Jan 27, 2016, 7:50 am
Last edit by: JDiver
Earning AA Award ("Redeemable") Miles / RDM earning as of 01 Aug 2016
on American Airlines and its partner airlines
on American Airlines and its partner airlines
Note: Earning RDM / Award Miles changed 1 Aug 2016 -
Award Mile changes: American Airlines announced 1 Aug 2016 they have implemented a revenue-based scheme for earning what American is calling Award Miles (previous AA terms have included "Prize-winning miles", also frequently referred to as Redeemable Miles (RDM) in this forum).
This means miles that can be spent on awards are now earned on the basis of price paid (base fare plus carrier-imposed fees such as fuel surcharges, not including government-imposed fees and taxes such as airport passenger service fees, etc.) times a factor determined by one's status. This change applies only to AA-"marketed" flights -- that is, flights booked with an "A" flight number -- with exceptions described under "Special Fares".
Partner-marketed flights (flights with a flight number other than an "AA" one) continue to earn based on miles. See below. This change applies to all flights flown on or after 1 Aug 2016, regardless of when the ticket was purchased.
Elite Qualifying Miles / EQM are merely mile posts to count for status qualification as of 01 January 2016. NOTE: some airline partner EQM changes occur 1 Aug 2016. See here. These are no longer Redeemable.
Bonus Miles: The earning of Bonus Miles (which are always Award or Redeemable Miles, never Elite Qualifying), has changed as a result of the new system. Cabin service / fare class bonus miles may be earned on flights marketed by AA airline partners; see the mileage earning chart for 1 Aug 2016 for each airline partner on aa.com.
See Earning AA Elite Qualifying Miles / EQM on AA, oneworld, partners 2016 for more about earning EQM.
Link to aa.com page "AAdvantage program updates".
Award Miles (also called Redeemable miles)
Earning as of 01 Aug 2016 and beyond
Earn miles
To earn AAdvantage® miles when you fly on American and American Eagle marketed flights (including flights sold as AA codeshare flights operated by other airlines):
Calculating award miles
For travel beginning August 1, 2016, you'll earn miles based on ticket price (base fare plus carrier-imposed fees, not including government-imposed taxes and fees). The more you spend, and the higher your elite status, the more you'll earn.
Or, as mchensel said in another post, to clarify:
AAdvantage® member – 5 miles for every U.S. dollar*
Gold member – 7 miles/U.S. dollar* (5 miles + 2 miles, 40% bonus)
Platinum member – 8 miles/U.S. dollar* (5 miles + 3 miles, 60% bonus)
Platinum Pro member - 9 miles/U.S. dollar* (5 miles + 4 miles, 80% bonus)
Executive Platinum member – 11 miles/U.S. dollar* (5 miles + 6 miles a 120% bonus)
*dollar spent on basic fare and carrier imposed fees only - not government fees or taxes, ancillary fees such as baggage, upgrade, changes, etc.
NOTE: You can earn a maximum of 75,000 award miles per E-Ticket. Note that a single PNR might have more than one E-Ticket, and various kinds of changes may cause an E-Ticket to be re-issued, which we believe resets the maximum mileage counter.
Earning award miles for travel on most flights marketed by partner airlines is based on a percentage of the flight distance and the fare class purchased. Updated tables were posted 15 Jul 2016 and reflect new award earning rates on partner / fare class combinations.
See here.
Elite bonuses on partners: Earning on flights marketed by Alaska and almost all oneworld partners will also use those same elite status bonus ratios (40%/60%/80%?/120%), as announced by AA on 1 Aug 2016. See here.
Special Fares: AA has specified a set of "Special Fares", which includes AA Vacations. NOTE: Award Miles earning varies for "Special Fares" (e.g. AA Vacations), and the chart for those changes on 11 Jan 2017. See here.
Initial reports have revealed interesting cases which apparently fall under that final "fare isn't disclosed" catch-all, and therefore earn according to the Special Fares mileage-based table:
Again, these reports are few and preliminary. Further data points to confirm or refute these, or to add to the list, are welcome.
Elite Bonuses on Special Fares: The Special Fares page also says, "AAdvantage elite member bonuses will be applied in addition to the percentages shown for award miles." These bonuses are the same as for partner flights.
See the "Special Fares" earning chart (and note the chart for those changes on 11 Jan 2017). See here.
BE SURE to read the FAQs here.
Sample calculation
AAdvantage member flying round-trip on an American marketed flight from Dallas (DFW) to London-Heathrow (LHR) (NOTE: All $ figures are USD / U.S. Dollars)
In the example below, in Costa Rican Colones so used only for illustrative purposes, the airport and countered fees and taxes would be excluded from RDM calculations:
Bonus miles
Bonus (award) Miles are no longer earned as before - see earnings for EQM, A/RDM (and for 2017 EQD) here and from other partner activities such as hotel stays, auto rentals, purchases from AA shopping portal vendors and partners, credit cards, etc.
(NOTE: Bonus miles are Award / Redeemable, not Elite Qualifying, miles)
Earning as of 01 Aug 2016 and beyond
Earn miles
To earn AAdvantage® miles when you fly on American and American Eagle marketed flights (including flights sold as AA codeshare flights operated by other airlines):
- Buy an eligible published fare ticket in an eligible booking code
- Fly an eligible route
- Specific flights, routes or cities that are excluded from earning miles or award travel are listed as exceptions if applicable.
Calculating award miles
For travel beginning August 1, 2016, you'll earn miles based on ticket price (base fare plus carrier-imposed fees, not including government-imposed taxes and fees). The more you spend, and the higher your elite status, the more you'll earn.
- AAdvantage® member – 5 miles for every U.S. dollar
- Gold member – 7 miles/U.S. dollar (40% bonus)
- Platinum member – 8 miles/U.S. dollar (60% bonus)
- Platinum Pro member (New in 2017) - 9 miles/U.S. dollar (80%bonus)
- Executive Platinum member – 11 miles/U.S. dollar (120% bonus)
Or, as mchensel said in another post, to clarify:
AAdvantage® member – 5 miles for every U.S. dollar*
Gold member – 7 miles/U.S. dollar* (5 miles + 2 miles, 40% bonus)
Platinum member – 8 miles/U.S. dollar* (5 miles + 3 miles, 60% bonus)
Platinum Pro member - 9 miles/U.S. dollar* (5 miles + 4 miles, 80% bonus)
Executive Platinum member – 11 miles/U.S. dollar* (5 miles + 6 miles a 120% bonus)
*dollar spent on basic fare and carrier imposed fees only - not government fees or taxes, ancillary fees such as baggage, upgrade, changes, etc.
NOTE: You can earn a maximum of 75,000 award miles per E-Ticket. Note that a single PNR might have more than one E-Ticket, and various kinds of changes may cause an E-Ticket to be re-issued, which we believe resets the maximum mileage counter.
Earning award miles for travel on most flights marketed by partner airlines is based on a percentage of the flight distance and the fare class purchased. Updated tables were posted 15 Jul 2016 and reflect new award earning rates on partner / fare class combinations.
See here.
Elite bonuses on partners: Earning on flights marketed by Alaska and almost all oneworld partners will also use those same elite status bonus ratios (40%/60%/80%?/120%), as announced by AA on 1 Aug 2016. See here.
Special Fares: AA has specified a set of "Special Fares", which includes AA Vacations. NOTE: Award Miles earning varies for "Special Fares" (e.g. AA Vacations), and the chart for those changes on 11 Jan 2017. See here.
Some fares (such as bulk or consolidator fares) earn award miles and Elite Qualifying Dollars (EQDs) at a modified rate based on a percentage of the distance flown as determined by the booking code.
Special fares are often purchased through a specialized agent, third party or as part of a package including air transportation and lodging.
Examples:
Special fares are often purchased through a specialized agent, third party or as part of a package including air transportation and lodging.
Examples:
- Bulk fares
- Cruise fares
- Consolidator fares
- Discounted or inclusive tour packages
- Vacation packages, including American Airlines Vacations® (AAV) packages
- Other tickets where the fare isn't disclosed, excluding bookings made through priceline.com or hotwire.com where the carrier isn't disclosed before buying
- At least some purchases made with Citi TYPs and the like
- At least some reissues, whether changed beforehand or due to IROPS
Elite Bonuses on Special Fares: The Special Fares page also says, "AAdvantage elite member bonuses will be applied in addition to the percentages shown for award miles." These bonuses are the same as for partner flights.
See the "Special Fares" earning chart (and note the chart for those changes on 11 Jan 2017). See here.
BE SURE to read the FAQs here.
Sample calculation
AAdvantage member flying round-trip on an American marketed flight from Dallas (DFW) to London-Heathrow (LHR) (NOTE: All $ figures are USD / U.S. Dollars)
Code:
Elite status Base fare Carrier imposed fees Miles/USD Award miles earned AAdvantage member $1,436 $458 5 9,470 Gold $1,436 $458 7 13,258 Platinum $1,436 $458 8 15,152 Executive Platinum $1,436 $458 11 20,834
Bonus miles
Bonus (award) Miles are no longer earned as before - see earnings for EQM, A/RDM (and for 2017 EQD) here and from other partner activities such as hotel stays, auto rentals, purchases from AA shopping portal vendors and partners, credit cards, etc.
(NOTE: Bonus miles are Award / Redeemable, not Elite Qualifying, miles)
Certain airline ticket types aren't eligible for mileage accrual regardless of the booking code. These include, without limitation:
- All tickets issued as AAdvantage® awards
- Charter flight tickets
- Companion tickets
- Infant tickets
- Items occupying a purchased seat
- Other free ticket promotions including free or reduced rate tickets
- Tickets purchased through a travel agency where the airline is not disclosed prior to purchase, such as Priceline or Hotwire
- Tickets issued subject to special provisions
- Travel agency/industry reduced rate tickets"
Updated 07 Jan 2017 - JDiver with thanks to spammersarescum
Historical information moved to ARCHIVE thread, link to same renewed. JDiver
Signed in members with 90 days / 90 posts can edit this Wikipost; wiki contents may be printed by using the
(lower right wiki corner)
GUIDE: Earning AA Award / Redeemable Miles / RDM on AA, partners 1 Aug 2016
Aug 10, 2016, 8:26 am
#196
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: TPA
Programs: BA Silver; Hilton Gold; IHG Diamond Ambassador; Marriott Gold
Posts: 2,811
I have a TYP-paid itinerary next month, which shows up on aa.com with no fare info. It states "Please contact your travel agent for airfare or trip changes." under the Cost Summary section, so I assume this means it will fall under the "special/bulk" fare rule.
The itin is CAE-CLT-JKF and back the same way in non-full fare coach class, so looking at the applicable earning table, it will earn 50% of distance flown in RDMs and 1 EQM/mile flown.
Two questions I don't yet know answers to, as I haven't flown under the new "formula":
1. Does the 500-min apply to the RDM calculation (seeing that CAE-CLT is 88mi) -- guessing no here.
2. Does the 500-min apply to the EQMs under the special/bulk fare calculation (the page does not indicate one way or another)?
The itin is CAE-CLT-JKF and back the same way in non-full fare coach class, so looking at the applicable earning table, it will earn 50% of distance flown in RDMs and 1 EQM/mile flown.
Two questions I don't yet know answers to, as I haven't flown under the new "formula":
1. Does the 500-min apply to the RDM calculation (seeing that CAE-CLT is 88mi) -- guessing no here.
2. Does the 500-min apply to the EQMs under the special/bulk fare calculation (the page does not indicate one way or another)?
But since using TYPs means it will be based on miles, who knows -- maybe an incomplete implementation will give you the min even if that was not AA's intention. Please let us know what happens.
Aug 10, 2016, 8:40 am
#197
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: TPA
Programs: BA Silver; Hilton Gold; IHG Diamond Ambassador; Marriott Gold
Posts: 2,811
Aug 10, 2016, 10:04 am
#198
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 740
I booked my business class flight from LAX to FCO back in October of last year when the BA sale was on.
I purchased the tickets on BA website and we flew all segments on BA metal.
The flight credited to BA as it should but I contacted them and had them remove the points so I can credit it to AA.
Today the AA miles posted but as far as I can see only LAX-LHR-LAX segments were credited to me.
This leaves out the LHR-FCO-LHR segments and I am wondering if I'm missing something...
Thank you,
JCD
Aug 10, 2016, 10:12 am
#199
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: TPA
Programs: BA Silver; Hilton Gold; IHG Diamond Ambassador; Marriott Gold
Posts: 2,811
Hey SpammersAreScum,
I booked my business class flight from LAX to FCO back in October of last year when the BA sale was on.
I purchased the tickets on BA website and we flew all segments on BA metal.
The flight credited to BA as it should but I contacted them and had them remove the points so I can credit it to AA.
Today the AA miles posted but as far as I can see only LAX-LHR-LAX segments were credited to me.
This leaves out the LHR-FCO-LHR segments and I am wondering if I'm missing something...
Thank you,
JCD
I booked my business class flight from LAX to FCO back in October of last year when the BA sale was on.
I purchased the tickets on BA website and we flew all segments on BA metal.
The flight credited to BA as it should but I contacted them and had them remove the points so I can credit it to AA.
Today the AA miles posted but as far as I can see only LAX-LHR-LAX segments were credited to me.
This leaves out the LHR-FCO-LHR segments and I am wondering if I'm missing something...
Thank you,
JCD
Aug 10, 2016, 10:19 am
#200
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 740
Aug 10, 2016, 12:58 pm
#201
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,600
Post 177 seems to show that the removal of minimum has been implemented where poster received 117 miles plus status bonus
Aug 10, 2016, 1:25 pm
#202
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Columbia, SC
Programs: AA Plat, SPG/Marriot Gold, HHonors Diamond, Hyatt Expl
Posts: 2,363
So for my CAE-CLT-JFK and back trip in discount Y, I will receive 630 RDMs (.5 * 1260 total actual distance) instead of 4,166 RDMs (2,083 total distance with 500-mile minimums + 100% EXP bonus). Wow.
Aug 10, 2016, 1:47 pm
#203
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,600
Assuming it is a fare that earns 0.5 miles per mile flown then would be
88 *.5 = 44 base
44 * 1.2 = 53 bonus for EP status
total 97
542 * .5 = 271 base
271 * 1.2 = 326 bonus for EP status
total 597
So 694 each way for a total of 1,388 on a round trip journey vs 4168 based on (500+542)*2 each way
88 *.5 = 44 base
44 * 1.2 = 53 bonus for EP status
total 97
542 * .5 = 271 base
271 * 1.2 = 326 bonus for EP status
total 597
So 694 each way for a total of 1,388 on a round trip journey vs 4168 based on (500+542)*2 each way
Aug 10, 2016, 2:05 pm
#204
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Columbia, SC
Programs: AA Plat, SPG/Marriot Gold, HHonors Diamond, Hyatt Expl
Posts: 2,363
Assuming it is a fare that earns 0.5 miles per mile flown then would be
88 *.5 = 44 base
44 * 1.2 = 53 bonus for EP status
total 97
542 * .5 = 271 base
271 * 1.2 = 326 bonus for EP status
total 597
So 694 each way for a total of 1,388 on a round trip journey vs 4168 based on (500+542)*2 each way
88 *.5 = 44 base
44 * 1.2 = 53 bonus for EP status
total 97
542 * .5 = 271 base
271 * 1.2 = 326 bonus for EP status
total 597
So 694 each way for a total of 1,388 on a round trip journey vs 4168 based on (500+542)*2 each way
Aug 10, 2016, 3:00 pm
#205
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: TPA
Programs: BA Silver; Hilton Gold; IHG Diamond Ambassador; Marriott Gold
Posts: 2,811
Aug 11, 2016, 7:06 am
#206
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Washington DC
Programs: BA GLD, AA GLD 1MM, Hyatt Glob, Marriott LT Titanium
Posts: 1,700
As to the fare class, I don't see it on the receipt from Citi but I think it was O.
Aug 11, 2016, 9:10 am
#207
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 740
AA contacted me this morning via email requesting copies of the boarding passes for the LHR-FCO-LHR segments.
I scanned them and sent them right away, let's see how long it takes to get my miles.
JCD
Aug 11, 2016, 1:19 pm
#209
Join Date: Aug 2016
Programs: AA Exec Plat / SPG Platinum
Posts: 3
Miscalculations with New Award Mileage Program
Are people getting the right number of award miles for their tickets with the new Fare-based system?
I checked some of my recent flights in August and feel like the Fare + Fee calculation isn't working out right, but perhaps i'm doing something wrong.
Recent Example:
Ticket booked LGA>ORD>YYZ. Fare = $347. Taxes and Carrier Imposed Fees = $49
Miles Awarded:
- LGA>ORD (735 Base, 882 Bonus = Total 1617)
- ORD>YYZ (1000 Base, 1200 Bonus = Total 2200)
Total Miles = 3,817
If you start with my fare of 347 * 11 (as i'm Exec Plat) you get exactly 3,817. Where are the miles associated with Carrier Imposed fees? (it should be something greater than 0 but less than 49*11= 539)
Are people seeing similar calculations in their mileage?
I checked some of my recent flights in August and feel like the Fare + Fee calculation isn't working out right, but perhaps i'm doing something wrong.
Recent Example:
Ticket booked LGA>ORD>YYZ. Fare = $347. Taxes and Carrier Imposed Fees = $49
Miles Awarded:
- LGA>ORD (735 Base, 882 Bonus = Total 1617)
- ORD>YYZ (1000 Base, 1200 Bonus = Total 2200)
Total Miles = 3,817
If you start with my fare of 347 * 11 (as i'm Exec Plat) you get exactly 3,817. Where are the miles associated with Carrier Imposed fees? (it should be something greater than 0 but less than 49*11= 539)
Are people seeing similar calculations in their mileage?
Aug 11, 2016, 1:32 pm
#210
Join Date: Aug 2016
Programs: AA Exec Plat / SPG Platinum
Posts: 3
As a side note, these flights would have earned me 733 (LGA>ORD) + 436 (ORD>YYZ) = 1,169 * 2 (Exec Plat Multiplier) = 2,338 ... So I do earn more miles now.
Big longer term question is whether they are going to change the redemption values and if the value of these points go down or not. So i'm getting more miles for now, but may not be the case in the future.
Big longer term question is whether they are going to change the redemption values and if the value of these points go down or not. So i'm getting more miles for now, but may not be the case in the future.