Are you ready to jumpstart your next incredible journey with American Airlines? ✈️ The timing couldn’t be any better. With Leap Day right around the corner, it’s the perfect opportunity to make sure your AAdvantage Loyalty Points are in good standing before the qualification period comes to a close on February 29. Not a current loyalist, but looking to be? The NEW qualification period begins March 1, so what better time to level up on your AAdvantage knowledge.
Let’s get you prepared for the leap of a lifetime. Here’s what you need:
- An up-to-date status report of your AAdvantage account.
- A convenient method for keeping track of your points. Don’t fret, my friends! I’ve got your back with an easy-to-use excel version right here that you can download.
Now, follow my steps to success:
📍Step one: Sign in to your AAdvantage account and familiarize yourself with an overview of your year’s loyalty points accumulation. You’ll need to check your year-to-date Loyalty Points in your account (not your Advantage Miles)
📍Step two: Carefully review all your upcoming travel arrangements and methodically calculate the Loyalty Points you’re on the brink of acquiring. Every point counts! Again, use the tracker I’ve created to input these.
📍Step three: Grab the chance to amass bonus points with the AAdvantage eShopping portal Loyalty Points. Take advantage of retailer bonuses when they pop up. For more info on how to earn with the eShopping portal, check out my post HERE.
📍Step four: Tally up your totals and cross-check (and cross your fingers!) against the requirements for the status you’re aiming to achieve.
Last year during this time, I was frantically shopping (and buying things I didn’t need) just to earn status. Gone are the days of mileage runs (I’ve done several). Now you can simply earn enough points through participating retailers to get you to your loyalty point threshold.
Fortunately, this year I gave myself a head start and have been monitoring since the halfway mark, but really tracking consistently since late December. I used this easy to use excel tracker to calculate my expected points for both trips and shopping bonuses. Here’s an example of what mine looks like:
Certainly, it’s important to check your pending flights. Loyalty points are awarded on the base fare only (taxes/fees excluded). And loyalty point multipliers are based on the current status. For example, I have an upcoming trip to Boise (outbound only) and the base fare was $123.72. Because I’m Executive Platinum, I earn 11 points per dollar, so my Loyalty Points earned will likely be 1361.
One of the best ways to ramp up your earnings, is to monitor your favorite stores for bonus offers on American’s AAdvantage eShopping portal. You can select your ‘favorite’ stores on the site and also sign up for emails – American will automatically email you when your favorite stores have bonus offers. Alternatively, you can check the site daily to see which stores are offering bonuses. This is how I received so many points through Sephora and Ulta – by shopping on days with 10x point bonuses (earning 10 loyalty points for every dollar spent). With those purchases, I bought items I know I will use sooner or later, I just now have a good back stock of beauty and haircare products.
Alternatively, you can return items (your account will be deducted points), but if you think you’re at risk of missing a status threshold, at least you can guarantee reaching your goal by making an additional purchase or two.
One additional note if you’re already a loyalist. If you have accumulated 60,000 or 100,000 Loyalty Points, American’s Loyalty Choice Rewards will grant you a 20% or 30% bonus (respectively) on your Loyalty Point earnings. In other words, if you have surpassed 100,000 Loyalty Points since March 1, purchases from a merchant offering 10 miles per dollar would actually earn you 13 miles (and Loyalty Points) per dollar. I’ve noted the ‘multiplier’ section in the excel for those that this pertains too. For more info on how to earn with the eShopping portal, check out my post HERE.
Don’t leave your loyalty status to the whims of fate. Remember, each and every journey (or handbag) counts, every mile matters! 📌
Good Times Lately 
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