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AA Lifetime Status / Million Miler program - discussion, speculation (consolidated)

Old Jan 15, 2015, 5:11 pm
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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, well 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
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AA Lifetime Status / Million Miler program - discussion, speculation (consolidated)

Old Dec 13, 2013, 7:49 am
  #16  
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: NYC
Programs: DL PM; UA 1K; AA 1MM
Posts: 4,486
Originally Posted by lbbzman
Except it's stated upthread that US does not even credit BIS miles on partner metal for MM proposes, whereas AA does. So while the disparity is nowhere near what it would have been had AA still credited all sources of miles, there is still slight disparity.

Cheers,
LBBZman
Good catch. My point was simply that defining a model for parity is going to be wrought with challenges.
ty97 is offline  
Old Dec 13, 2013, 9:37 am
  #17  
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Programs: UA 1K 1MMer & LT UC (when flying UA); Hyatt Credit Cardist; HHonors Diamond; Marriott Gold via UA 1K
Posts: 6,953
Originally Posted by Art234
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.
When I visited the US CP desk in February, 2006, I was told that I had 802,000 lifetime earned miles. This was prior to the Shares cutover, and supposedly US no longer has the historical information of "all earned miles." I find that hard to believe, but there is a possibility that they can pull up the old information prior to the Shares cutover (March, 2007).

If NuAAdvantage does a one-time adjustment the way UA did, and the adjustment counts all earned miles until December, 2011, with my 57K+ AA lifetime miles I should just eek across the MM line. If they do the adjustment and only count all earned miles until March, 2007, I'll probably fall just short. It just seems to me that if they do no adjustments whatsoever they will really be shortchanging DM members -- some even to the tune of a full lifetime status level.
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Old Dec 13, 2013, 10:07 am
  #18  
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Chicago
Programs: AA EXP, UA former 1K (1.9MM and gone), Marriott LT Plat, Hilton Diamond, SPG Plat
Posts: 1,111
Originally Posted by SS255
When I visited the US CP desk in February, 2006, I was told that I had 802,000 lifetime earned miles. This was prior to the Shares cutover, and supposedly US no longer has the historical information of "all earned miles." I find that hard to believe, but there is a possibility that they can pull up the old information prior to the Shares cutover (March, 2007).

If NuAAdvantage does a one-time adjustment the way UA did, and the adjustment counts all earned miles until December, 2011, with my 57K+ AA lifetime miles I should just eek across the MM line. If they do the adjustment and only count all earned miles until March, 2007, I'll probably fall just short. It just seems to me that if they do no adjustments whatsoever they will really be shortchanging DM members -- some even to the tune of a full lifetime status level.
IMO a retroactive recalculation under a different set of rules is far less fair than it may seem to be at first glance, as demonstrated with the CO/UA fiasco. Those who care about MM miles tend to adjust their behavior to fit the rules in place at the time, thereby reducing the value of such a recalculation for them. The biggest benefit then goes to those who did not behave as the airline originally intended and now get rewarded for their disloyalty.

If there really is a big difference in value for one airline's MM miles over the other's, I think the better way to handle it is simply an across-the-board conversion factor. For example, 1 DM MM mile converts to 1.25 AA MM miles.
NiceLanding is offline  
Old Dec 13, 2013, 11:27 am
  #19  
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: SF
Programs: UA MM, AA 2MM, Bonvoy LTP, HH Dia
Posts: 1,128
Originally Posted by vsevolod4
And I hope they also provide more meaningful lifetime status benefits, say EXP at 3MM and Concierge Key at 4MM.
I'll feel very lucky if they keep the MM benefits for existing AA MM'ers. I don't think there's much chance they calculate all earned miles on US prior to Dec '11 to combine with the lifetime AA balance. US miles have been far too easy to acquire for too long IMO-- even easier than AA miles.

Under your outlined scenario, I'd cross the 4MM mark without ever flying 50k eqm's in a given year on either airline. I don't think they wanna hand me lifetime EXP or Concierge Key for my loyalty to their respective shopping malls (though I'd be ecstatic if they did).
ps9a is offline  
Old Dec 13, 2013, 12:10 pm
  #20  
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Chicago
Programs: AA EXP, UA former 1K (1.9MM and gone), Marriott LT Plat, Hilton Diamond, SPG Plat
Posts: 1,111
Originally Posted by ps9a
I'll feel very lucky if they keep the MM benefits for existing AA MM'ers. I don't think there's much chance they calculate all earned miles on US prior to Dec '11 to combine with the lifetime AA balance. US miles have been far too easy to acquire for too long IMO-- even easier than AA miles.

Under your outlined scenario, I'd cross the 4MM mark without ever flying 50k eqm's in a given year on either airline. I don't think they wanna hand me lifetime EXP or Concierge Key for my loyalty to their respective shopping malls (though I'd be ecstatic if they did).
I don't actually see any winning scenario for AA's MM program until the generation of flyers who accumulated huge balances under the pre-2011 mostly drops out. The benefits have not been upgraded at all to reflect the increased difficulty of reaching the milestones for newer members (like me), yet any increases would disproportionally benefit those who earned under the old system with no expectation of receiving such benefits. It doesn't help to now be integrating a group used to an even stingier MM program (based on the difficulty of achieving similar benefits).

As much as I object to COdbaUA's cuts to earned "lifetime" benefits, their current MM program, now based on pretty strict new earning rules, still looks more attractive than AA's. The only decent solution I can see, which is probably not politically acceptable, is for AA to completely replace the MM benefit structure and adjust downward inflated MM mileage accounts, but grandfather old benefits for anyone who already earned or will soon earn better benefits under the old program.
NiceLanding is offline  
Old Dec 13, 2013, 1:08 pm
  #21  
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: SFO/STS
Programs: AA EXP, HH Diamond
Posts: 391
I have not seen any flight activity towards my MM status on the AA website for November or December even though I flew multiple trips which are listed. Is anyone else having that issue or am I "special"?
Rebob is offline  
Old Dec 13, 2013, 1:38 pm
  #22  
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Programs: AA: EXP/5.2mm
Posts: 251
Originally Posted by ps9a
I'll feel very lucky if they keep the MM benefits for existing AA MM'ers. I don't think there's much chance they calculate all earned miles on US prior to Dec '11 to combine with the lifetime AA balance. US miles have been far too easy to acquire for too long IMO-- even easier than AA miles.

Under your outlined scenario, I'd cross the 4MM mark without ever flying 50k eqm's in a given year on either airline. I don't think they wanna hand me lifetime EXP or Concierge Key for my loyalty to their respective shopping malls (though I'd be ecstatic if they did).
I have 5MM lifetime miles on AA - just rolled the odometer this month. I also have about 200K lifetime miles on US, so the program merger won't really do anything for me.

For a number of years I qualified for EXP every year (due to business travel), and was CK for a few years as well. My business travel has now tailed off significantly, though I am still running at about 50K/year. For all that, though, my present status is merely the lifetime PLT status that I got when I crossed 2MM lifetime miles.

I too would be ecstatic if they instituted some sort of higher tiers - EXP at 3MM and CK at 4MM sounds great! I am skeptical that they will, though.
lhl12 is offline  
Old Dec 13, 2013, 2:36 pm
  #23  
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Programs: UA 1K 1MMer & LT UC (when flying UA); Hyatt Credit Cardist; HHonors Diamond; Marriott Gold via UA 1K
Posts: 6,953
Originally Posted by NiceLanding
IMO a retroactive recalculation under a different set of rules is far less fair than it may seem to be at first glance, as demonstrated with the CO/UA fiasco. Those who care about MM miles tend to adjust their behavior to fit the rules in place at the time, thereby reducing the value of such a recalculation for them. The biggest benefit then goes to those who did not behave as the airline originally intended and now get rewarded for their disloyalty.

If there really is a big difference in value for one airline's MM miles over the other's, I think the better way to handle it is simply an across-the-board conversion factor. For example, 1 DM MM mile converts to 1.25 AA MM miles.
The underlying reason for the outcry from UA's "legacy" million milers was because they were stripped of benefits promised to them (2 regionals per year) when they earned their UA Million Miler status, and those who were within reaching distance of the 2MM PMUA brass ring had the lifetime United Club benefit yanked out from under them.

United's response to the outcry was that the new Million Miler program offered a richer benefit in the spousal/partner status match. Unfortunately, single people and households where both partners were million milers and earned the same level of status individually lost their promised regionals, with nothing to gain in return. In addition, United does not allow you to confer the status match onto anybody but a spouse or a significant other living at the same address. Sure, people can claim that their child or roommate is really their spouse/SO, but it does violate the MP T&C's.

United's huge mistake was to not give MM'ers the choice of either the 2 regionals or the spousal match, and to not grandfather in those PMUA 1MM'ers who had been working toward 2MM status and the lifetime UC membership.

US's Million Miler program is weaker than AA's. I see nothing wrong with AA keeping the Million Miler program intact, but adjusting the DM members' balances to at least include partner EQM's, if not all earned miles until December, 2011. This would result in the least number of dissatisfied customers.
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Old Dec 13, 2013, 2:37 pm
  #24  
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Chicago
Programs: AA EXP, UA former 1K (1.9MM and gone), Marriott LT Plat, Hilton Diamond, SPG Plat
Posts: 1,111
Originally Posted by lhl12
I have 5MM lifetime miles on AA - just rolled the odometer this month. I also have about 200K lifetime miles on US, so the program merger won't really do anything for me.

For a number of years I qualified for EXP every year (due to business travel), and was CK for a few years as well. My business travel has now tailed off significantly, though I am still running at about 50K/year. For all that, though, my present status is merely the lifetime PLT status that I got when I crossed 2MM lifetime miles.

I too would be ecstatic if they instituted some sort of higher tiers - EXP at 3MM and CK at 4MM sounds great! I am skeptical that they will, though.
Certainly 5MM is impressive by any measure, but I wonder if you have any idea how much of that was BIS miles? I'm just trying to get a feel for how the local MM population compares to my own travels, which until recently were mostly on UA.
NiceLanding is offline  
Old Dec 13, 2013, 9:06 pm
  #25  
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 2,302
Originally Posted by mmaster737
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.
If US can indeed tell which are your flight miles and which are your bonus miles, given that AA has for 2 years only counted flight miles towards MM status, I would think they would count only those US flight miles for a lifetime MM combination when accounts eventually get merged. I doubt what AA "used to do but stopped doing in 2011" has any effect on what they'll do in in 2014 (or 2015). Maybe everyone will be pleasantly surprised but I'd keep expectations down.

When Reno and TWA miles were moved over, they counted all those miles towards lifetime AA miles, but at that time AA counted EVERYTHING so it didn't matter.
LovePrunes is offline  
Old Dec 14, 2013, 5:11 am
  #26  
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Programs: AA: EXP/5.2mm
Posts: 251
Originally Posted by NiceLanding
Certainly 5MM is impressive by any measure, but I wonder if you have any idea how much of that was BIS miles? I'm just trying to get a feel for how the local MM population compares to my own travels, which until recently were mostly on UA.
My guess is 3.5mm BIS -- AAdvantage program member since 1983. I had the Citibank AA Visa for many years but gave it up about seven years ago in favor of a cash back card.
lhl12 is offline  
Old Dec 14, 2013, 8:04 am
  #27  
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: SF
Programs: UA MM, AA 2MM, Bonvoy LTP, HH Dia
Posts: 1,128
Originally Posted by lhl12
My guess is 3.5mm BIS -- AAdvantage program member since 1983. I had the Citibank AA Visa for many years but gave it up about seven years ago in favor of a cash back card.
Highly unlikely you had 3.5M BIS... Even as a PLAT (if they were prior to 12/11), that would've netted you 7M lifetime miles, unless your flying pre-dated elite bonuses.
ps9a is offline  
Old Dec 14, 2013, 4:19 pm
  #28  
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: ORD / MDW / FLL
Programs: DL DM/1MM, AA EXP, SPG Platinum, Hyatt Platinum, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 2,295
Does anyone know how to determine your lifetime miles on US? I can't seem to find it on their website
SOBE ER DOC is offline  
Old Dec 14, 2013, 8:37 pm
  #29  
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Programs: AA: EXP/5.2mm
Posts: 251
Originally Posted by ps9a
Highly unlikely you had 3.5M BIS... Even as a PLAT (if they were prior to 12/11), that would've netted you 7M lifetime miles, unless your flying pre-dated elite bonuses.
I included the EXP and CK bonuses for this purpose. If you exclude the bonuses then it's probably closer to 2.25mm.
lhl12 is offline  
Old Dec 14, 2013, 9:44 pm
  #30  
 
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: DFW, 3.5 MM, AA EXP, LIFETIME PLATINUM, MARRIOTT LIFETIME PLATINUM, STARWOOD AMBASSADOR 223 NIGHTS, AND LIFETIME GOLD, HILTON DIAMOND, NATIONAL EXECUTIVE ELITE
Posts: 5,847
I have over 3.5MM Lifetime Miles at AA.

I got Lifetime Platinum back in 2002.

Have been EXP several times (and will be in 2014).

I Earned every last bit of it.

If Doug Parker thinks for a moment he is going to come over here and take away Lifetime Platinum from 3 Million Milers, then he can go back to pre-school.

Only a complete moron would even think about taking away LTP from people who Earned it 10 years ago...
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