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In early March 2022, American Airlines switched from elite qualifying miles, dollars and segments to Loyalty Points as the qualifying metric to earn elite status.
Nowadays, the number of Loyalty Points you earn is largely tied to your spending instead of how much you fly. As a result, you’d theoretically be able to spend your way to top-tier Executive Platinum status without stepping foot on a plane — not that we necessarily recommend doing that.
Beyond flying, you can earn Loyalty Points by spending and engaging with American Airlines’ partners. The airline added a few new methods of earning Loyalty Points in 2024 when it unveiled 10 changes to the AAdvantage program, including new Loyalty Point Rewards benefits and the ability to earn Loyalty Points for upgrades.
American announced in February that the airline will be altering how customers earn Loyalty Points on flights. Starting May 1, you’ll only earn Loyalty Points for flights booked directly with American, select eligible partner airlines or preferred travel agencies. The airline stated you can also earn Loyalty Points for any travel booked as an AAdvantage Business member or as a contracted corporate traveler. American is set to announce which travel agencies will fall under this umbrella in April.
With all this in mind, here are some of the best ways to earn Loyalty Points to earn American Airlines elite status.
The traditional way to earn elite status — by flying on the airline — is still applicable under American’s Loyalty Points program.
You earn 1 Loyalty Point for each eligible AAdvantage mile from flying on American. Depending on your status tier, redeemable miles are awarded at a multiplier between 5 times and 11 times your base ticket price.
General member: 5 miles per dollar
Gold: 7 miles per dollar
Platinum: 8 miles per dollar
Platinum Pro: 9 miles per dollar
Executive Platinum: 11 miles per dollar
In simple math, if you paid $200 for a ticket (before taxes) from New York to Los Angeles, you’d earn 1,000 AAdvantage miles and 1,000 Loyalty Points as a general member with no elite status. If a top-tier American Executive Platinum member booked the same ticket, they’d earn 2,200 AAdvantage miles and 2,200 Loyalty Points.
You don’t need to keep track of elite qualifying miles, dollars or segments. One redeemable mile earned from flying on American will translate to 1 Loyalty Point.
It’s important to note that starting May 1, American will only be awarding Loyalty Points on flights booked directly with the airline, eligible partner airlines or preferred travel agencies. You can also earn on any travel booked as an AAdvantage Business member or as a contracted corporate traveler.
This change may directly affect flyers who may regularly book American flights using transferable credit card points using their issuer’s platform. However, it won’t be known which travel agencies count as “preferred” until April.