Dec 17, 2021, 11:25 am
Last edit by: jbeckett
American Airlines announced that starting in 2022, the way to earn Elite status has changed. No more Elite Qualifying Miles (EQM), Elite Qualifying Segments (EQS), or Elite Qualifying Dollars (EQD)!
Now, you can get AA Elite status by earning Loyalty Points (LPs): https://aadvantagestatus.com/?anchor...=newaadvantage
How many LPs do I need for elite status?
How do I earn LPs?
Flying
What you get for redeemable miles (RDM) is what you'll get for LPs.
AA and B6 flights:
No status: 5 LPs per $ spent in base fare plus fees (excludes taxes)
Gold: 7 LPs per $
Platinum: 8 LPs per $
Plat Pro: 9 LPs per $
EXP: 11 LPs per $
Partner flights (other than B6):
Distance flown x accrual rate* x (1 + cabin bonus + elite bonus**)
* Certain discount fares earn less than 100% of miles flown. In those cases, the discounted accrual rate (0% to 75% depending on the partner and the fare class) should be applied to the flown miles. Otherwise, the accrual rate is 100%. If there is a cabin bonus, it should not be added to the accrual rate; it is applied separately within the parentheses. The accrual rate can never be more than 100%.
** 40% for GLD, 60% for PLT, 80% for PRO, 120% for EXP.
So for example, an EXP on a 5000-mile flight on QR booked in J would earn 5000 x 100% x (1 + 25% + 120%) = 5000 x 1 x 2.45 = 12250 LPs.
A PLT on the same flight booked in P would earn 5000 x 75% x (1 + 0% + 60%) = 5000 x .75 x 1.6 = 6000 LPs.
Earning chart for QR
Here's a great online LP calculator:
https://lpcalculator.com/#/calculator/
AAdvantage non-flying partners:
Generally, 1 LP per base mile earned. But in many cases you can earn large bonuses that post as base miles; see link here: https://exploreamerican.com/newaadva...nloyaltypoints
There are differences among how these programs work, ranging from minor to significant, in terms of awarding LPs. You will need to skim through the thread as there are too many different promo offers to address here. But here are the popular ones:
BookAAHotels and RocketMiles: You can earn large mileage bonuses here, separated into "base" miles and "promo" miles by the portals. For now they are all posting as base miles on aa.com, but there is a suspicion that the "promo" miles may start posting as bonus miles (and so would not count as LP). You don't even have to actually check in or stay at the hotel as long as you pay for the stay.
SimplyMiles: You must link a MasterCard to the account. Then you can add their promos to your card by activating the offers. When you accept one of their offers and then pay for it using your linked card, you will get the associated miles which currently post as base miles on aa.com.
AAdvantage eShopping: Once you click through the AAdvantage eShopping portal to a vendor offer and make a purchase, you will eventually get the associated miles posted to your AAdvantage account as both redeemable miles and Loyalty Points. If the merchant advertises an increase in the miles per dollar spent, you'll earn the higher amount in both redeemable miles and an equal number of Loyalty Points. The same applies if a merchant advertises a higher fixed amount per purchase, rather than a per dollar amount. Examples of this would appear on the portal as, "Extra miles. Was 1 mile/$. Now earn 3 miles/$" or "Extra miles. Was up to 3700 miles. Now up to 6200 miles." However, if the website advertises a "Limited-time bonus offer" for "bonus miles" after meeting a spending threshold, that bonus will only post as redeemable miles and not Loyalty Points. If a bonus is offered for some site-wide activity such as 1000 miles for installing an extension, or 500 miles for enrolling in the portal, or 2000 miles for meeting a spending threshold across multiple merchants, the bonus will only post as redeemable miles and not Loyalty Points.
(If a vendor has offers with both SimplyMiles and eShopping, activate the offer on SimplyMiles first and then make the purchase through eShopping with the MasterCard linked to your SimplyMiles account. Apparently that you can get a double-dip. You can also get a double-dip by stacking the promos with discount offers from your credit card issuers, basically reducing the cost to you.
Booking directly with hotels, car rental companies, etc.: The picture here is a bit unclear but it appears that if you book with a hotel that offers 5x miles, only 1 mile will post as base and the rest as bonus.
Credit card spend:
1 LP per $ spent on an AA branded card (except for one card which earns 0.50 LP per $ and several non-US cards which earn 2 LP per $). See the list of cards, and a lot more small print here: https://creditcards.aa.com/aadvantag...hange_ExecCard
What about spending bonuses?
E.g., your card gives 2x miles for hotels, or 3x for AA purchases, etc etc. These do NOT count.
These bonuses count:
Citi AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard (the $450 annual fee card that gives Admirals Club access): 10K LP bonus when hitting $40K spend for the year.
AAdvantage Aviator Silver Mastercard: 5K LP bonus when hitting $20K spend, another 5K LP bonus when hitting $40K spend, and another 5K LP bonus when hitting $50K spend for the year.
Do miles earned at Bask Bank count?
No.
Will Loyalty Points count toward Million Miler℠ status?
No, Million Miler℠ status will still be earned the same way as today, based on miles earned from flying with American and its partners.
Now, you can get AA Elite status by earning Loyalty Points (LPs): https://aadvantagestatus.com/?anchor...=newaadvantage
How many LPs do I need for elite status?
Code:
Gold: 40K Platinum: 75K Plat Pro: 125K EXP: 200K
Flying
What you get for redeemable miles (RDM) is what you'll get for LPs.
AA and B6 flights:
No status: 5 LPs per $ spent in base fare plus fees (excludes taxes)
Gold: 7 LPs per $
Platinum: 8 LPs per $
Plat Pro: 9 LPs per $
EXP: 11 LPs per $
Partner flights (other than B6):
Distance flown x accrual rate* x (1 + cabin bonus + elite bonus**)
* Certain discount fares earn less than 100% of miles flown. In those cases, the discounted accrual rate (0% to 75% depending on the partner and the fare class) should be applied to the flown miles. Otherwise, the accrual rate is 100%. If there is a cabin bonus, it should not be added to the accrual rate; it is applied separately within the parentheses. The accrual rate can never be more than 100%.
** 40% for GLD, 60% for PLT, 80% for PRO, 120% for EXP.
So for example, an EXP on a 5000-mile flight on QR booked in J would earn 5000 x 100% x (1 + 25% + 120%) = 5000 x 1 x 2.45 = 12250 LPs.
A PLT on the same flight booked in P would earn 5000 x 75% x (1 + 0% + 60%) = 5000 x .75 x 1.6 = 6000 LPs.
Earning chart for QR
Here's a great online LP calculator:
https://lpcalculator.com/#/calculator/
AAdvantage non-flying partners:
Generally, 1 LP per base mile earned. But in many cases you can earn large bonuses that post as base miles; see link here: https://exploreamerican.com/newaadva...nloyaltypoints
There are differences among how these programs work, ranging from minor to significant, in terms of awarding LPs. You will need to skim through the thread as there are too many different promo offers to address here. But here are the popular ones:
BookAAHotels and RocketMiles: You can earn large mileage bonuses here, separated into "base" miles and "promo" miles by the portals. For now they are all posting as base miles on aa.com, but there is a suspicion that the "promo" miles may start posting as bonus miles (and so would not count as LP). You don't even have to actually check in or stay at the hotel as long as you pay for the stay.
SimplyMiles: You must link a MasterCard to the account. Then you can add their promos to your card by activating the offers. When you accept one of their offers and then pay for it using your linked card, you will get the associated miles which currently post as base miles on aa.com.
AAdvantage eShopping: Once you click through the AAdvantage eShopping portal to a vendor offer and make a purchase, you will eventually get the associated miles posted to your AAdvantage account as both redeemable miles and Loyalty Points. If the merchant advertises an increase in the miles per dollar spent, you'll earn the higher amount in both redeemable miles and an equal number of Loyalty Points. The same applies if a merchant advertises a higher fixed amount per purchase, rather than a per dollar amount. Examples of this would appear on the portal as, "Extra miles. Was 1 mile/$. Now earn 3 miles/$" or "Extra miles. Was up to 3700 miles. Now up to 6200 miles." However, if the website advertises a "Limited-time bonus offer" for "bonus miles" after meeting a spending threshold, that bonus will only post as redeemable miles and not Loyalty Points. If a bonus is offered for some site-wide activity such as 1000 miles for installing an extension, or 500 miles for enrolling in the portal, or 2000 miles for meeting a spending threshold across multiple merchants, the bonus will only post as redeemable miles and not Loyalty Points.
- A separate thread exists to discuss the AAdvantage eShopping portal
- Another thread exists to discuss using the portal for a particular merchant, giftcards.com
- For additional questions about buying and using gift cards, refer to the separate Manufactured Spending forum.
(If a vendor has offers with both SimplyMiles and eShopping, activate the offer on SimplyMiles first and then make the purchase through eShopping with the MasterCard linked to your SimplyMiles account. Apparently that you can get a double-dip. You can also get a double-dip by stacking the promos with discount offers from your credit card issuers, basically reducing the cost to you.
Booking directly with hotels, car rental companies, etc.: The picture here is a bit unclear but it appears that if you book with a hotel that offers 5x miles, only 1 mile will post as base and the rest as bonus.
Credit card spend:
1 LP per $ spent on an AA branded card (except for one card which earns 0.50 LP per $ and several non-US cards which earn 2 LP per $). See the list of cards, and a lot more small print here: https://creditcards.aa.com/aadvantag...hange_ExecCard
What about spending bonuses?
E.g., your card gives 2x miles for hotels, or 3x for AA purchases, etc etc. These do NOT count.
These bonuses count:
Citi AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard (the $450 annual fee card that gives Admirals Club access): 10K LP bonus when hitting $40K spend for the year.
AAdvantage Aviator Silver Mastercard: 5K LP bonus when hitting $20K spend, another 5K LP bonus when hitting $40K spend, and another 5K LP bonus when hitting $50K spend for the year.
Do miles earned at Bask Bank count?
No.
Will Loyalty Points count toward Million Miler℠ status?
No, Million Miler℠ status will still be earned the same way as today, based on miles earned from flying with American and its partners.
Loyalty Points discussion/questions - From 2022 now used for determining elite status
Mar 17, 2022, 7:52 am
#2926
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: Annapolis, MD
Posts: 483
That's not how that works. If you aren't being paid Cartera isn't getting paid. The last thing that they want you to do is do something that will mess up the tracking.
This is why Rakuten has an app which has a browser built in (so the tracking always works). I'm not sure why they don't have something similar for Cartera (since they are owned by Rakuten)
This is why Rakuten has an app which has a browser built in (so the tracking always works). I'm not sure why they don't have something similar for Cartera (since they are owned by Rakuten)
Mar 17, 2022, 8:13 am
#2927
Join Date: Jan 2021
Posts: 540
All this incompetence and confusion with the LP partners and the hotels and shopping portals is breaking the booking and purchasing momentum and turning customers off...Why can't these losers get it together and process the transactions correctly and on time, how hard is it...geez...
Mar 17, 2022, 8:30 am
#2928
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: SJC
Programs: AA EXP, BA Silver, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton diamond, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 33,535
) they will eventually fix things so that it is, at least somewhat, more reliable. I'm looking for this and staying on the sideline for the most part for now and getting on planes. That part seems to be working well for posting Cheers.
Mar 17, 2022, 12:34 pm
#2929
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 10,904
One possibility (not gonna hold my breath, but it is a possibility) is that, with the likely substantial increase in interest in the portal (or maybe I'm fooling myself on the "substantial" part being here ) they will eventually fix things so that it is, at least somewhat, more reliable. I'm looking for this and staying on the sideline for the most part for now and getting on planes. That part seems to be working well for posting
Cheers.
) they will eventually fix things so that it is, at least somewhat, more reliable. I'm looking for this and staying on the sideline for the most part for now and getting on planes. That part seems to be working well for posting Cheers.
The easiest solution is to use a dedicated browser just for portal shopping, with no add-ons installed and settings at their default.
There are occasionally issues with tracking on the merchant side.
It's very unlikely that the shopping portal is doing anything wrong (because almost nothing is done on their end -- the tracking is all done client side and by the merchant) so that's really nothing for them to fix. The only real issue that they seem to have is that some miles that are the result of manual adjustment seem to be posting as bonus rather than base.
Mar 17, 2022, 1:29 pm
#2930
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: SJC
Programs: AA EXP, BA Silver, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton diamond, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 33,535
Most of the problems are caused on the client side (ie, on your end). If something doesn't track it's almost certainly because your browser is set up to block the cookies that do the tracking.
The easiest solution is to use a dedicated browser just for portal shopping, with no add-ons installed and settings at their default.
.
The easiest solution is to use a dedicated browser just for portal shopping, with no add-ons installed and settings at their default.
.
For me, the one case that had issues actually did track from my end. They just lost it somewhere along the way and had to fix it. They acknowledged this. And it seems that other folks have had things that did track, but just didn't post. So there still seems more to it than an ad blocker. And I do expect these additional aspects to get straightened out going forward,,,more or less.
Cheers.
Mar 17, 2022, 2:03 pm
#2931
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 10,904
For me, the one case that had issues actually did track from my end. They just lost it somewhere along the way and had to fix it. They acknowledged this. And it seems that other folks have had things that did track, but just didn't post. So there still seems more to it than an ad blocker. And I do expect these additional aspects to get straightened out going forward,,,more or less.
I've had issues with giftcards.com tracking incorrect amounts (though this was somehow fixed when I switched to a desktop browser ... I'm not sure if that was coincidence) but I've yet to actually have something not track. I've had no issues at all with Cartera.
Mar 17, 2022, 2:41 pm
#2932
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: SJC
Programs: AA EXP, BA Silver, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton diamond, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 33,535
It depends what the addons are. If you are using an ad blocker or anything designed to block tracking it will almost certainly cause problems. The way that these addons work is, if they identify something as a tracking cookie, they don't allow it to be written. When you make the purchase at the merchant, the cookie that says that you clicked through from the portal is not sent to them (because it was never written on your end)
Good point. I don't know who I mean by "they" here. All I know is that (again, just one case for my part), AA folks knew that I had purchased through the portal and "it" (non-specific) didn't work. So "they" (AAA this time) got it fixed.
I just see lots of people with problems and don't know the details. My main point was that, with all the people now using this, the importance of LPs and they number of issues, "they" (whichever "they" or "theys" (?) are responsible for the issue) will improve this because they have to. And I'll wait for that since I have 11.5 months to requalify.
Cheers.
Last edited by brp; Mar 18, 2022 at 8:43 am
Mar 17, 2022, 3:15 pm
#2933
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: AA EXP; 1W Emerald; HHonors Diamond; Marriott Gold; UA dirt
Posts: 7,816
God, this really is no longer a frequent flier program. I earned more "points" from Uber eats and uber rides than from a paid trip to California. Sigh....
Mar 17, 2022, 3:20 pm
#2934
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 10,904
And I'm pretty sure that they don't refer to it as a frequent flyer program. It's a loyalty program.
Mar 17, 2022, 5:44 pm
#2937
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 2,314
All this incompetence and confusion with the LP partners and the hotels and shopping portals is breaking the booking and purchasing momentum and turning customers off...Why can't these losers get it together and process the transactions correctly and on time, how hard is it...geez...
Mar 17, 2022, 5:50 pm
#2938
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2014
Programs: Top Tier with all 3 alliances
Posts: 11,669
I'm not aware of any general consensus that the changes are doing that. What or where are you reading that? I mean a couple of posters such as yourself have complained, but we are such a niche, I am hesitant to jump to any big conclusion that this is anything negative for AA 17 days into the change. Maybe I'm unaware of some groundswell of bad PR that you know about though.
Mar 17, 2022, 6:41 pm
#2939
Join Date: May 2008
Location: PHL (kinda, no airport is really close)
Programs: AA Exp, but not sure for how long. Enterprise Platinum woo-hoo!
Posts: 4,551
I bought 7 GC's on Feb. 28. I've been in back-and-forth with both BHN and AAdvantage about the credit; they don't show up yet. Bought one more the other night and disabled my ad blocker and it already shows as pending. AAdvantage admits they can see I clikced through to giftcards.com from their portal. And I still haven't gotten an answer on what "per month" means.
Mar 17, 2022, 6:56 pm
#2940
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 10,904
I bought 7 GC's on Feb. 28. I've been in back-and-forth with both BHN and AAdvantage about the credit; they don't show up yet. Bought one more the other night and disabled my ad blocker and it already shows as pending. AAdvantage admits they can see I clikced through to giftcards.com from their portal. And I still haven't gotten an answer on what "per month" means.
I understand that this is not simple if you don't have experience working on these types of systems, but it's a very common problem. There is really nothing that the portal can do about it if you have software in place to block their tracking (even if that wasn't your intent)