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
Jan 12, 2022, 8:14 am
#1471
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: NYC
Programs: AA EXP / LT PLT / 3MM, Marriott LT Gold
Posts: 35,386
Jan 12, 2022, 10:28 am
#1472
Join Date: Aug 2012
Programs: AA PLT, SPG Gold
Posts: 2,405
Jan 12, 2022, 3:42 pm
#1473
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: SJC
Programs: AA EXP, BA Silver, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton diamond, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 33,533
harder will be planning since this is so unpredictable. I could have a whole year planned out the prior year (basic planning) with flights. Not so here. The plus side is that, given a need tehre are more options than getting on a plane.
Cheers.
Jan 12, 2022, 4:29 pm
#1474
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: NYC
Programs: AA EXP / LT PLT / 3MM, Marriott LT Gold
Posts: 35,386
Tell me about it! I had this EQD/EQM thing down cold. Now I meed to modify my spreadsheet to be able to include "other" stuff. I already had to add an Award category to add flights that count as segments and contribute no status currency at all. Random "anything" will be interesting.
harder will be planning since this is so unpredictable. I could have a whole year planned out the prior year (basic planning) with flights. Not so here. The plus side is that, given a need tehre are more options than getting on a plane.
Cheers.
harder will be planning since this is so unpredictable. I could have a whole year planned out the prior year (basic planning) with flights. Not so here. The plus side is that, given a need tehre are more options than getting on a plane.
Cheers.
Jan 12, 2022, 4:51 pm
#1475
Join Date: Sep 2020
Programs: AA EXP, BA Gold, VS Gold, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Platinum, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 3,947
Tell me about it! I had this EQD/EQM thing down cold. Now I meed to modify my spreadsheet to be able to include "other" stuff. I already had to add an Award category to add flights that count as segments and contribute no status currency at all. Random "anything" will be interesting.
harder will be planning since this is so unpredictable. I could have a whole year planned out the prior year (basic planning) with flights. Not so here. The plus side is that, given a need tehre are more options than getting on a plane.
Cheers.
harder will be planning since this is so unpredictable. I could have a whole year planned out the prior year (basic planning) with flights. Not so here. The plus side is that, given a need tehre are more options than getting on a plane.
Cheers.
Jan 13, 2022, 10:10 am
#1477
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: DCA/CLT/HKG
Programs: AA EXP (Former US CP)
Posts: 731
A bit confused about the double-dipping.
I entered the new year being just a mere five bucks away from re-qualifying for EXP. I just received my monthly Aviator Barclay statement overnight for the month of December, and my miles posted this morning. I also noticed that my status was just extended to March 2023, despite me still being at 11,995 EQD. Are they combining EQD + CC Spend for the months of Jan/Feb?
I haven't received an email or anything like that from AA about re-qualifying, so I am a bit wary.
I entered the new year being just a mere five bucks away from re-qualifying for EXP. I just received my monthly Aviator Barclay statement overnight for the month of December, and my miles posted this morning. I also noticed that my status was just extended to March 2023, despite me still being at 11,995 EQD. Are they combining EQD + CC Spend for the months of Jan/Feb?
I haven't received an email or anything like that from AA about re-qualifying, so I am a bit wary.
Jan 13, 2022, 2:22 pm
#1478
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 10,904
So, back of the envelope math here that means Finnair J is now the best way to fly (in C and D class)?
With the 100% per mile plus the 100% cabin bonus turning into loyalty points?
That is 18,066 miles flown on a JFK-HEL-BKK round trip.
Meaning you'd get 36,132 loyalty points as a base member and and another 43,358 if you were EXP?
That is 79,490 points for what can be flown for ~3k. I must be missing something though.
Plus, I guess another ~3k if booked on your AA card.
With the 100% per mile plus the 100% cabin bonus turning into loyalty points?
That is 18,066 miles flown on a JFK-HEL-BKK round trip.
Meaning you'd get 36,132 loyalty points as a base member and and another 43,358 if you were EXP?
That is 79,490 points for what can be flown for ~3k. I must be missing something though.
Plus, I guess another ~3k if booked on your AA card.
Just to expand on the idea:
SFO-JFK-HEL-BKK (which you can pull up on Google flights and click through to book on Finnair) all in D class is:
- 23,140 miles flown RT.
46,280 miles including cabin bonus. 101,816 loyalty points (not to mention miles) including the EXP bonus. - 23,140 miles cabin bonus
- 27,768 EXP bonus
- Total of 74,048 miles and loyalty points.
Last edited by VegasGambler; Jan 13, 2022 at 3:34 pm
Jan 13, 2022, 2:40 pm
#1479
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Not here; there!
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 29,580
Are you sure that the 120% EXP status bonus applies to both the base miles and the cabin bonus, and not just to the base miles?
Jan 13, 2022, 2:51 pm
#1480
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 10,904
I'm not sure about anything; that's why I'm double-checking here. I thought that all miles were multiplied but I've never done this before so I could be wrong.
Jan 13, 2022, 2:52 pm
#1481
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: SJC
Programs: AA EXP, BA Silver, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton diamond, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 33,533
Jan 13, 2022, 2:54 pm
#1482
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: SJC
Programs: AA EXP, BA Silver, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton diamond, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 33,533
Cheers.
Jan 13, 2022, 3:42 pm
#1484
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Long Beach, CA
Programs: AA PLTPRO, HH Diamond, IHG Plat, Marriott Plat, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 3,559
Tell me about it! I had this EQD/EQM thing down cold. Now I meed to modify my spreadsheet to be able to include "other" stuff. I already had to add an Award category to add flights that count as segments and contribute no status currency at all. Random "anything" will be interesting.
That said, I'm fascinated that I could already have over 10K LPs during the second week of January!