Over the past week, we’ve seen some interesting targeted promotions out for select American Airlines AAdvantage card members. Neither my wife nor I were targeted for any special offers, but members of our Frequent Miler Insiders Facebook group have reported offers like a 15% rebate on award redemptions or the chance to earn bonus Loyalty Points when redeeming miles.
The Deal
- American Airlines is targeting some AAdvantage members with special offers for end-of-year travel. Note that these offers are targeted and you will find them under “Promotions” within the American Airlines app if targeted. Some offers being reported by targeted members include:
- Earn 50 Loyalty Points per 1,000 AAdvantage miles redeemed for travel on American Airlines and American Eagle only (not valid for travel on partner airlines; register and book by October 7, 2024 and travel by December 31, 2024)
- Earn 100 Loyalty Points per 1,000 AAdvantage miles redeemed for travel on American Airlines and American Eagle only (not valid for travel on partner airlines; register and book by October 7, 2024 and travel by December 31, 2024)
- Earn a 15% award rebate on flights (booked by October 7, 2024 and traveled by December 19, 2024)
Key Terms
- All offers I’ve seen require booking by October 7th, but see your offer for full details
Quick Thoughts
These offers can obviously be good opportunities for those who both are targeted and have upcoming travel to book.
It’s interesting to see how closely these offers resemble Delta in that Delta has a 15% award rebate for cardholders and offers EQDs for mileage redemptions at a rate of $0.01 per mile redeemed. On the one hand, I’m glad to see mileage redemptions treated as a means of earning elite status since those redeeming miles are also likely among the most “loyal” to a particular brand in terms of earning miles (which is obviously profitable for the airline). I think it makes sense to recognize those who redeem miles, particularly for travel on American.
On the other hand, I very much appreciate the fact that American Airlines has maintained a valuable partner award chart that provides numerous opportunities to get excellent value for miles when redeeming on foreign partners. I definitely don’t want American following Delta’s lead too closely in that realm. These targeted offers are good for those members targeted and neither of these moves really has much to do with American’s partner award charts, so perhaps we should be happy that American is testing out positive features and remain hopeful that they see the value in keeping their mileage valuable for partner redemption.
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Where in the App is “Promotions” located? Did you mean “Offers” instead?
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