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Contents 1 AAdvantage Program Basics 1.1 Links 1.2 Enrollment 1.2.1 How to enroll 1.2.2 Enrollment bonus 1.2.3 Retroactive mileage credit 1.2.4 Elite status levels 1.3 Mileage Accrual 1.3.1 Flight mileage accrual 1.3.1.1 Fare basis 1.3.1.2 Minimum miles 1.3.1.3 Class-of-service bonuses 1.3.1.4 On-line booking bonus 1.4 Mileage Pooling 1.5 Mileage Purchase 1.6 Mileage Tracking 1.7 Mileage Statement 1.8 Mileage Expiration 1.8.1 18-Month expiration policy 1.8.2 How do I prevent my miles from expiring? 1.9 Missing Credit 1.10 Newsletter 1.11 Award Expiration

[edit] AAdvantage Program Basics

N.B.: This page requires updating

[edit] Links

• AAdvantage Award Schedule
• American Airlines site
• American Airlines UK site
• American AAdvantage forum on FlyerTalk.com

[edit] Enrollment

[edit] How to enroll

Enroll online or call your local AA reservation number or AAdvantage Customer Service. Go to http://www.aa.com and click on Contact AA for telephone numbers and hours.

[edit] Enrollment bonus

Currently, you can earn 1,000 AAdvantage Miles as a new member.

[edit] Retroactive mileage credit

Retroactive credit for flights in the previous 30 days is allowed upon enrollment.

[edit] Elite status levels

AA elite status levels are Gold (GLD/AG), Platinum (PLT/PL), and Executive Platinum (EXP/EP). It is possible to get Lifetime Gold status and Lifetime Platinum status. See Elite Levels for status level requirements and a listing of benefits.

[edit] Mileage Accrual

[edit] Flight mileage accrual

You can earn miles when flying on AA and many partner airlines. For details on how mileage accrual is calculated, see Miles and Points.

Note that there are several partner airlines on which you may earn fractional or no mileage for certain routes and fares (see the AA.com partner pages for the most up-to-date information):

• British Airways (BA): Transatlantic flights on BA between the US and the UK/Europe are not eligible for AA mileage accrual. However, flights between the UK/Europe and other North American countries, the Caribbean, and South America do qualify. Discount economy fares earn 25% of actual miles flown.
• Cathay Pacific Airways (CX): Coach fares must be booked in B, H, or Y to earn AA miles.
• Iberia Airlines (IB): Discount economy fares earn 30% of actual miles flown.
• Japan Airlines (JL): Discount economy, business, and first class fares earn 50-75% of actual miles flown.
• LAN Airlines (LA): Discount economy fares earn 25% of actual miles flown.
• QANTAS (QF): Discount economy fares earn 50% of actual miles flown.

AA codeshare flights (operated by another carrier but ticketed with an AA flight number) earn miles as if flying on AA. For example, a BA operated/marketed flight from Dubai to London on a discount economy fare will earn 100% miles if ticketed as an AA codeshare but only 25% miles if ticketed with a BA flight number.

Note that elite-qualifying miles are earned only on AA, oneworld partners, and Alaska Airlines (AK). Flights on other partner airlines earn only redeemable miles, but no elite-qualifying miles.

[edit] Fare basis

American and most partners: Earn miles on published fares excluding tickets issued as awards or other free ticket promotions including free or reduced rate tickets; companion; charter flight; travel agency/industry reduced rate; infant and unpublished fares; American Airlines tickets between North America and Europe, India, Asia and Latin America booked in O and Transatlantic, including ORD/DEL, tickets booked in Q are not eligible for mileage credit; and tickets issued subject to special provisions. British Airways: Transatlantic flights from/to the U.S. are excluded. Mileage counts at 25% for discount coach fares. Iberia: Mileage counts at 30% for discount coach fares. Qantas: Mileage counts at 50% for discounted coach fares. Alaska Airlines: AA flyers may fly non-oneworld partner Alaska flights without using an AA codeshare and earn AAdvantage miles.

Further details for all AA partner airlines' miles earning on aa.com via this link: http://shortlink.co.uk/ap1

[edit] Minimum miles

American Airlines and most partners: Earn 250-500 minimum miles. Iberia: Earn 125 miles for travel within Spain or the Canary or Balearic Islands, between Spain and the Canary Islands earn a flat-rate 500 miles and for all other Iberia flights earn 300 minimum miles. Mileage will be credited only to the account of the AAdvantage member who flies. No mileage credit will be awarded for canceled flights or if you are accommodated on another airline.

For a description on how bonuses are calculated on flights shorter than 500 miles, see Bonus Miles Calculation (AA)

[edit] Class-of-service bonuses

American Airlines and partner airlines: first class: 50% bonus; business class: 25% bonus for eligible purchased fares. This is not be confused with the Elite Bonuses for Gold, Plat, and Executive Plat members; bonus miles are redeemable, but not used in determining status.

[edit] On-line booking bonus

Beginning April 1, 2008, American Airlines no longer offers an online booking bonus for travel booked on AA.com. The current bonus will be honored for all bookings made on or before March 31, 2008, regardless of travel dates.

To earn an on-line booking bonus, tickets must have been purchased at http://www.aa.com by March 31, 2008. Eligible tickets earned 500 bonus miles per flight for travel in First or Business Class, and 250 bonus miles per flight in Coach / Economy (bonus class determined by the fare paid for the first two flights on the itinerary and remain unaffected by upgrades.) A maximum of two bonuses may be earned per passenger, per itinerary. (Bonus miles are redeemable miles, but are to used to compute status.) This bonus was instituted Dec 15, 2005 and has ended, as described above.

Travel booked and purchased on AA.com prior to December 15, 2005 earned 500 bonus miles for one-way travel or 1,000 miles for round-trip travel, regardless of the fare purchased. AAdvantage award bookings made on or after May 2, 2005 were not eligible to earn this bonus.

Multiple passengers traveling on the same ticketed itinerary were each eligible for bonuses; provide each passenger's AAdvantage number to qualify.

Further details are available at http://tinyurl.com/4hgtkr

Be sure to check Bonus Programs for additional ways to earn miles.

[edit] Mileage Pooling

Mileage credit is transferable between AAdvantage accounts when offered by American Airlines online with the ShareAAmiles program. Members may "share" (transfer) up to 60,000 miles and receive up to 15,000 miles per calendar year. Cost is USD$50 for 1,000-5,000 miles; USD$100 for 6,000-10,000 miles and USD$150 for 11,000-15,000 miles. Prices do not include applicable taxes or USD$30 per transaction processing fee.

Miles from two accounts may not otherwise be added or pooled when using for awards, etc.

[edit] Mileage Purchase

You may purchase up to 40,000 miles per a year for yourself through the buyAAMiles program. The cost is US$27.50 per 1,000 miles, plus a $30.00 transaction fee. Miles post within 72 hours. See AA buyAAMiles for more information.

You may purchase up to 40,000 miles a year for others as a gift through the giftAAMiles program. The cost is US $27.50 per 1,000 miles, plus a $30.00 transaction fee. Miles post within 72 hours. See AA giftAAMiles for more information.

Do purchased miles apply toward elite status? Purchased miles do not count as elite qualifying miles, and thus do not count towards elite status. However, like all miles, they do count toward million miler status which will earn lifetime gold on American.

[edit] Mileage Tracking

Present membership number when making reservations and at check-in for automatic tracking.

[edit] Mileage Statement

View online, or members may subscribe to eSummary to receive emailed statements.

[edit] Mileage Expiration

[edit] 18-Month expiration policy

In 2007, AA reduced its 36-month mileage expiration period to 18 months. If a member's account has no qualifying activity in any 18-month period, all mileage in the account expires. There is an exception for so-called 'old miles' earned prior to Jul 1, 1989, for accounts established prior to Jan 1, 1989; 'old miles' do not expire. Any qualifying activity extends the expiration date of all unexpired mileage credit in your account for 18 months from the date of the qualifying activity.

[edit] How do I prevent my miles from expiring?

Qualifying activity is defined as redeeming any award or accruing mileage credit on any eligible American Airlines, AmericanConnection, American Eagle or AAdvantage airline participant flight, as well as accruing mileage credit with participating hotels, car rental companies, credit cards, RewardsNetwork dining partners, telecommunication providers, and other service providers offering AAdvantage miles. Purchasing an iTunes song for $1 through the AAdvantage eShopping portal is often cited as a cheap way to extend the life of your miles. Certain partners also offer AAdvantage miles for signing up for a free membership. See the Non-Air Mileage page for more information.

[edit] Missing Credit

Send copy of ticket and original boarding pass with membership number to the service center within one year of transaction, or fax to 817/963-7882. For flights flown on American Airlines, American Eagle, AmericanConnection and some airline partners, missing credit can also be submitted via www.aa.com. For all remaining airline partners contact AAdvantage Customer Service via phone, e-mail or fax for mileage credit. For car rental or hotel partners, contact the partner and advise them that you need to retroactively provide your AAdvantage number for credit. ACS can provide correct contact info, if not readily available. AA missing credit will post in 48 hours when calling it in, otherwise up to 7 days, most airline partners will take up to 30 days, car rental and hotel partners can take anywhere from 15-60 days to credit.

[edit] Newsletter

AAdvantage Newsletter can be viewed online at http://www.aa.com.

[edit] Award Expiration

Award certificates and tickets are valid for one year from issue date, unless otherwise stated.