American Airlines’ New “Status For A Day” Feature

American Airlines’ New “Status For A Day” Feature

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American Airlines is rolling out a new program called “Enhance With Miles,” which gives elite members the opportunity to gift elite status for a day… at a cost, and with quite a few catches.

Basics of American’s “Enhance with Miles” concept

Nowadays American AAdvantage elite status is earned based on how many Loyalty Points you accrue during a program year (the year goes from the beginning of March until the end of February of the following year). As a reminder, here are the current elite requirements:

American Airlines is rolling out a new program named “Enhance with Miles,” whereby you can redeem miles for special status perks as you pass the above Loyalty Points thresholds. Note that this is totally separate from the Loyalty Point Rewards program, whereby you can select perks at no additional cost when passing various Loyalty Points thresholds (ranging from 15,000 Loyalty Points to 5,000,000 Loyalty Points).

So, how does the Enhance with Miles concept work?

  • When you pass 40,000 Loyalty Points, you can redeem AAdvantage miles to gift someone else AAdvantage Gold status for a day, or you can redeem AAdvantage miles to give yourself AAdvantage Executive Platinum status for a day
  • When you pass 75,000 Loyalty Points, you can redeem AAdvantage miles to gift someone else AAdvantage Platinum status for a day, or you can redeem AAdvantage miles to give yourself AAdvantage Executive Platinum status for a day
  • When you pass 125,000 Loyalty Points, you can redeem AAdvantage miles to gift someone else AAdvantage Platinum Pro status for a day, or you can redeem AAdvantage miles to give yourself AAdvantage Executive Platinum status for a day
  • When you pass 200,000 Loyalty Points, you can redeem AAdvantage miles to gift someone else AAdvantage Executive Platinum status for a day

American isn’t sharing how many miles are required to redeem for these rewards, but rather you’ll see these options in your account as you pass the thresholds. Presumably it requires more miles for an AAdvantage Gold member to gift themselves Executive Platinum status for a day, than what’s required to gift someone else AAdvantage Gold status for a day.

As you’d expect, there are some terms associated with this:

  • You can take advantage of this up to two times at each threshold
  • The status for a day perk must be purchased at least seven days before travel
  • Those who don’t have access to Main Cabin Extra seats will receive four Main Cabin Extra seat coupons, which expire two days after the selected date, and must be applied to future travel before then
  • Members who receive status for a day can’t purchase a discounted Admirals Club membership based on the higher elite tier
  • The status for a day perks are only valid for flights operated by American, and not for travel on partner airlines
  • If you pre-paid for any preferred seating or similar perks, you can’t get a refund for those
  • Any complimentary elite upgrades will only clear based on the higher elite tier on the day of travel, and not based on the typical elite window
  • Status for a day perks can be applied to all tickets, including tickets purchased with cash or miles, or even employee travel
Get elevated lounge access with elite status for a day

My take on American’s elite status for a day concept

As I’ve often said in the past, I think the ability to share elite status perks with friends and family is such an underrated benefit. For example, World of Hyatt’s Guest of Honor benefit allows Globalist members to gift their status perks to others when redeeming points. On the airline front, Air Canada Aeroplan offers Status Pass, whereby you can select the ability to gift elite perks as part of your suite of elite benefits.

American AAdvantage is the first US airline to introduce something like this. While I’m happy to see a perk like this introduced, the reality is that you do have to redeem miles, so this isn’t something offered on a complimentary basis as part of elite benefits.

Am I the only one who finds the execution of all of this to be a little complicated, and almost set people up for disappointment? For one, it’s kind of confusing to figure out how and when the perks apply through this.

Furthermore, if someone redeems miles for elite status for the day, are they potentially setting themselves up for disappointment? For example, say a Platinum Pro member redeems miles to get Executive Platinum status for a day.

What are they really getting? Incrementally higher upgrade priority for a day, but only on the day of travel? Wouldn’t they be better off redeeming those miles to try to score a confirmed upgrade?

I guess I just see the value here as being rather niche. So many people struggle to even understand the Loyalty Points system, and this is even more complicated. It probably sounds great to be Executive Platinum for a day, but due to how this is executed, you’re not really reaping all the rewards.

I see the value here as being really niche

Bottom line

American AAdvantage has introduced the Enhance with Miles concept, whereby you can redeem miles for select experiences when passing certain Loyalty Points threshold. The way this works, you can either redeem miles to gift someone else your elite status for a day, or you can redeem miles to elevate your status to Executive Platinum for a day.

Of course the big question is how many miles are required for this, since that will determine the value. I’m curious how many people take advantage of this, and if they end up being pleased with their purchase.

What do you make of American’s new elite status for a day concept?

Conversations (28)
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  1. Abhishek New Member

    Hey everyone!! Newly joined Gold member. I have booked a premium economy flight from JFK to Delhi. Both my long haul flights (onward and return) are operated by American. I have contacted American and they said that I'm not eligible for an upgrade with points.

    I am eligible for the executive platinum day pass for 25k points. Should I activate the pass on the day of travel or 100 hours before the travel so that I qualify for the upgrade?

  2. KateJ Guest

    I'm an EXP and playing by the rules with American's new "loyalty" program. I booked an overpriced hotel through the AAHotels site, with a check out date of 3/2/23 so that the Loyalty points would be credited to THIS year's account. Instead they credited them to LAST year, which I did not need, and here's the kicker. They refuse to correct their own system error! For someone that's been EXP for over 10 years. I'm...

    I'm an EXP and playing by the rules with American's new "loyalty" program. I booked an overpriced hotel through the AAHotels site, with a check out date of 3/2/23 so that the Loyalty points would be credited to THIS year's account. Instead they credited them to LAST year, which I did not need, and here's the kicker. They refuse to correct their own system error! For someone that's been EXP for over 10 years. I'm not asking for money, just for them to put the 29K LP into the correct year. No skin off anyone's back, but they refuse to do it. I have all my documentation to show the check out in this status year, but now they won't even respond back to me when I tell them it is still incorrect. So much for loyalty!!

    1. Rick N Guest

      Shame them on twitter to get a response.

  3. edmundo Guest

    another ridiculous thing done by AA, worthless and very complicated ! at the end you get nothing valuable since it will not be available !

  4. Carl Member

    Based on my experience with airline IT generally, I would not trust that the status for a day will operate as promised. There will be no recourse if it doesn't, and likely the data will remain opaque.
    But it may be great for AA if they can liquidate miles at zero cost to them.

    1. Pete Guest

      Bingo! That's what it's all about. Every mile they can liquidate using online shopping, status for a day, etc, is one less mile on the debit ledger, and one less mile available to purchase award seats that could be sold for cash, last minute, at full fare.

      They're in business to make cash money. That's the point of being in business.

  5. Lieflat19 Member

    I can't wait to spend miles to make myself Elite for the day and STILL not get an upgrade!

  6. Evan Solomon Guest

    Shame on AA greed. You work so hard all year to obtain Executive Platinum and someone else who doses not have status but uses m miles for Executive Platinum gets the same perks. Not fair!

  7. Ray Shillito Guest

    Complicated and not very valuable. I’m still angry that they stole our complimentary upgrades last year and turned them into useless points not miles in a year when no-one travelled. Also they downgraded platinum for life members by adding another tier!

    1. Sholto Douglas Guest

      Actually we found value in it - we boosted to platinum for a day. That allowed us to avoid a $100 fee for baggage and about $325 in fees for upgraded seats (from scrub seats to MCE).

  8. TravelinWilly Diamond

    Who tf wants a PhD in AAdvantage promotion rules?

    Hard pass.

  9. BenjaminGuttery Diamond

    AA REALLY needs to purge the ranks, and soon. On a flight last month from Tucson to DFW there were THIRTEEN Concierge Key members. Group 1 often has 3-4 DOZEN people who all think they are more special than the other Group 1 boarder. The gate agents NEVER give enough time to even get in line, much less board, between groups. It's not special if everyone is "special".

    1. Pete Guest

      Flying commercial, particularly short-haul or domestic, is very ordinary. Business makes it almost bearable, first comes even closer, but it's still not great on the ground.

  10. BC Guest

    How very exciting to not clear an upgrade list from higher up that before! All while pissing off Platinum Plus people who weren’t going to clear anyway.

  11. polarbear Gold

    maybe "status for a trip" would make more sense? person would be considered whatever elite for a particular trip.
    This would bring more meaningful advance upgrade options and also cover trips going overnight (most international do)

  12. ORD_Is_My_Second_Home Gold

    The terms and conditions for Squid Game were more lenient than this program.

  13. Brian Guest

    This is really dumb. Agree with your take- what are they getting? Far better off using miles to try and secure an upgrade. This is about as dumb as group 4 boarding for one flight.

  14. Tracy S Guest

    I'm hoping it's a percentage of the difference in Loyalty Points from where the recipient is to the level they're being bumped up to. Giving someone else with no status Gold being a percentage of 40k, for example. Or if you have Gold bumping yourself to Exec Plat is a percentage of 160k. 10% of the difference is the maximum I'd consider; around 5% would be better...it's just one day.

    Whether it'll be worth it...

    I'm hoping it's a percentage of the difference in Loyalty Points from where the recipient is to the level they're being bumped up to. Giving someone else with no status Gold being a percentage of 40k, for example. Or if you have Gold bumping yourself to Exec Plat is a percentage of 160k. 10% of the difference is the maximum I'd consider; around 5% would be better...it's just one day.

    Whether it'll be worth it would be situational, both actual travel needs and actual airfare cost. I can see this being of use reasonably often for domestic transcons. Transoceanic, not so much...unless you buy the lowest price ticket, maybe.

    People deep into points & miles would be able to game it. Others will use it as a fun perk. "Hey, Sibling, I arranged better seats and early boarding for your trip to the reunion!"

  15. George Romey Guest

    Seems excessively complicated.

  16. rjb Guest

    Totally worthless. Upgrades are non-existent. Just buy a MCE seat and be done with it. The status game is way overrated.

  17. D3kingg Guest

    What really needs to end is companion upgrades. They are discriminatory. If you get the upgrade and want to switch seats with your companion then that is up to you.

  18. greg Guest

    My first thought here was using it to get my partner status if she's traveling with our kids without me (this is infrequent but happens once a year). Getting the earlier boarding and the main cabin extra seats would be worth it. However, the execution and timing matters... if I gift her status on the day of travel does she get the MCE coupons before then so she can reserve those seats? Otherwise it's kind of a crap shoot if they are available?

    1. Darren Guest

      Its lousy by design. You get 4 MCE seat coupons, but they are only good for the day of your status, plus two more days. You cannot select seats before that date comes, and you cannot use the coupons for any flight after the 2 days expire. So it's not even good for most round trip flights. And yes, on the day of travel, those MCE seats will be long gone for anyone gold or higher, or non-status members on full flights.

  19. jfhscott Guest

    Would this not be a way of providing Flagship lounge access on qualifying Y class international itineraries?

  20. Frank Guest

    Eh no. I almost had a headache reading the terms and conditions. Also, AA needs to stop devaluing the Executive Platinum status, nowadays anyone can be an Executive Platinum for the day... so if there are seats available for upgrade, a Gold with Executive Platinum for the day will have higher upgrade priority than a Platinum Pro? Thats ridiculous.

  21. Grogg Member

    Do you know if the ticket would earn miles and loyalty points according to the status level for a day or the traveler's original status level?

  22. tda1986 Diamond

    The prices better be extremely low. If they are, I could see myself possibly using this to get a family member a checked bag, preferred seating, and priority boarding without having to pay for them separately.

Featured Comments Most helpful comments ( as chosen by the OMAAT community ).

The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

Frank Guest

Eh no. I almost had a headache reading the terms and conditions. Also, AA needs to stop devaluing the Executive Platinum status, nowadays anyone can be an Executive Platinum for the day... so if there are seats available for upgrade, a Gold with Executive Platinum for the day will have higher upgrade priority than a Platinum Pro? Thats ridiculous.

2
Lieflat19 Member

I can't wait to spend miles to make myself Elite for the day and STILL not get an upgrade!

1
TravelinWilly Diamond

Who tf wants a PhD in AAdvantage promotion rules? Hard pass.

1
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