As I wrap up another incredible year of flying I always enjoy looking back at where I’ve been in the past 12 months. Thankfully, American Airlines makes looking back easy by sending customers a year-end email.
For the past two years American Airlines has sent AAdvantage members a Year In Review email which summarizes their year of travel with American Airlines and OneWorld partner airlines. My year in review email came a few days ago and provided some interesting insights into my 2018 travel.
My 2018 American Airlines Year In Review Email
Similar to most of American’s emails, the email began with an American Airlines header which listed my elite status and loyalty number. Following the header, the title of the email simply said “2018, Your year in review” on a black background.
Following the initial header, the email continued with a brief message from American which thanked me for my loyalty to the airline’s frequent flyer program.
Last year the airline used a daytime theme the 2017 year in review email, but for 2018 American chose a nighttime theme. However, that really isn’t the point of this post. While I’m sure you’re now happy to know what theme American used I bet the reason you’re here is to see how I did.
Time And Distance Flown
American’s year in review email continued with a few statistics about my 2018 travel. First, the email listed the number of hours is spent in the air. For 2018 American estimated that I spent about 110 hours in the sky!
Next, the year in review email listed the estimated number of times I flew around the earth. For 2018 American estimates that I flew around the world about 3.5 times. Considering the earth’s circumference is about 24,900 miles American estimates that I flew 87,150 miles in 2018. That’s a far cry from the 120,000 Elite Qualifying Miles I earned this year.
Frequent Destinations Visited
Following a few statistics which estimated distances traveled, the email proceeded to highlight the number of destinations visited and my top three destinations visited.
According to American’s year in review email I only visited 11 destinations in 2018 which I find a bit surprising given the amount that I traveled in 2018. Of those destinations, my most frequented destinations were Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. I find it a bit surprising that my hometown of St. Louis wasn’t listed, but that just means I’ll need to make it home more often in 2019.
Longest Flight And Most Frequented Aircraft
Next, the email from American proceeded to highlight the farthest flight taken and the type of aircraft most frequently flown. My longest flight of 2018 was from Chicago to Hong Kong. That flight was in Premium Economy Cathay Pacific and didn’t actually seem that long. Of all the flights I took in 2018 I’d argue my flight from London to Chicago in Economy on American felt the longest.
In 2018 I most flew on the Boeing 737 which isn’t all that surprising. The Boeing 737 is a workhorse for American out of Chicago so of all the stats listed in the email this one was the least surprising. I’m hoping next year that changes to the Airbus A321 or a widebody!
Executive Platinum Statistics
The next part of the email is the section that I cared most about. In this portion of the email American highlights when I earned Executive Platinum elite status. For 2018 I earned Executive Platinum status again on November 03, 2018. This was the day that my girlfriend and I flew with American from Los Angeles to Hong Kong.
Next, the email mentioned that if you totaled up the miles flown by all Executive Platinum members you could fly to the sun 103 times! The distance to the sun is about 93,000,000 miles, so that means AAdvantage Executive Platinum customers flew a total of about 9.5 BILLION miles! Keep in mind that includes miles flown on American and OneWorld partners.
Award Mile Statistics
Toward the bottom of the Year In Review email were some high level statistics about the earning and burning of award miles.
According to the email, I earned 70,186 bonus award miles thanks to my Executive Platinum elite status. Additionally, I somehow earned 93,000 award miles without flying. At first this number seemed shocking, but then I remembered that my AAdvantage Aviator Red card miles posted in 2018. So 60,000 of those 93,000 miles came from a single credit card sign-up. So, I actually only earned 33,000 miles through credit card spend which seems accurate considering I only put $25,000 of spend on the card this year. Considering I plan on closing my Barclays Aviator card I expect that figure to be much lower in 2019.
Finally, in 2018 I redeemed 110,000 award miles for flights and upgrades. Historically I’ve been quite bad at burning AAdvantage award miles. This year I burned a few, but as you can tell above, I ended up netting about 100,000 miles this year. In 2018 I spent 50,000 miles on two mile + co-pay upgrades for my girlfriend and I on our LAX to Hong Kong flight. The other 60,000 miles were spent on same-day flight bookings with absurd cash prices. Miles tend to be a great insurance policy to protect against getting stranded somewhere in the world.
Number Of Upgrades And Bag Fees Saved
I remember seeing the upgrade statistic in 2017 and thinking it was impressive. For 2017, as an AAdvantage Gold customer I received between 5-10 upgrades. For 2018, as an Executive Platinum customer I received 15-20 upgrades. I’m guessing 15+ means between 15-20 as American would have most likely said 20+ if the number was greater than 20?
While 15-20 upgrades might not sound all that impressive, it’s worth noting that I only took 50 flights in 2018. Of those flights only 38 were flown on American Airlines. Of those 38 flights, about 5 of them were international flights. So, that leaves essentially 33 domestic flights on American Airlines which were eligible for upgrades. That means I was upgraded on approximately 50% of the domestic flights I took this year.
Also, thanks to my elite status I saved $115 of check-bag fees in 2018. I generally do not check a bag so this statistic didn’t mean much to me. For 2018 I’d like to see the amount of money I saved on Main Cabin Extra seats as I bet that figure is much larger.
One Big Mistake!
Until this point of the email everything seemed to be going so well. The statistics for the year were fairly impressive and I was overall a fan of this years nighttime design choice. However, toward the very end of the email is where things got interesting.
No, I’m not talking about the final Thank You from American Airlines or the hashtag. Instead, I’m talking about those two little share buttons.
See, apparently there was a mistake by American. If you opted to share your statistics using the Twitter or Facebook share buttons you may have also inadvertently shared your email address and AAdvantage number… oh no! You can read more about the situation here on Gary Leff’s View From The Wing.
Final Thoughts
It’s always interesting to look back at the year. Going into 2018 I had certain expectations of how I was going to qualify for elite status. Some of those expectations became a reality while others fell flat. Going into 2018 I expected almost all of my travel to be international long-haul flights. However, I ended up taking about 35 domestic flights on American. Sure I took plenty of international flights, but I can’t believe how much I flew domestically.
Also, I only expected to just reach the Executive Platinum thresholds for 2018 yet somehow I ended up with over $15,000 Elite Qualify Dollars and over 120,000 Elite Qualifying Miles. Sure I’m happy to have flown that much, but I wish I had taken one less international mileage run this year.
Going into 2019 I’m excited to once again shoot for American Executive Platinum elite status. I already have about 1/3 of my annual travel booked so now I just need to figure out the other 2/3s. Hopefully Qatar Airways has another outrageous sale that will help me qualify in 2019.
I loved reading this post. Check it my take on the AA 2018 year in review email:
https://bit.ly/2SA3p8H