American Airlines has just made it rather easy for AAdvantage elite members to requalify for status. This is the third way in which American has made it easier to earn status this year, in addition to reducing elite requirements, and launching promotions that make qualifying easier.
Two new ways to requalify for AAdvantage elite status
AAdvantage elite members have two new ways that they can requalify for status, either through credit card spending or flying. This offers can be used in lieu of one of the other fast-track status methods.
Before we get into the details, there are a few things to note:
- These promotions are only valid for existing AAdvantage elite members who had status as of January 1, 2021, so if you earned temporary status through some other promotion you wouldn’t qualify
- You can only use these promotions to requalify for your existing status, and not to qualify for a higher elite tier
- While you will maintain your status tier with these offers, if you’re Platinum Pro or Executive Platinum you wouldn’t qualify for AAdvantage Elite Choice Rewards, since those are tied to qualifying the traditional way; so these offers wouldn’t get you systemwide upgrades, etc.
Let’s go over the details of these promotions, which will be especially useful for those who have little elite qualifying activity so far this year.
Spend $15,000 on an AAdvantage credit card
You can retain your AAdvantage status by spending $15,000 on an eligible AAdvantage credit card:
- You can use this to requalify for AAdvantage Gold, Platinum, Platinum Pro, or Executive Platinum
- You must spend at least $15,000 on your cards between July 15 and November 15, 2021
- This is valid on AAdvantage credit cards issued by Citi and Barclays, as well as AAdvantage credit cards issued outside the United States
- Spending across cards qualifies, so in theory you could spend $7,500 on each of two cards
Earn 2,000 elite qualifying dollars
You can retain your AAdvantage status by earning 2,000 elite qualifying dollars (EQDs) on flights this fall:
- You can use this to requalify for AAdvantage Gold, Platinum, Platinum Pro, or Executive Platinum
- You must earn 2,000 elite qualifying dollars on eligible flights between September 1 and December 31, 2021
- Travel on American Airlines or partner airlines qualifies
My take on these AAdvantage promotions
These new AAdvantage promotions make it easy to requalify for AAdvantage status, much more so than past promotions. It’s now easier to requalify for status with American than it is with Delta and United.
Here are a few general thoughts I have:
- If you have the ability to spend $15,000 on a credit card and don’t have travel plans this fall, then I’d say the credit card promotion is the lowest opportunity cost way to requalify for status
- While these two offers are definitely the easiest ways to requalify for status, many Platinum Pro and Executive Platinum members who have been traveling may not prefer qualifying another way, so that they can earn Elite Choice Rewards
- My plan is to see how my travels on American evolve over the coming months — if I’m close to requalifying for Executive Platinum using the other promotions then I’ll use those (so I can get Elite Choice Rewards), while otherwise I’ll taken advantage of one of these offers
- I think this promotion is smart on American’s part, since it allows the airline to continue to engage members who may have had their business travel fall off completely during the pandemic, but who may eventually be flying again
Bottom line
American AAdvantage elite members can requalify for status in 2021 by spending either $15,000 on an AAdvantage credit card or by earning 2,000 elite qualifying dollars on flights in the last four months of the year. This should make it easy for most people to requalify for status, particularly those who haven’t been traveling a lot.
To AAdvantage elite members, do you plan on taking advantage of one of these offers?
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