn’t abuse the program and was quite a valuable AA customer given his big annual spend on flights with the airline), I wouldn’t make any effort to run towards this unless you’re maybe within say a hundred thousand miles of million miler / two million miler etc.
Bottom line
American Airlines finally joined the other major airlines in announcing an extension of elite status today. This was expected and not very surprising, but good news nonetheless. Waiving award redeposits was overdue and could be a good change for many even into the future. The ability to spend toward million miler status sounds interesting on the surface, but I’m sure I won’t be alone in dismissing that as a far-too-risky investment of your time and efforts.
H/T: TPG
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[…] Between May 1st and December 31st, 2020, every dollar spent on an American Airlines credit card counts toward million miler status. […]
[…] What led to my update saying that the fee for reinstating award tickets would be waived is this part of an announcement that was widely covered on April 13th (see our post here): […]
[…] For award travel ticketed on or after June 1, 2020, American will waive change and reinstatement fees when the change is made at least 60 days before travel and is implementing a new fee structure for changes closer in. See this post for more detail. […]
[…] May 1st and December 31st, 2020, every dollar spent on an American Airlines credit card counts toward million miler status. American offers different perks with each million miles […]
Hey Nick – Thanks for the kind words. I’ve had to put my AA follow-up on pause for a few weeks during our move (as well as a lot of other things!), but I’ll be re-starting that in the next few days. I’m stunned that I’m having to try to “force” them to have me back as a customer!
I hope you and your family are healthy and otherwise doing well during these challenging times. Take care. ~Craig
It is surprising given the details of your story for sure. I’ll be interested to hear how it all works out.
And thanks for the kind words — we’re doing fine and hoping the same for you, too.
I’m surprised you don’t mention that changing dates and times used to always be free. When I make a date/time change, it’s almost always within the new 60 day timeframe. Plus the reason for my changes has always been due to availability, not due to my own change in plans or indecisiveness.
On the flip side, I’m surprised you missed the fact that I mentioned it :-).
From above the chart with the new fee structure:
“If you book award travel after 6/1/20, all members will be able to make changes or redeposit miles for free if you do so at least 60 days in advance of departure. I don’t know if this new policy has an end date and it isn’t clear to me whether this replaces the current policy that allows date and routing changes as long as origin and destination remain the same. ”
It wasn’t clear to me yesterday — but unfortunately it is now clear that they have indeed gotten rid of the policy allowing date / time / routing changes for free. It’s a mixed bag here. I liked having that freedom. On the other hand, I like the ability to cancel if plans change a couple months in advance and get the miles back without paying a high fee. I see the benefits to each — too bad we couldn’t have both.
I can definitely see frustration with losing that though. It’ll make it much tougher to snag some of the harder-to-find awards. Sounds like an upgrade in cabin will still be free within 60 days though, so you could still book biz and then upgrade to first without paying the change fee based on what I’ve read.
How do you read the award redeposit waiver for flights booked before 5/31/20 but for travel next year — will the current policy of $150 apply or will the new 60-day waiver structure apply?
It’s either poorly written or poor policy, but the way I understand it you would have to pay $150. As best I can understand it, the 60-day waiver structure would apply to if you booked the flight from 6/1 on.
I would be interested to see another article analyzing the value of gold and platinum status respectively. For example, do complimentary upgrades ever actually clear for gold members?
I’m honestly not sure, but I suspect this entirely depends on your airport / flight patterns. If you’re looking to fly between LAX and NYC, I bet they never do. If you often fly from Tulsa to Chicago, maybe they do often in that direction and never in the other direction. I really don’t know (I don’t even know that they fly Tulsa to Chicago, just an example).
My personal viewpoint is that for the vast majority of folks, no level if airline status is worth much if you’re not flying enough to naturally earn it since you probably won’t be making enough use of the benefits to justify flying much extra to get it (unless your normal travel puts you pretty darn close to a tier). Like, even if I told you that Gold status is “worth” $2500, would that mean that it’s worth it for everyone to go out and spend $1500 on AA flights? Only if you’re going to fly AA enough that you actually get the value out of it.
All that said, take my opinion with a grain of salt as I’ve never earned airline elite status since I don’t pay for enough flights to earn elite status. Most of my travel is award travel.
Yeah I think that is all fair analysis. Part of my analysis is that I am relatively young, so all else being equal lifetime status is going to benefit me a lot more than someone in their 60’s.
Maybe a dumb question but do you know which elite benefits apply on award tickets? (particularly interested in the complimentary MCE and upgrades)
Also, do lifetime status folks get a fresh batch of 500-mile coupons each year?
Hi Nick: Does the free change and/or redeposit of award fees include Web specials? I think it would be worth addressing this in the article. Thank you.
I didn’t see that specifically addressed, but I doubt it. The whole point of Web Specials is that they are entirely inflexible.
Did Delta reduce the requirement for elite status? I did not seem to see the news.
I don’t think they did. I think all Delta did if I remember correctly is offer to roll over MQMs from this year into next year, presumably making it easier to get status next year.
Thanks Nick! I thought so. Have the Delta Reserve card, and trying to figure out the plan.
If I book an award fight for December today, will I be able to cancel the flight for free as long as I cancel 60 days out? Or, do I have to wait till 6/1 to ticket the flight?
The way it is written, it sounds like you have to wait until 6/1. I was thinking of booking a flight or two for the fall, but I guess I will wait until June.
As best I can understand it, you need to wait until 6/1 to ticket.
Would a business card count toward getting million miler status?
Yes. It sounds like spending on any AA card from 5/1 – 12/31 will.
Do you know if I would automatically get my points redeposited if I cancel my flights online, or do I have to call?
I have the same question. I booked open jaw flights for August back in February. Wonder how long the wait would be if we call?
Same here. I have August flights that I probably won’t need anymore. But unable to reach anyone on the phone.
I canceled a ticket as recently as a month ago and I had to call in and speak to the call center to get them to actually redeposit the miles
I’m not sure, sorry.
I booked award travel for December 2020 to January 2021 back in February. I assume i’m out of luck for changes.
Yus, I’m in the same boat im afraid.