While the ”big three” US airlines have revenue based frequent flyer programs nowadays, that typically applies primarily when traveling with that airline, and not when traveling with partner airlines. For travel on partner airlines, mileage earning is still largely awarded based on a percentage of distance flown. Well, that will be changing shortly for American…
Continue reading: American AAdvantage Adds Revenue Based Mileage Earning On Partners
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
BA Tier Points (for now) are still distance & class based instead of revenue based.
“As of October 18, 2023, British Airways Executive Club will begin awarding Adios based on revenue rather than distance flown…”
I think this may not be possible with all tickets, as I believe there may be some antitrust constraints on whether airlines can share all that data with each other? It should be fine with BA and IB since they have a JV, but maybe not with all partners.
Interestingly Delta did something similar for certain KLM tickets for a while (confusingly only for certain tickets that fell within the JV scope) but eventually went to a distance-based system.
This is especially bad as often a BA business class flight has about half the ticket price in carrier fees. So a BA J ticket might be $1000 plus $900 tax/fees each way to Europe.
Carrier fees (not taxes) are included in the calculation along with the "fare"
Carrier fees/charges (e.g fuel surcharges, 'YQ' etc) count as revenue. It's the govt taxes/fees that don't. This isn't a concern.
This is great for EXP or CKs paying for J. I now can buy my J tickets and get better service/food on Japan Airlines and earn the same level of LP and Miles, without having to compromise to fly exclusively on AA metal with inferior products.
"Miles will be awarded for ticket price, including base fares and carrier imposed surcharges. Government imposed taxes and fees will be excluded."
Most of that $900 are carrier fees, not government. AA does the same.
Eyeroll. How in the world were people creditting flights according to the published policies "cheaters and scammers"?
that will be interesting cause it is against European Privacy laws. why is British Airways allowed to share the value of my ticket with american if I do not allow it? perhaps we should take it to court in Germany. They should not be allowed to share any data.
The whole respect our privacy so credit me for 7,000 miles is foolish . I’m not telling you how much I paid.
Everything should be revenue based.
It’s live on AA.com as we speak…
I wonder how bulk fare tickets will be handled then. I have a J ticket on BA end of October without fare data since it’s a bulk ticket. Ugh
If I’m already booked on BA J (AA EXP) for December, will my flight earn on rev or distance? In other words, is this change based on when the flight was booked or is flown? Obviously I prefer the rev based LP
Any airline involved in a ticket can already see the fare and other details. It's not a secret.
Not sure why it's helpful. If those are longhaul flights you're buying, sure you'll get the same miles and LPs as if you were flying AA but fewer of both than you did under the old system which was based on distance and class of service.
It's great news for EP/CK members buying expensive, short f;ights (e.g., LHR-JFK in full J). It's terrible news for EP/CK members buying cheaper long flights (e.g., discounted J, ATW, etc.)
But they're not saying "adios" to Tier Points (the elite status metric) so those are not changing, at least, not yet.
Uhhh. . .
If they don't share any data, how will AA know that you booked and flew on BA and, therefore, know to award you AAdvantage miles?
AA uses a distance-based method for bulk/opaque fares (including some AAVacations packages).
This is correct, although the Asian carriers are not part of this scheme and so the real long haul flights will still earn based on distance and class of service.
It's great news for EP/CK members buying expensive, short f;ights (e.g., LHR-JFK in full J). It's terrible news for EP/CK members buying cheaper long flights (e.g., discounted J, ATW, etc.)
The only reason they can share revenue info is because of the JV. If they did it without the JV they’d be guilty of anti-trust laws and potentially price fixing
AS, UA, and DL soon to follow... It's always a race to the bottom in the aviation industry, rarely is there ever a change that benefits customers rather than shareholders. I say this as an airline employee... I can only imagine how frustrated and disrespected some frequent flyers rightfully feel. But, this is the United States, so unless you embrace capitalism, and making the rich richer, you'll be shamed because the rest of us don't matter as much, right?
They feel cheated because they think people less well off than them shouldn't have access to the same privileges... It's classism 101.
You are absolutely correct. They are able to get the revenue because of the JV. Other airlines are not allowed to share revenue data and hence it would not be possible to move to a revenue based model across all partner airlines.
Cut the BS. You just want to fly from HNL-LAX-MAD for $472 on February 27th to secure EXP. Your precious mile run days are outnumbered. What value do you create to American Airlines and the shareholders ? You need to spend money on AA metal ; not do acrobatics.
So if I recall BA announcement it changes to revenue based on tickets purchased after that October deadline.
If one assumes the AA change isn’t coincidental then should one predict the AA change would also occur for tickets purchased after the October deadline?
This is how CKs are treated; spend money on American and fly AA metal. This will negatively affect frequent fliers who spend money across many airlines because they will no longer be getting PP or EXP status with American by flying with OW partners . If you want elite status with American then fly on American. Maybe you’d prefer to enroll in QR or BA ff programs.
When JetBlue and American were partners, AAdvantage earning on JetBlue flights was revenue based.
I can just get two credit cards, Citi Exec AA and Barclays Silver AA, then spend $90K on the silver card and get Plat Pro status. Never stepping foot in any AA airplane. I don't think they really care about flying their metal at all. So cost of two cards ($794) and MSing $90K ($1,071) = $1,865, I get full Admirals Club membership, 90K RDM worth at least $1,250, and Platinum Pro/Emerald Status. In addition to this I get $120 in Avis credits, $120 dining credits, $50 Inflight Wifi, and $25 per flight day on any inflight purchases from the credit cards.
In light of that, I really don't think AA cares on iota about a person spending one min putting their butt in an AA aircraft seat and getting status.
Seems like great news. I wish they’d also do the same for Alaska Airlines as well.
I’ve had several $300-$500 tickets this year on BA from LCY-EDI where I only earned like 1200 points based on distance method, whereas I’d earn ~3,300 - 5,500 under the revenue scheme. Same for a few flights I’ve taken on Alaska metal from ANC/FAI to SEA where the distance method has screwed me.
I have a business class ticket in November on BA (phx-lhr-gva and return). It looks like I'm losing nearly 7500 LPs due to the change.
Oh well.
I guess will now be booking using the AY codeshare. No doubt that will change soon given AY is moving to Avios.
I purchased a BA business "I" flight from NY to Naples italy open jaw return Athen to NY both stopping at LHR. I purchased it on BA website and entered my AA platinum pro # to receive AA points. Does it matter that I purchased ticket on BA site rather than AA site? Would my AA loyalty points be earned with price paid calculation or mileage flown calculation? (I"m most interested in loyalty points to obtain EXP)