American Airlines’ AAdvantage program has just rolled out some status buy up offers, for those who are short of requalifying for status. As a reminder, with American AAdvantage’s Loyalty Points system, the carrier no longer uses the calendar year for status qualification, but rather status is earned between the beginning of March and the end of February of the following year (and status is then valid through the end of March).
American’s current elite year ends on February 29, 2024, so we’re seeing buy up offers for those who want to extend their status through March 31, 2025.
In this post:
Buy up to AAdvantage elite status for 2024
If you log-in on this website with your AAdvantage number and password, you can see what kind of a status buy up offer is available to you, if any. This allows you to buy up to the next status level for this coming qualification year, compared to what you’ve already requalified for.
You can potentially buy up to a different status tier than what you currently have. For example, if you’re an Executive Platinum member but have only requalified for Gold, you’d get an offer for Platinum. Meanwhile if you’ve only requalified for Platinum, you’d get an offer for Platinum Pro.
You can find the offer FAQs here. There are some basic things to be aware of:
- If you take advantage of one of these buy ups, your status should be updated within three business days
- Whatever you spend on a status buy up won’t count toward your Loyalty Points total, other than what you earn with credit card spending if you use a co-branded AAdvantage card
- This purchase is non-refundable
If you were to take advantage of this, it could make sense to wait until the end of the month, to see if you have any more opportunities to earn Loyalty points in the traditional way, since this buy up offer is still valid even after the qualification year ends. I’d only recommend taking advantage of this if you’re sure you won’t be able to earn the status you’re hoping for otherwise.
What’s the cost to buy AAdvantage elite status?
With American’s elite tier offer, you can buy up to one tier above what you’ve currently qualified for (in other words, if you’ve already earned Platinum status, you can only earn Platinum Pro status this way — there’s also no way to earn Concierge Key with this).
People are likely to see vastly different offers, which are based on how far you are toward qualifying for status, and also what status you’re going for.
For example, I’m currently at 166,000 Loyalty Points for the membership year, while 200,000 Loyalty Points would be needed for Executive Platinum status, meaning I’m 34,000 Loyalty Points short.
I received an offer to maintain my Executive Platinum status for $2,089 or 209,000 AAdvantage miles (the opportunity to redeem miles gets you one cent per mile, and that’s not a great deal).
Should you buy up to status?
This is something everyone has to decide for themselves, as there’s no universal right answer:
- Whether or not this makes sense depends on your anticipated travel plans over the course of the next year
- If you’re not absolutely sure it makes sense, I’d recommend not making a purchase; money in your pocket is usually worth more than constantly devalued airline status
- Since American’s Loyalty Point Rewards system is no longer at the same tiers as standard elite status, there aren’t as many perks just for earning status (like systemwide upgrades, for example)
Bottom line
American AAdvantage has launched its typical promotion that allows members to buy up to a higher status tier than they qualified for. This is for those who haven’t yet requalified for status in 2024.
I’d only use this feature as a last resort, as the cost is typically excessively high. I’d only take advantage of this if you’re absolutely certain it’ll be worth it based on your upcoming travel patterns.
Are you eligible for an American AAdvantage elite buy up offer? If so, how much is American asking for, and how close are you to earning the status you’re being offered?
Do people have until 3/31 to opt into this offer to pay via card or miles - or must we choose by 2/29?
Will the offer change as you continue to travel up to February 29th?
I’m 20,000 points away from pro platinum.
What would be my estimated cost?
Best wishes! You may want to think more about buying up your status with American.
AA has laid off the US staff that cares for elite status issues. The "administrative separation" goes into effect March 31 - the day before statuses change. Any issues with elite status, upgrades, etc., will now be self-served and handled by "international partners" who are already overwhelmed and are currently having issues with day-to-day AA flight problems. This also...
Best wishes! You may want to think more about buying up your status with American.
AA has laid off the US staff that cares for elite status issues. The "administrative separation" goes into effect March 31 - the day before statuses change. Any issues with elite status, upgrades, etc., will now be self-served and handled by "international partners" who are already overwhelmed and are currently having issues with day-to-day AA flight problems. This also applies to partner mileage postings, which are handled by humans and not able to be automated since there are so many factors.
I'm moving my status back to Delta. And I live in the headquarters city of AA.
Doing easy math on these offers shows AA proposing from ten cents to 33 cents a point to buy up. Based on my offer, I thought "9000 miles to Platinum status for $1,850" was crazy. Then I did the math on "1700 for PP and they want $560" and got 33 cents a point! OMG!
There's got to be a decimal loose in some AA staffer's head. My buy-up points offer was about 6 cents...
Doing easy math on these offers shows AA proposing from ten cents to 33 cents a point to buy up. Based on my offer, I thought "9000 miles to Platinum status for $1,850" was crazy. Then I did the math on "1700 for PP and they want $560" and got 33 cents a point! OMG!
There's got to be a decimal loose in some AA staffer's head. My buy-up points offer was about 6 cents to Gold or 3.5 cents to Plat. Try to hide your jealousy.
Of course I'm not going to do either. I just need to up my LP game by the end of the month.
I meant $960 not $9600
I need about 8000 LPs to reach EP, and I received an offer of 96000 miles/$9600. I redeemed 96000 miles because I have too many miles that I cannot see using in the near term. This way I don't have to put more spending on the Citi cards - Citi being one of the worst banks in terms of their archaic banking rules (you get punished for making large purchases - even if you pay it off immediately, they will not release your credit line for days).
yes I would gladly pay 4000 or 5000 dollars to get on a wait list
with dozens of others :) to possibly get an upgrade
Hard pass! no thanks
I'm happy to by premium cabin when I wish
Welcome to the emotional feel good delusion of elite status
I have gold status for this year. I was offered gold status for next year- $749 or 75k miles. I was googling to figure out if it was worth paying. I got gold status for this past year because I was forced to buy 2 last minute first class flights home after being stranded by another airline. $749 is less than the cost of 2 first class flights!
Weird-- the website said, "Our records show that you're not eligible to receive an offer at this time." I'm PP and not very close to EP. I've never been remotely tempted by the buyup offers in previous years because they've always been around 4x more than I'd be willing to spend. That said, I do like the new loyalty point approach to status at AA because I'm able to qualify for higher status than I...
Weird-- the website said, "Our records show that you're not eligible to receive an offer at this time." I'm PP and not very close to EP. I've never been remotely tempted by the buyup offers in previous years because they've always been around 4x more than I'd be willing to spend. That said, I do like the new loyalty point approach to status at AA because I'm able to qualify for higher status than I used to. In prior years, I'd barely make gold by qualifying with segments despite spending a lot of money (most of my travel is short notice domestic).
I have Platinum Pro with 155k loyalty points and they are asking $4,319, I am still hoping to reach Executive Platinum with swiping my AA cards.
Platinum Pro they are asking $5,340 or 534k for executive platinum.
I am currently a Gold Member with 66 thousand loyalty points, so I need 9.000 more to reach Platinum.
They offered me the Platinum status for S1,850 or 186kMiles.
This is ridiculous, because a return trip RIO-NYC-RIO nonstop ticket cost for next week is $1,200, that will result 8,400 loyalty points, and the 600 remaining could be reached simply booking the hotel.
So with less money I can got the same, plus a trip to NY!
How are you getting 8400 LP for a $1200 ticket?
AAdvantage Gold members will earn 7 Loyalty Points for every dollar spent on American Airlines airfare. So 1,200 X 7 = 8,400 loyalty points
Need 1700 for PP and they want $560? Laughable. I’ll get there anyways, but if I actually needed the 1700 could probably get there on aadvantage shopping for $50.
I am able to jump from platinum to platinum pro by either making one $350 aahotels.com booking for 17000 loyalty points or I can accept AA's status boost offer for almost $2800 make up that same 17k loyalty point difference. I think its obvious to point out that these status boost offers in the past were a bit out of wack with reality and that doesn't seem to be any different this year.
Where you find 17000 for $350 on aahotels?
Vegas. Search for midweek hotel stays and you may come across some offers for 15k or so in loyalty points for relatively low cash prices. If you've earned enough loyalty points for the 20% or 30% additional multiplier then you can earn even more than the 15k limit per booking.
When I look at the AA hotel site they show certain hotels offer bonus miles of up to 15K per stay. It never mentions loyalty points. Does 15K bonus miles also mean you’re getting 15K loyalty points?
But then you gave to take off from work and fly to Vegas. Pass.
Current Plat Pro. 40k points short of Exec Plat. Zero chance of making it there by end of February. Offered Exec Plat for $4319 or 432k miles. lol. Maybe for $500. Seriously considering getting off the AA hamster wheel and moving over to United.
Why move from one hamster wheel to another?
Jeff, AA has gamified its system in so many ways that you can easily get 40k points in the next 28 days without flying. You can probably do it for less than $500 too.
Can you please explain further?
Been waiting almost 2-months for them to correct a mileage issue I had back in early Dec. Wish they would do that instead of send me buy-up offers.
Current: Platinum Pro
Essentially no progress towards 2024 status
Cost: $749 Gold, $1449 Platinum