(EXPIRED) Hyatt & American Airlines offering fast tracks to elite status

World of Hyatt and American Airlines are out with elite fast track opportunities for elite members of both programs. Unfortunately, this isn’t as generous as the late 2019 offer for Hyatt Globalists to get American Airlines Executive Platinum status with no requirements — this time around the highest you can reach is Platinum Pro and benefits won’t begin until you achieve enough qualifying activity. This could be useful for some, but won’t be exciting for those who weren’t already planning to fly American in the coming months.

The Deal

• World of Hyatt and American Airlines are offering reciprocal elite status fast track opportunities. Be sure to link your accounts to take advantage of all reciprocal earning opportunities.

American Airlines status fast track

• Those with World of Hyatt status have been targeted for a fast track to American Airlines elite status. The details may vary some by account, but here is the offer I received as a Hyatt Globalist:
  Register by September 30, 2021, and complete the qualifying activity below within 3 months of registering and you’ll enjoy AAdvantage® Platinum Pro elite status through January 2023:

  • Earn $700 Elite Qualifying Dollars (EQDs) and either 6,000 Elite Qualifying Miles (EQMs) or 7 Elite Qualifying Segments (EQSs) for Gold status
  • Earn $1,500 EQDs and either 12,000 EQMs or 14 EQSs for Platinum status
  • Earn $2,300 EQDs and either 18,000 EQMs or 21 EQSs for Platinum Pro status

World of Hyatt elite status fast track

• American AAdvantage Gold, Platinum, Platinum Pro, and Executive Platinum members have received a fast track offer for Hyatt elite status with the following requirements:
  • Register by September 30, 2021 and receive trial Explorist status. Then complete the following qualifying World of Hyatt activity within 90 days of registration to maintain Explorist or Globalist status through February 2023:
    • Earn Explorist status when you earn 10 qualifying nights
    • Earn Globalist status when you earn 20 qualifying nights
    • Award nights and other nights eligible to receive elite credit qualify

Key Terms

Here are key terms from the American Airlines fast track:

• Qualifying EQDs, EQMs and EQSs are earned when you fly on eligible tickets for flights operated by American Airlines or marketed by American, American Eagle®, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, JetBlue and Qantas.
• This is an exclusive offer only for World of Hyatt Globalist members who successfully linked their AAdvantage® and World of Hyatt accounts
• Register by 11:59 p.m. CDT on September 30, 2021, for your EQMs, EQDs and EQSs to count toward this promotion
• After you reach the required thresholds, your elite-status membership benefits will be extended immediately
• Flights completed before registration or 3 months after your registration start date aren’t eligible for this challenge
• Qualifying eligible flights must be marketed by American Airlines or marketed and operated by American, American Eagle®, Alaska Airlines, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, JetBlue or Qantas
• Flights marketed and / or operated by codeshare partners not listed above aren’t eligible for this challenge
• Qualifying eligible flights may be purchased in any fare that earns EQMs, EQSs and EQDs in the AAdvantage® program
• EQDs, EQMs and EQSs earned through methods not listed above aren’t eligible for this challenge
• Basic Economy flights aren’t eligible for this challenge
• After you reach the required thresholds, your elite-status membership benefits will be extended immediately through January 31, 2023
• You must requalify for elite-status membership annually
• You can only participate in 1 elite-status challenge at a time
• American may, at any time and without notice, change, stop or end this promotion in part or in full

Quick Thoughts

I don’t find this match to be particularly exciting for either side. World of Hyatt elite members aren’t getting nearly the deal given to Globalists back in late 2019, when Globalist members were targeted with American Airlines Executive Platinum status without any requirements. That said, it was unrealistic to expect that to come back again. This fast track certainly does reduce requirements significantly and if you’re already planning to be flying American you would obviously want to register. Note that you have 90 days to meet the requirements after registration, but you don’t need to register right away. I’d recommend holding off on registration until your travel activity will begin in order to give yourself as much time as possible after first qualifying activity to meet the terms of the challenge.

The Hyatt fast track offer is better than nothing, but not particularly good. That’s because Globalist status can be achieved with 30 nights this year and you can complete those nights whenever is convenient for you. If you’ll be staying 20 nights within a span of 90 days during the promotion and you qualify to register, by all means take advantage, but this isn’t a highly reduced path given Hyatt’s already-abbreviated path to elite status this year.

Again, these promos will be nice for those who are in position to take advantage of them but likely won’t move the needle much for the rest of us.

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