JDiver

Effective with the new year in 2019, earning Elite Qualifying Miles on AA joint business venture oneworld partner airlines increases to align with American Airlines. See the Wikipost at the top of the page for specifics.

footballfanatic

Passmethesickbag

It certainly is an aspect of the qualification changes that was not given much attention on here when they were announced. It will be a relief not to have to fly significantly more than 100k actual miles per year in order to meet the mileage criterion. What it does (in addition to the fringe benefit of accelerating million miler earnings) is to change the limiting factor for most frequent fliers from EQMs to EQDs. As a UK-based member, I will probably stop booking BA-operated flights as AA codeshares, as the mileage-based EQDs are usually higher than the actual EQD for the parts of the cabin I'm able to pay for, and I will no longer suffer an EQM penalty (I'll miss being able to to get AA to protect me in case of irrops, though). A cornerstone requalification strategy for Europe-based travellers who travel on a budget will, as before, be grabbing BA's premium economy fares when they're available at a more modest premium over basic economy, only now it will be for the EQDs more than the EQMs. Will see how I get on. Whilst UA's partner EQM earning rates on discount economy fare have sadly dropped a lot, they also don't have an EQD requirement for overseas members, which is an argument for coming back to them if I find myself struggling with this on AA.

mber03755

Recently I noticed that under the rules effective January 1, the mileage that you seem to earn flying J on BA vs. AA seems to be different. Am I right to understand that I would earn less miles for the same flight flying BA metal vs. AA metal? Or if you fly AA codeshare, do you end up earning the same / same EQMs, etc. as if you fly AA metal. Thanks!

Djokison

Dave Noble

For EQM it will be the same
For award miles and EQDs , it could be wildly different depending on fare paid and whether booked on an AA flight number or a BA flight number

Book a $7000 LAX-LHR business class r/t , for example as a Platinum member
On AA marketed flight, this would earn $7000 * 11 = max cap 75,000 miles and ~$7000 EQDs
On BA marketed flight , this would earn 5456 (distance) * 2 (rt) * 2.45 (COS bonus and status bonus ) = 26735 award miles and 2728 EQDs

ijgordon

In terms of redeemable miles, nothing fundamental has changed. Also, metal doesn't matter, what matters is the marketing airline, meaning the airline whose flight number is on your reservation. AA-marketed flights continue to earn redeemable miles based on the price of the ticket (multiplied by 5x), while BA-marketed flights continue to earn redeemable miles based on the distance flown and the fare class purchased (though for BA business class it's all the same, 125% of miles flown). Both offer elite bonuses of 40%-120% of the base miles earned.
Overall, which one earns more can vary - for expensive tickets, you'd generally earn more with AA. On something like JFK-LHR, the break-even for a non-elite should be roughly $1700 r/t ticket before taxes, so about $1900 all-in. Anything more expensive and you'll be better off earning based on fare purchased on an AA-marketed flight. For elites, this threshold is lower because the spend-based elite bonus is greater on a more expensive ticket while the distance-based elite bonus is fixed.

Djokison points out how BA-marketed flights have gotten better for EQMs in business class, which is also true for some other partner airlines (but not all).

EQD earnings also vary, I haven't calculated the breakevens there. But I'd point out that for BA business class it's 0.25 EQD earned per mile flown.

JDiver

Last year, the maximum you could earn on BA (British Airways) was 1.5 EQM. This was true even in full fare F or J. This year, flying those will earn 3.0 EQM, just as earning on AA. That’s also true on fares marketed by AA JBV partners AY (Finnair), IB (Iberia) and JL (Japan Airlines) as well. This a most welcome change, and hopefully may extend to Qantas if an AA+QF JBV is allowed to proceed by regulators.

See GUIDE: Earning AA Elite Qualifying Miles / EQM on AA, partner airlines 2017 on.

pauleeepaul

I have two BA J RTs this month and the EQDs are awful. $863 for JFK segments regardless of fare paid (25% of distance flown.) This then spills over into the RDMs- 6,387 per segment as a PLT. In Q4 last year I had a comparably priced LHR RT on AA in J and earned 45k RDM. The reason i do the BA bookings is to save my employer a few shekels- and i get to stay on OW which is my preference (and sit in 64K for free )- so net net i am ok with it but it is a bit of an eyeopener.

teemuflyer

Actually no change here, unfortunately. Million Miler earnings are simply miles flown nowadays. No multiplier effect for flying in higher cabins etc.

mber03755