Airlines Announce Positive Changes to Loyalty Programs

As travelers prepare for the Thanksgiving and winter holiday travel periods, airlines have started announcing changes to their loyalty programs in response to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

American Airlines revealed enhancements for the AAdvantage program for all members in 2021 with the elimination of most fees on award tickets and extending mileage validity.

AAdvantage members will no longer pay a service charge when booking an award ticket through reservations. When travel plans change and members need to cancel an eligible award ticket, they will also no longer pay a reinstatement fee to put their miles back into their account.

American has extended its pause on mileage expiration through June 30, 2021. The AAdvantage program provides members several ways to maintain account activity through flights, hotels, car rentals and everyday activities such as shopping and dining.

“Flexibility in travel has never mattered more to our AAdvantage members,” AAdvantage program President Rick Elieson said. “Our goal is to make it as easy to travel as possible and give them a loyalty program that suits their needs in our ever-changing world.”

United Airlines also announced changes to its MileagePlus Premier program, which makes it easier to earn status in 2021 for 2022 by reducing Premier Qualifying Points (PQP) and Premier Qualifying Flights (PQF) thresholds and introducing first-of-its-kind promotions.

Early next year, the airline will deposit 25 percent of the PQP-only requirements in Premier members’ accounts based on their 2021 Premier status level. The company will also give members bonus PQP for their first three trips flown in 2021 through March 31.

To give Premier members more flexibility to use their upgrades, United is extending all PlusPoints set to expire on or after January 1, 2021, by an additional six months, which includes all PlusPoints earned from 2019 and 2020 activity.