American Airlines quietly tests onboard milestone celebrations – are major million-miler upgrades in sight?
United Airlines has become very good at recognizing its customers’ in-flight milestones, such as reaching one million miles, and recently, American Airlines seems to be following suit.
@AmericanAir Thanks! pic.twitter.com/36x5qkJBFM
— Leon Felipe Sanchez (@lion05) 16 August 2024
Earlier this month I mentioned the 2 million mile recognition for Chris Sloan, who runs the excellent Airchive.net. I thought maybe this was done because it’s Chris Sloan but pre-printed million-miler material for someone not well known in the industry makes me believe there is a new approach being taken here.
Hello @AmericanAir. I was on flight AA176 HND-DFW today. Maura Curley-Collins, purser at American AAngel, recognized my 2 million mile status with American and my 32 years of AAdvantage membership with a bottle of Japanese rice wine and a sweet letter. She is simply outstanding and one of … pic.twitter.com/FrPK0MCi67
— Chris Sloan (@airarchive) 6 August 2024
An American Airlines spokesman said:
Reaching an AAdvantage Million Miler milestone is a significant accomplishment worth celebrating! We are currently exploring ways to recognize our members who have spent over a million miles with us on their life journeys.
It is unclear whether they simply Testing onboard detection or whether this means renewed attention for the Million Miler program.
American is the best program for earning status beyond just flying. Its partner reward redemptions are among the best. But there is one area where American AAdvantage falls behind all of its competitors: rewarding customers with lifetime elite status.
In contrast, the AAdvantage program ends with lifetime platinum – the second lowest level. And lifetime status has become less valuable.
- with the introduction of Platinum Pro (a new level above what can be achieved over the entire lifetime)
- Prioritizing upgrades based on activity over the previous 12 months (so that those who reach current status are ahead of those with lifetime status only at the same level)
- Members of the highest elite tier for life are deprived of the opportunity to even ask a gate agent to put them on the standby list for a flight
Now, lifetime elite status is more difficult to achieve than it used to be because it is calculated based only on miles flown, whereas current elite qualification is based on most activity in the program, including credit card and online shopping spending.
American Airlines has been looking at modernizing its lifetime status program since before the pandemic, but hasn’t taken action. Hopefully, there’s renewed interest and attention at American Airlines for its lifetime elite AAdvantage program, hinted at by its attempt to personally recognize performance milestones.
