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…
In this post:
American’s new AAdvantage Pass membership details
American has introduced 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.”
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?
For me American has lost its luster. I have been ex platinum for many years. That typically gets me group 1 or 2 boarding and when available extra leg room seating. Upgrades are almost a thing of the past. System wide upgrades? I have them expire becase i can never use them unless you use them on domestic flights. This will be the last year for ex platinum because I now fly other airlines that...
For me American has lost its luster. I have been ex platinum for many years. That typically gets me group 1 or 2 boarding and when available extra leg room seating. Upgrades are almost a thing of the past. System wide upgrades? I have them expire becase i can never use them unless you use them on domestic flights. This will be the last year for ex platinum because I now fly other airlines that are half the price. I can sometimes book business of first for what American charges for coach. Over two million miles of flight miles, AA elite world card for years and now they have lost a customer. LOYALTY ON AMERICAN GETS YOU NO WHERE NOW. Would i pay 5k for what they are offering? NO WAY.
Your a smart guy and I assume you know that 100k aa miles can go a lot farther than just 1500 in value. Unfair not to add that to equation
If they are trying for a quick cash infusion, the better idea would have been, give us $5000, and you will get $5000 in travel credit plus 150k points and automatic Gold status. Or something along those lines.
This is marketed for businesses who will buy these packages for clients and executives as holiday gifts. Large Corporations have holiday gift budgets anyways. Say American sells 2,000 of these packages that will gross $10M.
Those businesses are super wasteful then. So much for the ‘free market’ being ‘efficient.’ Always was a farce anyway.
This is precisely the free market being efficient. Someone can charge for a service or product what the market is willing to pay. If those businesses deem that this gets power brokers at those clients to buy more services in excess of the money spent, then it is a very efficient market at play. And individuals that see the value might also buy in to it. Whether something is worth it is different for everyone.
...This is precisely the free market being efficient. Someone can charge for a service or product what the market is willing to pay. If those businesses deem that this gets power brokers at those clients to buy more services in excess of the money spent, then it is a very efficient market at play. And individuals that see the value might also buy in to it. Whether something is worth it is different for everyone.
The efficiency also works the other way. If the buyer does not see the value in the product, the seller will have to add additional benefits, lower the price, or discontinue the offering. Very efficient, as no one is forced to buy the product, and as many here would guess, we can't see many buying this.
If this was a way to incentive people for pre-paid spend worth $5k, plus we'll throw in some benefits too, you might be able to get enough takers. Then the hope is that there is breakage in the pre-paid amount not being used.
If you want Gold status, go to AA’s eshopping portal, buy $1950 worth of ProFlowers at 20x base miles/LPs, receive 39,000 miles/LPs and select your 1,000 LP loyalty point award for earning 15k LPs. You now have Gold status, 39k miles and 40k LPs. And a real pathway to Platinum / OWS, which is actually a valuable status. And a lot of flowers.
Someone’s wife, mother, sister, aunt, daughter, girlfriend, fiancé, mistress is gonna be really impressed for about two weeks… (until all the flowers die.)
Human beings are natural hoarders, collectors and gamblers, in varying degrees.
Marketing moguls, Banks and Airlines, etc, have all been falling over themselves to feed off the ‘addictions’ of the punters.
With this apparent downturn in the benefits being offered to the points gatherers, one has to ask …. Is this the beginning of the end to this practice?
A serious question folks.
Quiet… porkchop!
The Math works fine.. you're essentially spending for a credit card sign on bonus up front. Which getting 15k loyalty points + Gold Status along with the 100k points actually makes it more compelling.
Your value proposition will vary, 100k points can (pretty easily) be redeemed for $4-5k by itself for a 1 way business class fair. However, if you're flying economy then.. yeah the math wouldn't work.
Is this guy serious? Credit card spending??
Usually a sign-up bonus spend threshold is like $3,000. And that's money you'd be spending on products you need/want. This is just putting $5,000 in AA's pocket.
No, the math really doesn't work. $5000 for Gold and 100k miles...the 15000 loyalty points might get you over the hill for higher status if you're stuck doing mileage runs in February, but that's about it. oneworld Ruby is pretty much nothing. Like people have said, Platinum Pro is where it starts to get interesting. I don't need this, but I've got ExP for next year locked in and I've got Admirals Club membership through...
No, the math really doesn't work. $5000 for Gold and 100k miles...the 15000 loyalty points might get you over the hill for higher status if you're stuck doing mileage runs in February, but that's about it. oneworld Ruby is pretty much nothing. Like people have said, Platinum Pro is where it starts to get interesting. I don't need this, but I've got ExP for next year locked in and I've got Admirals Club membership through my card. Like everyone says, though, does anyone need this? Guess this is a typical Isom Never Underestimate The Stupidity Of The American Public move.
I was looking at the terms and conditions, and I found some intriguing things. American is leaving the door open to selling packages with higher status, up to and including ConciergeKey, which they explicitly mention.
For 2025-2026, the following AAdvantage Pass™ packages are provided:
AAdvantage Gold Pass™: 100,000 AAdvantage® bonus miles, 15,000 Loyalty Points, and AAdvantage Gold® status.
[…]
AAdvantage ConciergeKey Pass™ packages
The opportunity to purchase AAdvantage ConciergeKey Pass™ packages is...
I was looking at the terms and conditions, and I found some intriguing things. American is leaving the door open to selling packages with higher status, up to and including ConciergeKey, which they explicitly mention.
For 2025-2026, the following AAdvantage Pass™ packages are provided:
AAdvantage Gold Pass™: 100,000 AAdvantage® bonus miles, 15,000 Loyalty Points, and AAdvantage Gold® status.
[…]
AAdvantage ConciergeKey Pass™ packages
The opportunity to purchase AAdvantage ConciergeKey Pass™ packages is by invitation only and solely at American’s discretion.
AAdvantage ConciergeKey Pass™ packages offer a bundle of AAdvantage® bonus miles plus ConciergeKey® membership.
Link?
It would be worth it if they maintain your gold status for Life
I agree. Lifetime Gold gets you main cabin extra (at 24 hours out), and some additional perks, which would be a good value. But for one year, hard to make the math work.
Worthless is worthless. Worthless for Life is no better.
These are the people who removed all the screens from the seat backs.
Does it not say everything ?
Would love to hear the AA team strategy session / pitch to spend time and resources promoting this absurd program... slide 1, A New (updated) Program for New Customers (suckers)....
This is a sloppy recycle of an old Dividend Miles promotion. Back in the day you could buy up to Chairman Preferred status for around $3k. That was their top tier and could be worth it if you bought early in the year and had lots of USAir travel.
I guess AA knows there's a sucker born every minute.
Aadvantage exec card plus $4400 in hotel stays would net you ~same amount of miles, at least gold, about 50k LPs, lounge access, and the hotel stays themselves. You’d be better off doing that and charging X number of nights at a local hotel, checking in and not even staying, than this $5k offer.
Aadvantage hotel stays, to be clear.
Is it me or is 1990 a wildly obsessive commenter. Based on these time stamps they are coming back on the hour and replying nonstop. Seems as unstable as Timmy to be honest.
Is it me or is fake Eskimo a wildly obsessive commenter. Based on these time stamps they are coming back on the hour and replying nonstop. Seems as unstable as Timmy to be honest.
Does it matter? You, too, can comment as much or as little as you like. Thanks for the extra attention, I guess. Yippie!
Ford, is that what Xi told you to say in response to Eskimo?
@Eskimo
It is just you. I never noticed, but for you to notice, you would have to be just as obsessive a commenter.
When I first read this I thought it was going to be one of those schemes where you pre-pay $5000 in airfare and you get 100k bonus points and gold status.
I guess I was a little optimistic on AA's generosity.
Yeah, that might actually be kinda worth it. This is not.
You would think this product would also boost buyer to get AA Platinum/Oneworld Sapphire status faster. It needs a kicker.
Or just allow ppl to prepay for status. But I don’t get it as it’s currently offered.
I'm pretty sure $5K in spending through their hotel portal can get you at least Platinum status (and close to 100K miles) if you have an AA card and you put your mind to it.
Good strategy, jefe.
You must consider the *value* of the benefits of Gold status. Such as tier status based upgrades you will receive. Priority check-in. Checked bags. Priority security. Priority boarding. What's the matter with you people?
Lee, you realize those benefits are nominal at best, right. Oh, did you forget the ‘/s’?
You get all that with a $150 credit card
@Lee
I realize you are being sarcastic, but some people will think exactly this and purchase this gimmick. When I think of it and what you have said:
I have been gold for several years:
Never received an upgrade
I have always checked in online
I have never checked a bag
I have TSA Pre and now Touchless
My job gives me Group 4 boarding. Gold provides you with Group 5
I guess it isn't for someone like me who has given this a modicum of a thought.
Would it help people get closer to platinum, because then the multiplier kicks in from the start rather than only once you reach gold? I wonder if the math works for a one time push to reach platinum from nothing. But that's the only scenario I can think of.
Not to mention, Platinum hardly does much anyway. If anything, Platinum Pro is where things get a little interesting with OW Emerald, access to better lounges, etc. Otherwise, what’s even the point of Gold or Platinum, than, free checked bag, because there’s little hope of complimentary upgrades, unless you’re flying LGA-AVL E170 on a Thursday evening, and at that rate, sheesh, isn’t 2-2 in Economy enough already? You’re not even getting a meal on that...
Not to mention, Platinum hardly does much anyway. If anything, Platinum Pro is where things get a little interesting with OW Emerald, access to better lounges, etc. Otherwise, what’s even the point of Gold or Platinum, than, free checked bag, because there’s little hope of complimentary upgrades, unless you’re flying LGA-AVL E170 on a Thursday evening, and at that rate, sheesh, isn’t 2-2 in Economy enough already? You’re not even getting a meal on that 1.5-2 hour flight.
Here it comes… platinum gets you free MCE at booking. Fly as a family, that adds up.
(And access to business class lounges when flying economy internationally with one guest.)
It’s not nothing! Gold - very little benefit.
MCE FTW!!
some people enjoy wasting money
For real, dawg.
So many better ways to blow $5,000… and AA’s offer ‘likely’ doesn’t ensure a climax.
Like, at that rate, at least make sure the people you’re screwing can ‘finish.’ Sheesh.
Total garbage for suckers.
Total suck for garbagers, too.
Competitive price is $2K = $1500 for 100K miles and $500 for Gold status.
Gold? Psh.
Wait. Does this mean AA is going bankrupt?
Feels like something a struggling company would do. (‘Please, if you’re dumb, pay us a lot for nothing, quick!’)
They are losing money
I'm with you. I wouldn't even go $3500, as I expect devaluation (as with all carriers) by the time I could use it.