Jan 15, 2015, 5:11 pm
Last edit by: Prospero
Future of AA / US Lifetime Status / Million Miler program (consolidated)
Until the new (and current) Million Miler program was launched December 2011, any miles from all sources (all redeemable miles) counted as Million Miler miles. Lifetime status granted was the same as today: Gold at 1,000,000 miles ever earned, and Platinum at 2,000,000 lifetime miles ever earned; no lifetime top tier (EP / EXP) status was, or is, offered. Further million miles thresholds earn 4 SWUs.
The current Million Miler program "grandfathered" existing MM counts because until now there existed no way to differentiate miles for MM count. With the announcement of the new program, AA announced only Base / Elite-Qualifying Miles would count and be added to one's Million Mile counter.
AAdvantage® Million MilerSM program recognizes and rewards AAdvantage members when Million Miler thresholds are achieved. Base miles earned by flying on American Airlines, American Eagle® or any eligible AAdvantage program participating airline will count toward Million Miler status.
AAdvantage members will enjoy the following benefits when Million Miler status is reached:
At one million (1,000,000) Million Miler miles, AAdvantage members will receive lifetime AAdvantage Gold status and 35,000 AAdvantage bonus miles*
At two million (2,000,000) Million Miler miles, AAdvantage members will receive lifetime AAdvantage Platinum status and four one-way systemwide upgrades
At each additional Million Miler mark, AAdvantage members will receive four additional one-way systemwide upgrades
For all members, your beginning Million Miler balance will include every AAdvantage mile you ever earned in the program. This Program to Date balance is currently reflected in your AAdvantage account on aa.com. Million Miler activity will be displayed in your AAdvantage account on aa.com separately from award miles so progress toward reaching this special designation can be easily tracked.
It's a special honor to be recognized with Million Miler status - and it is our distinct pleasure to reward such loyalty.
US has had a lifetime status / million mile program, and it counts PQM.
The greatest likelihood is current million miler counts will be merged, and that there is no way to "beat the system" by trying to inflate Redeemable miles counts in AA or US accounts; they both differentiate the kinds of miles, and no indication the Million Miler program will include lifetime Redeemable miles counts when USDM accounts are brought over and merged into AAdvantage (nor has anyone who has already caused an account merger stated to the contrary).
In the second quarter of 2015, we’ll combine your million mile balances (if you have both a Dividend Miles and AAdvantage® account) or transfer your million mile balance to the AAdvantage program.
AAdvantage Million Miler program:
http://www.aa.com/i18n/utility/millionMiler.jsp
Delta's comparable program (no lifetime top tier status):http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_...er-status.html
United's comparable program (lifetime top tier status granted):
http://www.united.com/web/en-US/cont.../lifetime.aspx
Until the new (and current) Million Miler program was launched December 2011, any miles from all sources (all redeemable miles) counted as Million Miler miles. Lifetime status granted was the same as today: Gold at 1,000,000 miles ever earned, and Platinum at 2,000,000 lifetime miles ever earned; no lifetime top tier (EP / EXP) status was, or is, offered. Further million miles thresholds earn 4 SWUs.
The current Million Miler program "grandfathered" existing MM counts because until now there existed no way to differentiate miles for MM count. With the announcement of the new program, AA announced only Base / Elite-Qualifying Miles would count and be added to one's Million Mile counter.
AAdvantage® Million MilerSM program recognizes and rewards AAdvantage members when Million Miler thresholds are achieved. Base miles earned by flying on American Airlines, American Eagle® or any eligible AAdvantage program participating airline will count toward Million Miler status.
AAdvantage members will enjoy the following benefits when Million Miler status is reached:
At one million (1,000,000) Million Miler miles, AAdvantage members will receive lifetime AAdvantage Gold status and 35,000 AAdvantage bonus miles*
At two million (2,000,000) Million Miler miles, AAdvantage members will receive lifetime AAdvantage Platinum status and four one-way systemwide upgrades
At each additional Million Miler mark, AAdvantage members will receive four additional one-way systemwide upgrades
For all members, your beginning Million Miler balance will include every AAdvantage mile you ever earned in the program. This Program to Date balance is currently reflected in your AAdvantage account on aa.com. Million Miler activity will be displayed in your AAdvantage account on aa.com separately from award miles so progress toward reaching this special designation can be easily tracked.
It's a special honor to be recognized with Million Miler status - and it is our distinct pleasure to reward such loyalty.
US has had a lifetime status / million mile program, and it counts PQM.
The greatest likelihood is current million miler counts will be merged, and that there is no way to "beat the system" by trying to inflate Redeemable miles counts in AA or US accounts; they both differentiate the kinds of miles, and no indication the Million Miler program will include lifetime Redeemable miles counts when USDM accounts are brought over and merged into AAdvantage (nor has anyone who has already caused an account merger stated to the contrary).
In the second quarter of 2015, we’ll combine your million mile balances (if you have both a Dividend Miles and AAdvantage® account) or transfer your million mile balance to the AAdvantage program.
AAdvantage Million Miler program:
http://www.aa.com/i18n/utility/millionMiler.jsp
Delta's comparable program (no lifetime top tier status):http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_...er-status.html
United's comparable program (lifetime top tier status granted):
http://www.united.com/web/en-US/cont.../lifetime.aspx
AA Lifetime Status / Million Miler program - discussion, speculation (consolidated)
Dec 11, 2013, 1:24 pm
#1
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Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 851
AA Lifetime Status / Million Miler program - discussion, speculation (consolidated)
I have about 400k AA miles. I am not sure about my US balance but I'd guess something close to (but below) 1 million.
If AA is keeping the million miles program, it seems pretty clear they'd have to combine US miles, right?
If AA is keeping the million miles program, it seems pretty clear they'd have to combine US miles, right?
Dec 11, 2013, 1:24 pm
#2
Moderator: American AAdvantage, Signatures
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: London, England
Programs: UA 1K, Hilton Diamond, IHG Diamond Ambassador, National Exec, AA EXP Emeritus
Posts: 9,765
This thread has been created as a consolidated thread for the discussion of the lifetime / million miler programme in the merged AAdvantage programme.
~Moderator
~Moderator
Last edited by Microwave; Nov 19, 2014 at 7:08 am
Dec 11, 2013, 3:08 pm
#3
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: PSP
Programs: AA Plat-2MM, Marriott Plat, former VX Gold forever
Posts: 117
Million Miles status (with combined US/AA miles)
Lifetime miles erased! I flew USAir and prior to that PSA almost exclusively for many years until they eliminated their Intra-California service. After that, I moved to AA with few and far between flights to PHX on US. With over 2 million AA miles,I WAS excited that these lifetime miles would soon be combined...or so I thought. I sent an email to DM requesting my total lifetime miles and the answer was 0! They stated that "lifetime" miles start over at zero if your account goes dormant. Mine went dormant in 2010 after no miles posted for 3 years.
Dec 11, 2013, 3:25 pm
#4
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: CLT
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 709
Lifetime miles erased! I flew USAir and prior to that PSA almost exclusively for many years until they eliminated their Intra-California service. After that, I moved to AA with few and far between flights to PHX on US. With over 2 million AA miles,I WAS excited that these lifetime miles would soon be combined...or so I thought. I sent an email to DM requesting my total lifetime miles and the answer was 0! They stated that "lifetime" miles start over at zero if your account goes dormant. Mine went dormant in 2010 after no miles posted for 3 years.
I would assume that US and AA lifetime mileage balances would be combined.
Dec 11, 2013, 4:44 pm
#5
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: PSP
Programs: AA Plat-2MM, Marriott Plat, former VX Gold forever
Posts: 117
Dec 11, 2013, 4:55 pm
#6
Join Date: May 2008
Location: NYC
Programs: DL PM; UA 1K; AA 1MM
Posts: 4,506
Does the US LT counter only include BIS miles or does it include all miles (status bonus miles, credit card spend miles, etc)? AA moved from the latter to the former a couple of years ago, making it harder to gain LT or advance LT status.
If US is able to distinguish between BIS miles (and not BIS miles) accumulated since the time that AA made this change, the combination (or presumed combination) for that period may only include BIS miles. If they can't distinguish, well.....then it's time to earn some US miles quickly
If US is able to distinguish between BIS miles (and not BIS miles) accumulated since the time that AA made this change, the combination (or presumed combination) for that period may only include BIS miles. If they can't distinguish, well.....then it's time to earn some US miles quickly
Dec 11, 2013, 5:04 pm
#7
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: PSP
Programs: AA Plat-2MM, Marriott Plat, former VX Gold forever
Posts: 117
BIS Only
Here's the information US provided in response to my "lifetime" miles inquiry:
US Airways lifetime flight miles are accumulated from the start date of your Dividend Miles account as long as your account remains active. Only credited flight miles on US Airways owned and operated flights (this includes previous flight miles on PSA, Piedmont, and America West) count toward Million Miler status. Bonus miles, preferred mileage bonus, class of service bonus miles and flights on partner airlines do not count.
US Airways lifetime flight miles are accumulated from the start date of your Dividend Miles account as long as your account remains active. Only credited flight miles on US Airways owned and operated flights (this includes previous flight miles on PSA, Piedmont, and America West) count toward Million Miler status. Bonus miles, preferred mileage bonus, class of service bonus miles and flights on partner airlines do not count.
Dec 11, 2013, 5:36 pm
#8
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Somewhere...
Programs: AA PLT/3MM, UA GM/1MM, DL DM/1MM, FB Plat, AS MVP Gold, WN AList+
Posts: 1,588
Here's the information US provided in response to my "lifetime" miles inquiry:
US Airways lifetime flight miles are accumulated from the start date of your Dividend Miles account as long as your account remains active. Only credited flight miles on US Airways owned and operated flights (this includes previous flight miles on PSA, Piedmont, and America West) count toward Million Miler status. Bonus miles, preferred mileage bonus, class of service bonus miles and flights on partner airlines do not count.
US Airways lifetime flight miles are accumulated from the start date of your Dividend Miles account as long as your account remains active. Only credited flight miles on US Airways owned and operated flights (this includes previous flight miles on PSA, Piedmont, and America West) count toward Million Miler status. Bonus miles, preferred mileage bonus, class of service bonus miles and flights on partner airlines do not count.
Probably about 300K or so would be my guess on US.
They might do a one-time re-build of US mileage (there are probably a number of people that left US and went to AA) but then again they might not. In both the UA/CO mergers as well as the DL/NW mergers a lot of legacy flown miles on the lifetime counter popped up once my accounts were linked. Frankly, I was surprised in both instances.
Who knows when we get to the linkage point with AA/US.
Dec 11, 2013, 5:42 pm
#9
Join Date: May 2008
Location: NYC
Programs: DL PM; UA 1K; AA 1MM
Posts: 4,506
My US account from the 90s (I wasn't a big flyer at all back then, on any airline) went dormant long ago. When I tried to find it to credit a flight earlier this year, the (very friendly) US phone agent couldn't even find me in the system and said my long-dormant account likely wasn't even transitioned to the new IT system (which we know to be SHARES) following the US/HP merger. No great loss for me though, I can't imagine that old account's MM counter would have totaled more than 10K BIS miles.
Dec 11, 2013, 6:36 pm
#10
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: 대한민국 (South Korea) - ex-PVG (上海)
Programs: UA MM / LT Gold (LT UC), DL SM, AA PLT (AC), OZ, KE; GE and Korean SES (like GE); Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,995
They stated that "lifetime" miles start over at zero if your account goes dormant. Mine went dormant in 2010 after no miles posted for 3 years.
When I lived in AZ, MD, OH, and CA, I flew a lot on US (and America West), then moved to China for years (then to Korea for more years) so no chance to fly US. When I realized this, I was told that all my earlier miles (including lifetime miles) were gone forever. I had to get a new DM account, starting at zero.More OT: when DL and NW merged, my lifetime miles were combined; when CO and UA merged, the same. So, I suspect that there will be a 1:1 conbination of US and AA miles.
Dec 12, 2013, 8:06 pm
#11
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Princeton, NJ; Lviv Ukraine
Programs: UA 3.6MM, AF/KL Lifetime Plat, BA Gold, AA 1MM, IC Spire RA, Kimpton IC, Marriott Plat, et alia
Posts: 2,732
The big question is parity at time of conversion. Lifetime US miles are more restricted than lifetime AA miles.
There is a precedent in the CO-UA merger.
CO had an expansive definition of lifetime miles, which was basically on EQMs, including class of service bonuses, DEQM promotions, credit for travel on partner airlines, etc., while UA's definition was essentially BIS miles on UA metal only.
Post merger, the historic UA lifetime miles were uplifted on a one-time basis to match CO's definition, the miles consolidated, and then the combined program switched to the lifetime BIS basis. For historic UA flyers it represented a one-time bump-up so that their more-restricted miles are now counted equally to the historic CO flyers. And thereafter, everyone is on equal footing.
There were some major quibbles with losing some of the perks previously part of the UA lifetime program (lifetime Club access) but on the other hand, new perks were introduced (matching status for a spouse).
The best thing coming out of the combined program - at the 4MM level, lifetime GS status.
I hope they combine the miles using AA's much more generous formula than US's. And I hope they also provide more meaningful lifetime status benefits, say EXP at 3MM and Concierge Key at 4MM.
There is a precedent in the CO-UA merger.
CO had an expansive definition of lifetime miles, which was basically on EQMs, including class of service bonuses, DEQM promotions, credit for travel on partner airlines, etc., while UA's definition was essentially BIS miles on UA metal only.
Post merger, the historic UA lifetime miles were uplifted on a one-time basis to match CO's definition, the miles consolidated, and then the combined program switched to the lifetime BIS basis. For historic UA flyers it represented a one-time bump-up so that their more-restricted miles are now counted equally to the historic CO flyers. And thereafter, everyone is on equal footing.
There were some major quibbles with losing some of the perks previously part of the UA lifetime program (lifetime Club access) but on the other hand, new perks were introduced (matching status for a spouse).
The best thing coming out of the combined program - at the 4MM level, lifetime GS status.
I hope they combine the miles using AA's much more generous formula than US's. And I hope they also provide more meaningful lifetime status benefits, say EXP at 3MM and Concierge Key at 4MM.
Dec 13, 2013, 1:21 am
#12
Join Date: Feb 1999
Location: City with Tax-Payer subsdized AA Maintance Base
Programs: Enough to Cause a Migraine
Posts: 1,857
When TWA Aviators and AAdvantage accounts were combined, AAdvantage accounts did reflect Aviators miles counting towards MM status with AA.
However, since others in this thread have reported that US has responded that BIS miles only will count toward MM status, I would not expect MM status from all account activity to count towards MM status with AAdvantage once both accounts are combined.
If it MM status happens with all combined miles, it's a nice jesture to those loyal to both airlines.
If MM status happens only for BIS miles amongst combined accounts, then it's a nice jesture to existing AAdvantage MM status customers that have had to play by BIS only counting since December 2011 [with the exception of those that jumped on the Citi Executive offer in December 2011].
However, since others in this thread have reported that US has responded that BIS miles only will count toward MM status, I would not expect MM status from all account activity to count towards MM status with AAdvantage once both accounts are combined.
If it MM status happens with all combined miles, it's a nice jesture to those loyal to both airlines.
If MM status happens only for BIS miles amongst combined accounts, then it's a nice jesture to existing AAdvantage MM status customers that have had to play by BIS only counting since December 2011 [with the exception of those that jumped on the Citi Executive offer in December 2011].
Dec 13, 2013, 6:43 am
#13
Join Date: May 2008
Location: NYC
Programs: DL PM; UA 1K; AA 1MM
Posts: 4,506
You are absolutely correct though that for years AA's MM counter included elite bonus miles, credit card miles, promotion bonus miles, AAdvantage shopping miles, etc, etc, everything. That changed in summer 2011 when AA moved to the BIS miles only.
So at this point, we have 2.5 years of 'BIS only' parity (and by the time merging occurs perhaps 3.5 years of parity). It could get quite complicated indeed to calculate an uplift amount only for US miles prior to summer 2011 while not uplifting US miles earned summer 2011 and later.
(If all US miles are uplifted, than AA miles from summer 2011 onward would have to uplifted as well to maintain parity)
Dec 13, 2013, 7:02 am
#14
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Long Island, NY
Programs: CoFounder and Chairman, FFOCUS (Frequent Flyers Organized and concerned about Unacceptable Service.
Posts: 1,341
My million miler lifetime miles on AA is about 400k, and approximately 550k on US, although i was told in 2003 that my US total was about 700k. Assuming the lower number, I'll hit million mile status in about a years time assuming they merge totals one for one.
Dec 13, 2013, 7:40 am
#15
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Lewisville, TX USA
Programs: AA EXP 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Bonvoy LT Ti; National EE; WDW Passholder
Posts: 838
Cheers,
LBBZman
