Following its competitors Delta Airlines and United Airlines, American Airlines last month announced changes for redeeming miles on its AAdvantage frequent flier program. AAdvantage members need to get crackin’ if they want to redeem miles at current rates; the new, largely less favorable program kicks in on June 1.
Not only is the new system costlier for fliers, it’s also a lot more complicated. That’s because it combines the current AAdvantage program with the Dividend Miles frequent flier program of US Airways, which American formally acquired last December.
The two airlines have been integrating by bits and pieces since. Although the Dividend Miles program will continue to exist, at least for the time being, the two programs will essentially have the same rewards.
Changes ahead for the mileage program of the new American Airlines. (Photo credit: Aero Icarus)
To illustrate, let’s play “one of these things is not like the other.” Both airlines are getting rid of three-tiered redemption systems. American’s program of two “MileSAAver” plans currently offers better deals but limited availability, while “AAnytime” miles have no blackout dates but require significantly more miles. Dividend Miles redemption rates are based on demand.
Here’s the mileage required for domestic round trip tickets in economy class under each of the old programs:
American AAdvantage US Airways Dividend Miles
To Europe, as an example, economy class rates currently look like this:
American AAdvantage US Airways Dividend Miles
On its European routes, US Airways also currently has an “off-peak” level, 35,000 miles round trip.
Going forward, each airline’s three-tier systems are giving way to five choices in each class of service. MileSAAver and AAnytime categories are being further divided into numbered “levels” based on timing and flight load.
For domestic travel, the new rates mirror the current Dividend Miles program – bad news for AAdvantage members. MileSAAver awards, the best deal, will be available in limited quantities and usually far in advance.
New AAdvantage Mileage Requirements:
U.S. Domestic Round Trip Tickets
Fliers foresighted – or lucky – enough to snag lowest tier tickets won’t notice much change, but AAnytime fliers should pray that the flight isn’t already well sold; otherwise they’ll be shelling out 10,000 more miles than they used to. There’s also an AAnytime Level 3, for “peak of the peak” times like holiday weekends. These rates are unannounced, which makes me think of seeing “market price” next to lobster on a restaurant menu (read: “if you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it”).
To Europe, the new chart looks like this:
New AAdvantage Mileage Requirements:
U.S. to Europe Round Trip Tickets