wutlol

So the way it stands, at 60,000 miles you get 20% bonus miles on spend at partners. At 100,000 miles, you get a bonus of 30%.

Both specify six months and, while I do not believe they know for certain, AAdvantage agents have told me this means the clock restarts on the six months when you hit 100k.

What is odd about this decision (other than simply just making the bonus for the entire miles earning year or good for a certain number of bonus miles) is that it could actually result in a suboptimal output for American.

Say you have an AAdvantage flyer who hits 60k miles early on, in March or April, and is very close to 100k. Their next big “bolus” of required, flight related spending will be in the following holiday season (Nov/Dec/Jan). The current setup would encourage them to not make ANY AA spending until they know that all those flights will be covered by the six month period.

Am I missing something? It just seems short sighted to me to do it this way.

NauticalWheeler

It is strange that it only applies to partner spend. Agree it would be simpler if it applied for the rest of the qualifying year.

JJeffrey

I'm guessing someone at AA just said 6 months because it was a nice round number. Long enough that most people will have a chance to utilize the bonuses but not the entire year.

I'm also guessing that 95% of people will just continue their normal travel/spend patterns without putting any thought into strategizing the bonus timing. I'm sure some of us savvy FT'ers may play the game and postpone some large purchases until we trigger a bonus, but we're in the very (very) small minority.

And normal AA flight spend is not part of the 20%/30% bonus, so bonus timings shouldn't drive any behavior with regards to someone deciding to purchase a flight with AA or not.

If anything the bonuses will just drive more spend towards AA partners, which is exactly what they're designed to do. If I know I'm getting a 30% bonus on certain partners then I will be more likely to book that hotel through BAAH vs. going direct.

USFlyerUS

Pardon my ignorance, but what is this referring to?

NauticalWheeler

20% LP bonus on partner spend is a reward choice after earning 60k LPs. 30% after 100k.

JJeffrey

Fixed it...

cmtlatitudes

Yes, the 20%/30% bonuses don't appear to apply to flights at all. Not AA or partners. The listed partners for the bonuses are: AA vacations, Simply Miles, Advantage eShopping, Advantage Dining, and AA Hotels.

Strategizing the bonus timing is more complex than simply delaying spend for a month or two between status years. Too many real-time factors in a year of spend to predict in advance exactly when those thresholds will be met. Especially with the variation in when LPs actually post, (if relying on that, vice more predictable cc spend).

I can see FTer's applying it broadly as needed however - for example if you're down to a few months in the status year, and with getting to 100K, you'd be within easy reach of PPro with the 30% bonus with a 3-day weekend booked at a mid-range level BAAH hotel.

VegasGambler

It's listed on the web site as a benefit, not a choice. Which means that you get it automatically after passing the threshold (you don't need to choose it)

LovePrunes

On the app it shows up as a milestone where you have to choose between an Avis status reward OR a 20%/30% bonus reward.

I already passed the 15, 000 level and it wants me to select a reward among 1 choice, which is group 5 boarding, which I of course will *not* be selecting as EXP lol

All that to say I don't think it will go into effect until you select the 20% or 30% partner bonus for 6 months. If you time it right, you could make it so that next year you are already starting the status year in March with 30% in effect, which would speed up earning it for 2024/25 qualification earning period

VegasGambler

On both the app and the website it shows that your get both the Avis status and the LP bonus.

Whether it is actually correct is another issue.

For the 15k level, again, both the app and the website site that you get priority boarding AND a loyalty point reward choice.

FlyingEgghead

But the timing of AA flights (and hence LP earning from those flights toward 60k/100k) will affect the window in which partner spend is bonused, so someone might delay AA flights to time that window to their planned partner spend.

wutlol

Yeah, I was thinking mainly people being creative with BAAH, which is a potential big points earner.

LovePrunes

There's only 1 choice at 15k, and it sits there till end of this status year.
No reason to think it'll be any different at 60k for us to have to select ONE choice, either Avis OR hotel bonus

Dave Noble

The screenshots do quite clearly say for 15k Group 5 boarding for the year and then choose 1 loyalty reward - for 60k

Looking at the details at https://www.aa.com/pubcontent/en_US/...nts/index.html , for 60k it says BENEFIT - Avis Preferred Plus and BENEFIT - 20% loyalty point bonus whilst, for example, at 175k it states Choose 1 reard anf the items listed all say "REWARD CHOICE" as opposed to benefit

Looking at 125k ( Platinum Pro ) , all the items listed are stated as "BENEFIT" and all of the benefits are applicable to Platnum Pro

At the 15k page at https://www.aa.com/pubcontent/en_US/...nts/index.html it says "Enjoy your new benefit and choose one additional reward" - The benefit is Group 5 boarding and the choice is from 5 preferred seat coupons or the coming soon benefit of Group 4 boarding for a trip

The pages do distinguish between benefits and reeward choices, so logical to infer that where benefits are listed , they are benefits rather than pick choice

PHLGovFlyer

This! I have a trip to Spain in April with a high LP BAAH hotel stay booked. The return flight from Spain will push me over 60k LPs so I will technically be eligible for the 20% boost after the hotel stay is complete. However, given the lag in posting of BAAH LPs I might end up getting the 20% bonus anyway.