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
Oct 29, 2021, 11:54 pm
#826
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2014
Programs: Top Tier with all 3 alliances
Posts: 11,664
For anyone who may struggle to get AA Platinum, the equivalent BA Silver (OW Sapphire) is an option. It is very easy to get, you only need 2 TATL roundtrips in discounted J (and 4 segments in BA code or metal). so it can be had for $3k or less. It gives lounge access in the US, but unfortunately AA removed the free MCE access last year.
Oct 30, 2021, 1:05 am
#827
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: 4,550
I see the biggest issue with the new program is that unless you're a credit card whale, once you drop in status it's almost impossible to get back up.
Oct 30, 2021, 5:39 am
#828
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Virginia, USA
Posts: 4,508
While I like the originality of the new program, the real unknown (and risk for AA) is whether the economy going forward will support the kind of credit card spending this program encourages (and even requires). I hope AA has a "Plan B" to back out of this if we head into a Recession before business travel even has a chance to pick up.
Oct 30, 2021, 5:44 am
#829
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2006
Programs: AAdvantage PP
Posts: 13,913
Clearly AA values heavy cc hitters over typical (domestic) road warriors. And considering that without cc income AA would be in bankruptcy court, even with the endless government handouts, one can understand the shift of AA from appreciating FF to Frequent cc users.
Oct 30, 2021, 6:27 am
#830
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: CLT
Programs: AA, Amex
Posts: 418
In any event it certainly makes sense from the company's perspective - reward those who give them good business. On the other side of it with the existing system if someone does a mileage run, those customers are effectively seeking the most expensive flights for AA to operate with the lowest revenue (minimize ticket cost, maximum EQM). Why would an airline want to reward that?
Part of me feels like I'd be surprised if there were many heavy CC hitters out there, i.e. someone making EXP at $200k spend on an AA-branded card. If someone's spending a ton of money on luxury travel or business expenses or whatever, there are way better options than a Citi / AA card. Plus as others have pointed out, if someone does make elite status on CC spend but almost no travel - so what? By virtue of the infrequent travel they won't be scooping up many upgrade spots.
Oct 30, 2021, 7:49 am
#831
Join Date: Oct 2019
Programs: Flying Blue, Hilton Honors, Amtrak Guest Rewards
Posts: 2,395
The short summary is: if you cleared the EQD threshold with months to spare before but then needed to seek out mileage runs to hit EQM, you'll be fine. If you struggled to hit EQD before, it's time to change at least one of your airline/FF and credit card strategy.
Oct 30, 2021, 8:36 am
#832
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: Annapolis, MD
Posts: 483
Why should they mean anything? There's no moral imperative here, no diety handed down commandments saying miles flown shall be the metric valued above all. The airline is a for profit corporation which has promised its shareholders a fiduciary duty to maximizing profit, so yes, doing what is most profitable is what they're committed to. If that's not acceptable, one is certainly free to organize a 501(c)(3) airline where the fiduciary duty is to another arbitrary metric they have decided is more important, like miles flown or narrowness of behinds or ability to withstand many hours of discomfort in an enclosed space with several hundred other people, or whatever. Just don't expect a corporation with shareholders to subsume profit to one of those values.
Oct 30, 2021, 8:53 am
#833
Join Date: Nov 2019
Programs: Delta Gold, United Gold, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 74
Clearly AA values heavy cc hitters over typical (domestic) road warriors. And considering that without cc income AA would be in bankruptcy court, even with the endless government handouts, one can understand the shift of AA from appreciating FF to Frequent cc users.
Oct 30, 2021, 9:00 am
#834
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: ROA / CLT
Programs: AA Plat, Marriott Life Plat
Posts: 801
Plus, as more people are concerned about climate change and how it's affected by highly polluting activities like flying, a loyalty scheme not called a "frequent flier program" and not so focused on miles-traveled may seem more appealing to some people (even if in this case that's probably hypocritical and just to let people feel a bit better about themselves).
Oct 30, 2021, 9:06 am
#835
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: NYC, BOS, ORD
Programs: AA EXP, DL PM
Posts: 843
I think as another poster pointed out above, the issue is climbing to the top tier versus keeping the top tier. While EXP requires $18K in annual spend for an EXP, for a Plat whose travel patterns change/are flying AA more it takes 125K LPs/8 LPs/$ = $15,625 + 75K LPs/9 LPs/$ = $8,333 = $23,958 in annual spend or ~$2K/month. Depending on your commute, if it's weekly in a very competitive market (like ORD-LGA) even booking late you may not be hitting $500/r/t, especially considering any corporate discounts etc.
Oct 30, 2021, 9:10 am
#836
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: New York City, United States.
Posts: 2,625
what does the 1099 from BASK look like?
Why would it "cost" you money to park $200k at Bask where you get 1 mile per dollar on deposit, vice parking that same amount at any other bank where you will get something like .2 cents ($.002) per dollar on deposit? If you don't value an AA mile at more than $.002 than you probably aren't much of a frequent flier, so the whole point is moot.
Also as a secondary issue ,It is very easy to get 60 to 75 basis points
or about 400% more than your comparison.
Using 20 basis points for the example is justifying "giving use of your capital for AA Elite status".
Oct 30, 2021, 9:26 am
#837
Join Date: Nov 2019
Programs: Delta Gold, United Gold, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 74
I think as another poster pointed out above, the issue is climbing to the top tier versus keeping the top tier. While EXP requires $18K in annual spend for an EXP, for a Plat whose travel patterns change/are flying AA more it takes 125K LPs/8 LPs/$ = $15,625 + 75K LPs/9 LPs/$ = $8,333 = $23,958 in annual spend or ~$2K/month. Depending on your commute, if it's weekly in a very competitive market (like ORD-LGA) even booking late you may not be hitting $500/r/t, especially considering any corporate discounts etc.
Oct 30, 2021, 9:27 am
#838
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: New York City, United States.
Posts: 2,625
well....................
Instead of simply answering the question, The bank refers you to a link for a 33 page document of legalize.
What does not Bask BAnk just answer their own FAQ section"
Will American Airlines AAdvantage® miles earned through Bask Bank be taxable?
AAdvantage® miles awarded by Bask Bank for maintaining a deposit balance are viewed as interest income. This income will be reportable to the IRS and to you for the year in which the miles were posted to your AAdvantage® account.
AAdvantage® bonus miles awarded for other activities will also be considered reportable as either miscellaneous income or interest income, depending on the nature of the award. Bask Bank will issue each customer the appropriate IRS Form 1099 for the AAdvantage® miles awarded each calendar year. For more information, you can visit our Account Agreement, Terms & Disclosures.
Note: Bask Bank is not an accounting firm or law firm and is not offering tax or legal advice. Please consult with an appropriate professional regarding any questions about your personal taxes.
The referenced document was too large to upload to Flyertalk
What does not Bask BAnk just answer their own FAQ section"
Will American Airlines AAdvantage® miles earned through Bask Bank be taxable?
AAdvantage® miles awarded by Bask Bank for maintaining a deposit balance are viewed as interest income. This income will be reportable to the IRS and to you for the year in which the miles were posted to your AAdvantage® account.
AAdvantage® bonus miles awarded for other activities will also be considered reportable as either miscellaneous income or interest income, depending on the nature of the award. Bask Bank will issue each customer the appropriate IRS Form 1099 for the AAdvantage® miles awarded each calendar year. For more information, you can visit our Account Agreement, Terms & Disclosures.
Note: Bask Bank is not an accounting firm or law firm and is not offering tax or legal advice. Please consult with an appropriate professional regarding any questions about your personal taxes.
The referenced document was too large to upload to Flyertalk
Oct 30, 2021, 9:51 am
#839
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: NYC/PHX
Programs: IATA, Sabre, AvgeekAgent
Posts: 1,958
Oct 30, 2021, 10:04 am
#840
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Not here; there!
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 29,573
For anyone who may struggle to get AA Platinum, the equivalent BA Silver (OW Sapphire) is an option. It is very easy to get, you only need 2 TATL roundtrips in discounted J (and 4 segments in BA code or metal). so it can be had for $3k or less. It gives lounge access in the US, but unfortunately AA removed the free MCE access last year.
"Elite member access Who gets complimentary Main Cabin Extra seats?AAdvantage® Executive Platinum, Platinum Pro and Platinum membersoneworld® Sapphire and Emerald members with elite status on Alaska Airlines, British Airways, Iberia, Finnair or Japan AirlinesAll listed members are allowed complimentary access for up to 8 traveling companions on the same reservation. AAdvantage® Gold and oneworld® Ruby members*Enjoy complimentary access within 24 hours of departure when seats are available. *oneworld® Ruby members with elite status on Alaska Airlines, British Airways, Iberia, Finnair or Japan Airlines"