American’s New $5K AAdvantage Pass Offers Status, Miles, Loyalty Points

American Airlines has just launched AAdvantage Pass, which offers perks in exchange for a fee. I think it’s perfectly fine for the airline to offer this, though I also can’t make the math work, so I question how much interest there will be…

American’s new AAdvantage Pass membership details

American is launching AAdvantage Pass, which can be purchased for $5,000. Those who take advantage of this receive the following perks:

• Instant entry-level AAdvantage Gold status
• 100,000 AAdvantage bonus miles
• 15,000 bonus Loyalty Points

People can purchase AAdvantage Pass for themselves or others, and it’s described as “a great way to elevate travel for yourself or someone else ahead of the busy holiday season.” This new feature is expected to be live on American’s website in the coming hours, though it’s not yet published as of the time of this post (though American has shared these details with me).

I can’t imagine there will be much interest for this

I don’t have any issues with American selling the AAdvantage Pass, though this also seems to fit into the “why bother” category, as I see it:

• I value AAdvantage miles at 1.5 cents each, so to me, the 100K bonus miles are worth around $1,500
• That means you’re paying around $3,500 for the AAdvantage Gold status plus 15,000 Loyalty Points

$3,500 is a lot to spend on AAdvantage Gold status and some bonus Loyalty Points. So without additional perks being bundled, I just don’t see this being very popular. It’s really hard to make the math on this work, and you’d be better off spending those thousands of dollars on the perks that AAdvantage Gold might otherwise get you, like just outright booking first class, buying a lounge membership, etc.

Ultimately the perks of AAdvantage Gold status over just having a basic co-branded credit card are fairly limited for most travelers, if you ask me.

Bottom line

American has launched the new AAdvantage Pass program, whereby you can spend $5,000 to receive AAdvantage Gold status, 100,000 bonus miles, and 15,000 bonus Loyalty Points. I can’t imagine this will generate much interest, and I tend to think this fits into the “why bother” category. But hey, maybe others feel differently?

What do you make of AAdvantage Pass?