There are two systems: Qmiles and Qpoints. You get full Qmiles for discount economy but only 50% Qpoints. However, your Qmiles are what you use to redeem awards and your status bonuses are added to your Qmiles total.
Check out
http://www.fewmiles.net/AA for a complete explanation.
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by OffToAmsterdam:
Looking over the AA site to check out the program and prices for flights. If I understand correctly, you do not get mile for mile points unless you pay full fare. Since your employer has you go on the lowest fare, do you end up only earning 1/2 the miles? And it is STILL better than DL? Really says something about DL.
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