Historically airlines frequent flyer programs were all about one thing; miles. Since as long as frequent flyer programs have been around, these programs have always rewarded those customers who flew the most with a particular airline. In the past, the way airlines ranked their customers was based on one single metric and that was “butt in seat miles.”
For years all airlines cared about was how many miles were you sitting in one of their seats each year. The more you flew with the airline and their partners, the more rewards you received. Airlines doled out these rewards, or benefits, by granting frequent flyers Elite Status. With each level of elite status came additional benefits both when traveling with the primary airline and with any of its partner carriers. These rewards, or benefits, included upgrades, lounge access, priority boarding, free bags, etc. and the more often you flew, the better the benefits you received.
Until very recently, at American Airlines, the airline gave out elite status based on only the total miles flown each calendar year. It didn’t matter if you flew all of those miles in First Class or cheap economy/ At American, all that mattered is how many miles you flew each year.
Introducing The Elite Qualifying Dollar
That all changed a few years ago when airlines began to introduce a spend component to earning elite status. Basically, from that point on, you had to fly a certain number of miles or segments each year and spend a certain amount of money each year to earn status.
Again, at American Airlines, the airline introduced the Elite Qualifying Dollar concept. I’ve written extensive about Elite Qualifying Dollars (EQD) in the past. Basically, EQD represents the price you paid for your fare. Not the total trip cost as EQD excludes certain taxes, but the price of the fare.
When American introduced EQDs, several mileage runners were upset with this change. Personally, while I enjoyed the old system, I thought it made sense. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out why someone who only spends a few $1,000 receives the same benefit as someone else who spends $10,000+ each year. I thought it made sense to make the casual mileage runner spend a bit more. I also welcomed the change because you can earn more EQD by buying a business class seat on a partner airline. So, while I spent a bit more than I was each year, I was also flying much more comfortably.
Earn AAdvantage Elite Status Through Spending Alone
This year (2020), American seems to be mixing things up even more. See, earlier this month American introduce a promotion that allows AAdvantage members to earn elite status by only earning EQD. With this promotion AAdvantage members would no longer be required fly a certain number of miles or segments. Instead, if they spend enough each year, they can earn top-tier elite status.
The promotion appeared on my AAdvantage Summary Page a few days ago. When I logged into my AAdvantage account
In the promotions page I saw an offer to “Reach elite stauts by earning EQDs Only.” Obviously I was intrigued by the offer so I clicked on the registration details for more information.
When I opened the detail page of the promotion I saw the fine print. This is where I noticed that it would cost a lot to earn status without flying a ton of mile/segments as well.
If you wish to take advantage of the promotion you must click on the register button by December 30, 2019. At this time, I’m unclear if this promotion will be offered again during the Qualifying Year.
Final Thoughts
As with the introduction of the EQD requirement, I think this makes complete sense from a business perspective. Let’s just assume you work at a company that pays for you to go oversees 2X a year. Each of those trips costs around $10,000, but from those trips you’ll only earn 4 segments and 20,000 to 40,000 miles. If this is you, you probably have no loyalty to any airline and choose whichever has the best times or whichever airline you like. Through this promotion, it seems American is going after this type of traveler.
For everyone else, I just can’t see this making sense, especially if you are shooting for Executive Platinum. Currently, you have to earn $15,000 EQD and either 100,000 EQM or 120 Elite Qualifying Segments. Going from $15,000 of EQD to $22,000 EQD is a HUGE increase. Assuming you earn EQD though partner airlines at a rate of 3 EQD per $1.00 spent, that’s still a $2,300 increase in spending. At that assumes that you earn a heck of a lot of EQD per trip. More likely the ratio is closer to 2 EQD per $1.00. In that case, it’s a $3,500 increase in out-of-pocket spend.
Overall, I get why this promotion exists and I think it could be right for the right person. However, unless you know for certain that you are the right person, I wouldn’t touch this offer.
Lastly, this offer does make me a bit concerned about the 2021 Qualifying Year, but for now I’m going to focus on 2020. I can ramble on about the change and my potential strategy, but truth be told who knows what an EQD only program would look like. Additionally, how knows if I’m going to want to keep flying American / OneWorld in 2021!
