8 Reasons Why American Airlines is the Best Loyalty Rewards Program

Airlines Rewards programs have a terrible reputation. Horrible. And for so many reasons. Fuel surcharges, availability, restrictions of fare class (like on upgrades), lack of complimentary upgrades, etc…

And AA puts all those crappy programs to shame. Really, I mean they have the best top tier status but it’s more than that – it’s a solid and honest program. I’m not saying that AA miles are always the best currency, but if one had to be loyal to an airline, AA would be a no brainer.

If I had to transfer to one airline with no status, I may pick United (pre devaluation), but again, if this is about long term loyalty, AA will give loyalty back.

I’ll go through why I think they are an awesome program first and then briefly talk about the drawbacks.

1) AA will now be the world’s largest airline

There are nay-sayers regarding the merger due to a speculative increase in airfare, but if you can’t beat them, join them.

Of course having a big alliance is a huge perk, but using your miles on its own airline can be easier. Usually the availability is simply better for its own members than its partners.

And on the earning side, you don’t have to worry about what partners earn miles at what percentage, it’s all straight forward and 100%. Plus that means your System Wide Upgrades, complimentary upgrades, 500 miles upgrades, lounge passes, etc… all these perks are extended and it increases the value.

Regardless of your feelings on the merger and prices of tickets, having a bigger airline increases the value of your status, miles, and perks.

2) No Surcharges On Award Tickets

Fuel surcharges are the devil. It has nothing to do with fuel and why should you punish your local customers for using their hard earn miles?

So American doesn’t! Good for them. I hope they stay this way as honest moves in this industry is what is needed.

This means you don’t have to figure out which airlines don’t have fuel surcharges, and how to route a route that avoids those airlines that do. Instead, you just book. This is a huge advantage to programs like Lufthansa, British Airways, etc…

However, for whatever reason they do pass on fuel surcharges on British Airways. But besides that one exception, you’re good to fly on anyone. It’s really a bummer for trips to Africa or places that only BA serves.

3) The Best Award Charts

No doubt that there are few stellar award charts. A trip to Asia could be 30,000 miles less on AA than many Europe award charts. But even among the US Legacy carriers, AA has one of the best charts. Really, United and US Airways have been the two other great award charts and now United devalued their chart and US Air and AA are merging.

So the competition is getting less competitive or is becoming a part of AA.

Sure, some routes may have some better prices but it’s all for nothing if there are fuel surcharges and at the very least AA is consistently good.

For example, Lufthansa has roundtrip prices to Europe for 50,000 miles and AA 60,000 miles. An example of a better use, but when doing a trip to SE Asia via a Japan partner, suddenly the better deal is very clear. AA only charges 70,000 miles when Lufthansa charges 100,000 for the route.

ANA is another example of having great value in short to mid range flights but AA will be competitive there, and then better on the long haul.

And that’s my point, AA will be competitive and consistent.

4) Unlimited Upgrades

Hotels tend to over promise and under deliver but AA lives up to their word.

Like hotels tend to say “upgrades when available” and when you look online you can see tons of suites while in your standard room (totally a first world problem complaint). But airlines automate the process. There is an upgrade list that automatically upgrades people so there aren’t empty seats on the flight.

Upgrades are not a tangled benefit but a guarantee with AA for elite members. And you’ll find that most of the time, top tier members get their upgrades. This is a huge benefit for those who fly a lot.

5) Great Award Availability

Besides the fact that they will now have one of the best award charts for premium cabin (if not the best) their availability is usually so much better than Star Alliance these days. Of course, there are advantages to being in the bigger Star Alliance. Primarily more locations. But it goes both ways.

Star Alliance not only has more members to give availability, it has more members to take availability. For some reason, it seems that Star Alliance has been struggling lately on award seats and SkyTeam is kind of a mute point.

I’m really happy with OneWorld.

6) System Wide Upgrades

While unlimited upgrades is a system to automate upgrades within a 72 hour window, System Wide Upgrades are guaranteed at the time of booking for long haul flights – the time when you want business class the most.

For reaching top tier status with AA, one is given 8 system wide upgrades (SWUs). The requirement of flying 100,000 miles is no small task, but neither is the reward of 8 upgrades, when you consider what business class tickets go for.

But what makes AA even better than many upgrade policies is that it can be applied to any paid ticket. Most allow you to use your miles or whatever on upgrades if it’s a full fare economy ticket. What most people don’t realize is that the cheapest tickets you see are discount economy. It’s the same seat with different coding. It’s no difference to you or me really, but it’s a way to restrict benefits.

AA allows you to use your SWUs on an economy ticket, no matter how much you paid or what “booking class” it’s in.

7) Extra Mileage Perks

This year AA ran a promo that gave elite flyers extra perks along the way. More perks is always a good thing but it was a crappy promo by any means. If you hit certain bench marks you got extra miles or even more system wide upgrades.

This is another example of not only AA going above the competition but of over delivering. All this is beyond the status benefits they already provide. Not only are their status benefits better, but they continue to give more miles bonuses and more upgrades as promotions. One of the many reasons I love AA.

8) Stopovers on Oneway Tickets

While most other programs offer less strict routing rules on stopovers AA is ahead of the rest in that they allow stopovers on oneway tickets. This essentially gives you two stopovers on roundtrips. You could stopover in New York on your way to Europe and Cancun on your way back. This, in theory, is still really generous.

Cons of the AAdvantage Program

The only flaws as far as I’m concerned are: the award booking website isn’t complete with all the OneWorld partners. And the other would be the fact that they actually do have fuel surcharges on their partner British Airways… which is kind of a big partner.

The biggest flaw though is their change fees. I believe this crappy business standard in the airline industry is exactly why people hate airlines and why AA doesn’t have customer service ratings like Southwest. The infrastructure of most airlines is unfriendly. Well, at least to non-elites. So change fees and close in fees (when you book within 21 days) should be done away with.

And the only thing that has made United a favorite miles currency is their generous stopover rules. AA has made their stopover rules on award tickets quite restrictive, but it still has it’s pro’s too. The restriction is that stopovers are only allowed in North America. And it’s limited to the first point of entry back into North America. A “gateway city”.

So if your route is Charlottesville to Chicago, to New York, to Berlin, to Budapest, the stopover can be in New York because it’s the last city in North America on the route. Makes little sense, but it’s probably to avoid people like me who would abuse overuse it and punishes the rest.

Conclusion

I don’t know how to say this any clearer than, if you have to pay for 100,000 miles of flying, do it with AA. Or credit it to AA if it gives full mileage credit. The program is very solid and they seem to treat their elite customers very well.

They have a lot of things down well. But lets see how they handle the merger… which is no easy task for sure.