A couple of days ago American Airlines sent out a “2018 year in review” email. At first I assumed this would just be generic stats about AAdvantage members, or something, though as it turned out, they did a pretty good job customizing it to give each member an overview of their travel on American this year.
In my case it contained the following information about my “loyalty” to American in 2018:
- Hours in the sky: 101
- Times around the world: 3
- Destinations visited: 9
- Most visited destinations: New York, Miami, Los Angeles
- Furthest flight taken: New York to Doha (6,704 miles)
- Type of aircraft most flown: 737
- Earned Executive Platinum status: November 11
- Times flown to the sun by all Executive Platinum members: 103
- Bonus miles from elite status: 73,434
- Award miles earned without flying: 190,446
- Upgrades received: 10+
- Checked-bag savings: $440
I actually thought this was pretty well done, though I’m not sure it had the result they intended. What’s my takeaway?
- I really haven’t flown American all that much, I’ve only flown them to nine destinations, and most of my EQMs on them this year were actually for travel on British Airway and Qatar Airways
- I actually find the “award miles earned without flying” number to be scary, since I think of how I could have earned more valuable points currencies for those earning methods otherwise
- 10+ upgrades isn’t that much, and I feel like I would have been better off just paying cash for first class when it’s reasonably priced than going out of my way to fly American
- The checked bag savings number definitely isn’t accurate; I only checked bags twice, and one time was when I was on a standard award in business class that had nothing to do with my status, and I was checking three bags
So yeah, in general I thought this was an interesting customized look at my year with American, though I’m not sure it really sends the message of “boy, my loyalty was really rewarded.”
Did you receive one of these “year in review” summaries from American, and if so, what did you make of the results?
I got the % quote of EXP too and was surprised by how high it was.
210 Hours in Sky, 3.5 times around the world, 28 Destinations, Airbus 321 most flown, 70+ upgrades.
To Nice Paul: I wasn't expecting any upgrade while flying as they rarely do a cabin roll for the heck of it. That is why if you want to be in First, buy First. I was referring to systemwide upgrades (which I use on International flights from business to first) or for companions.
More importantly, the 40+ Upgrades (MIA-CUN) which is amazingly easy as its a tourist destination.
149 hours in the air, 11 destinations, 737 most used equipment, 2.5 times around the globe.
Randy is correct, as CK is based on spend (over $80K) and miles. Also, to Ed, I pay my own airfare as I am self employed. I'll say this about American: For the last 30 years they have been the better airline of all U.S. airlines. Nobody's perfect but I have found American to be the absolute best in the long run. Yes, there are some grumpy flight attendants, there are some misses here and...
Randy is correct, as CK is based on spend (over $80K) and miles. Also, to Ed, I pay my own airfare as I am self employed. I'll say this about American: For the last 30 years they have been the better airline of all U.S. airlines. Nobody's perfect but I have found American to be the absolute best in the long run. Yes, there are some grumpy flight attendants, there are some misses here and there, but the people I have met who work for AA are terrific people, who care about their jobs. They deserve my loyalty.
Very obvious morons! Hope you consider yourself among them.
Freedom of speech allows bloggers to post what they want. What’s there to hide?
No matter what, we’re loyal to AA and not everything is negative. Let’s respect flyers’ point of views.
In the long run, UA and DL are all the same here in our America that lacks “GREATNESS” I’ll give that a 45.
Thanks Randy I appreciate your information.
Moron bloggers missed the obvious, glaring privacy debacle with American’s email campaign.
You should actually know something before you post..
Dear Lucky, I think there was a missing line:
Hours of delay: 37
@Ed - AA bases CK on Spend (not just miles flown), unless you are granted CK from corporate contract. Flying 300,000 miles for $23,000 is likely not going to cut it for CK. Requires buying expensive J tickets and at least over $50K spend.
Interestingly, they let me know that I was among the top 8% of Exec Plat in terms of miles flows.
American is the world’s greatest airline so thank you all for your business.
It's unpredictable how AA chooses its Concierge Keys. I think that among everyone here I've done better. Linda went around the world 6.5 times and it's a Concierge Key.
I spent 349 hours in the sky
9.5 times around the world
11 destinations visited
Orlando, Hong Kong and Beijing most visited destinations
Dallas- Hong Kong - 8,124 miles - furthest flight
July 10 earned EP
Top 1% rank...
It's unpredictable how AA chooses its Concierge Keys. I think that among everyone here I've done better. Linda went around the world 6.5 times and it's a Concierge Key.
I spent 349 hours in the sky
9.5 times around the world
11 destinations visited
Orlando, Hong Kong and Beijing most visited destinations
Dallas- Hong Kong - 8,124 miles - furthest flight
July 10 earned EP
Top 1% rank among EP
119,402 bonus miles from elite status
9,841 miles without flying
30+ upgrades
Over 300,000 miles flown
$23,000 spent this year only
July 11 4,000,000 miles flown
Been loyal to AA since 1982, but not sure if I'll do it again.
Lucky always be littles AA but there he is lying to all of us. He supposedly became an EP. Seems his DL challenge was never met.
No one pays for my travels. It comes from my pocket, hard work and an expensive fulfilling hobby. This is the most I bragged about myself since 1982... Still just an EP. Seems AA could careless. A bit dubious.
HAPPY TRAVELS 2019!!!!
@Randy Given on my own numbers - 6.5 times around the world and 72 hours. I think hours are in American metal and distance includes partners. I certainly spent a lot more than 72 hours in OWE carriers.
Also, it says Dubai is within my top 3 destination. I have only been there or connected once this year so not sure
It says I am in the top 3% of EXP with the most travel miles. I travelled +200k miles in OWE and 75k so far in AA.
What happened to your DL run ? For top tier ?
Did you and Tiff end up making it for 2018 ?
What's the criteria for receiving one of these e-mails?
I did
203 Hours in the sky
3.5 Times around the world.
So not clear how they calculate that. Planes pretty much travel at the same speed - and out and in bound balance out due to winds.
At 136K EQM - about 90K BIS, 20K CC bonus, 26K fare and class bonus and other bonuses.
Some on Flyertalk believe the around the world is EQM others BIS. Not BIS. How many EQM...
I did
203 Hours in the sky
3.5 Times around the world.
So not clear how they calculate that. Planes pretty much travel at the same speed - and out and in bound balance out due to winds.
At 136K EQM - about 90K BIS, 20K CC bonus, 26K fare and class bonus and other bonuses.
Some on Flyertalk believe the around the world is EQM others BIS. Not BIS. How many EQM did you ear?
Around the world is 25,000 miles, so my 3.5 is about rights with 90K BIS miles - if BIS is the metric.
But you only have 101 hours in the air - so that is not 3 times around the world. It takes longer than 35 hours to fly around the world (if you could do it nonstop).
No % for you (me neither) on how high you are in EXP order is. If no % offered, then you are considered of less value to AA.
Lucky, those "miles earned without flying" includes credit card miles earned.
I dropped all loyalty to AA in 2017. Total flown on AA this year was 4500 miles. Twice around the world on all others and mostl paid business. Most of it on Star Alliance.
I did the same "Times around the world: 3" and my savings from checking in bags: $25.
Both metrics are accurate. Somehow AA thinks that waiving bag fees is a valuable benefit worth of flying 3 times around the world.
@ Linda
“I am a Concierge Key, went around the world 6.5 times, mostly in paid First & Business and I received 5+ upgrades. I’d say YOU did alright”
I’m curious: if you’re flying in First, what exactly did you expect them to upgrade you to?
Ben can't quit AA which proportionately reduces his credibility reviewing them.
Hey @CJ, you were pretty spot on...
¨CJ says:
January 18, 2018 at 10:44 am
Oh Lord – here we go again in 2018 – Lucky talking out of both sides of his mouth when it comes to AA.
January 2018: American Airlines sucks, their employees (for the most part) suck, yada, yada.
November 2018: Hey everyone, I’m going to do a quick mileage run and once again qualify for EP on...
Hey @CJ, you were pretty spot on...
¨CJ says:
January 18, 2018 at 10:44 am
Oh Lord – here we go again in 2018 – Lucky talking out of both sides of his mouth when it comes to AA.
January 2018: American Airlines sucks, their employees (for the most part) suck, yada, yada.
November 2018: Hey everyone, I’m going to do a quick mileage run and once again qualify for EP on AA and continue to support the airline that I continually bash.
Anyone want to make any wagers on this????¨
Hey @Lucky, I thought you mentioned that you were not interested and not going to qualify for EXP, but there it says ¨Earned Executive Platinum status: November 11¨
Which one is it?
@Lucky - I find it interesting that for CK, times flown to the sun by all CK members was “only” 16. But that’s still like 1.488 billion miles just by CK members!
Somewhat annoying in that you flew 6 times further than me but only 2.5 more hours. I think some of the calculations are off or rounded off big time.
I am a Concierge Key, went around the world 6.5 times, mostly in paid First & Business and I received 5+ upgrades. I'd say YOU did all right
Not sure what you are complaining about - seems like you did pretty well here. And you it doesn’t seem like you “went out of your way” to fly American, yet you achieved EP status.
How many EQM do you fly a year? It seems like a few hundred thousand. Given that you should be making top status in a few programs.
Ben, are you going to go for Exec. Plat. again next year in the light of this, or are you still going to abandon American?
Mine would say something like every flight you took was an award flight except one one-way for $100, for a total of only 4 or 5 roundtrips, and many of those points used came from Iberia or British Airways. Thanks for your loyalty!
I would look at mine, but considering I've quit my habit with American halfway through the year it's not very interesting
I don't see it here or maybe I am missing it. How many AA flights did you have? I see you got 10+ upgrades but over how many total flights?