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Since American Airlines moved over to a revenue based system for mileage accrual most travelers have seen their AAdvantage mileage earnings plummet. On 1 August 2016 AAdvantage completed its transformation from one of the most generous airline rewards programs to a shadow of its former self. Never was that fact made more obvious than when the miles from a recent trip to Sao Paulo posted to my account.
Before the horrendous devaluations that were put through the AAdvantage program flyers would earn miles based on the distance flown – now miles are earned based on the price paid for the ticket. As well as crediting miles based on the distance travelled, AAdvantage also offered good bonuses for its elite status holders:
- Gold – 25% Bonus
- Platinum – 100% Bonus
- Executive Platinum – 100% Bonus
And under those old rules I would have done pretty well out of my recent Economy Class trip to Sao Paulo.
The first half of my trip involved flights from Madrid to Dallas and then from Dallas to Sao Paulo all of which comes to 10,077 miles of travel.
Under the old way of earning miles I would have earned 10,077 AAdvantage Miles just for flying that far and a further 10,077 miles as my 100% bonus for having Executive Platinum status – a total of 20,154 miles.
Instead, this is what I earned:
2,299 + 616 = 2,915 AAdvantage Miles…..or just 14.5% of what I would have earned under the old system.
Here’s how other travelers would have made out:
- No status – 10,077 miles
- Gold status – 12,596 miles
- Platinum status – 20,154 miles
If ever there was an example of how much the new earning rules can hurt those of us who shop around for cheap fares then this is it.
Under the new rules this is how American awards redeemable miles:
So, as you can see, I earned the maximum anyone could have earned on the fare I booked.
As an Executive Platinum elite I earned 11 miles for each dollar I spent on those segments of my trip…..all other elites would have earned less.
This is what other status holders would earn if they booked this same fare:
- No status – 1,325 miles (just 13.1% of the earnings under the old system)
- Gold status – 1,855 miles (just 14.7% of the earnings under the old system)
- Platinum status – 2,120 miles (just 10.5% of the earnings under the old system)
This also goes to show just how badly those with Platinum status have been hit by the change in mileage earning rules.
Booking Codeshares
While the rules for mileage earning changed for flights booked through American Airlines they didn’t change for flights booked through partner airlines.
Flights booked through partner airlines still earn miles based on the distance traveled.
It’s important to remember that it’s the airline that issues the ticket that counts when it comes to how miles are awarded and not the airline that you end up flying on.
This means that on this trip, had I been able to book the same fare on one of American’s partner airlines (most likely to be Iberia in this instance) I would have earned miles based on the distance flown.
I would also have earned a bonus as American Airlines still offer mileage bonuses for travel booked through partner airlines:
Here’s the AAdvantage Miles earning chart for Iberia:
The fare I booked was super-cheap so, had it been available to book via Iberia, it would have been in one of the bottom 3 fare codes (O, P or Q) and so would have just earned miles at 25% of the distance flown.
For me that would have meant 25% of 10,077 which comes to 2,519 AAdvantage miles and, when you add to that the 120% mileage bonus that I would get for having Executive Platinum status, that would take my earnings to 5,542 AAdvantage Miles or 190% of what I actually earned.
Here’s what other status holders would have earned for this trip had it been booked as an Iberia Codeshare:
- No status – 2,519 miles
- Gold status – 3,527 miles
- Platinum status – 4,030 miles
All of those earnings represent 190% of what those status holders would have earned had the trip been booked through American.
This Works For Business Class Fares Too
Booking codeshares isn’t something you should only consider when booking Economy Class fares – the same applies to discounted Business Class fares.
Most people reading this blog aren’t going to be booking the more expensive Business Class fares where the amount of money paid means that mileage earning won’t be too bad – most of us are buying Business Class tickets where the fare is $2,000 or less.
All you have to do is work out the math so see that, for most flyers, booking cheap Business Class tickets as codeshares will earn more redeemable miles than booking through American.
Why Codeshares Aren’t Always The Solution
The title of this blog mentions “a lot of flyers” and not “all flyers” because there are drawbacks to booking codeshare flights.
- American Airlines Economy Class flights earn 1 Elite Qualifying Mile (EQM) per mile flown and Business Class fares earn 2 EQM/mile flown. Bookings through partner airlines can earn considerably less (someEconomy Class fares earn zero EQM).
- Systemwide upgrades cannot be used on bookings made through partner airlines even if you’re flying on American Airlines aircraft.
- AAdvantage Miles cannot be used for upgrades on bookings made through partner airlines even if you’re flying on American Airlines aircraft.
The first two points are why I didn’t bother looking for an Iberia codeshare when I booked this trip – I wanted to upgrade from Economy and I needed the EQM to secure Executive Platinum status for next year.
But for a lot of people neither of those two things will matter.
Most people don’t travel enough to earn status so the EQM earnings are irrelevant, most flyers don’t have systemwide upgrades to use and most flyers don’t have the status needed to secure upgrades on long haul flights even if they have the miles needed to upgrade.
Bottom Line
If you’re not in need of Elite Qualifying Miles and if you’re not looking to upgrade to the next class of service then you should almost certainly be looking to book your flights as a codeshare where possible – you will earn considerably more redeemable miles that way.
If you have a choice of booking a codeshare or booking directly with American make sure you do the math to see what you will earn in terms of redeemable miles – if you’re like most people you’ll find that codeshare will be the way to go.
