Members Sound off as American Makes Drastic Changes to Its Loyalty Program

Recent changes to AAdvantage, the loyalty program used by American Airlines, have rankled its members, who are taking to social media to rant. The changes center around a fundamental shift in how the airline measures and awards elite status. Last week, American became the last of the big three legacy carriers to add a revenue-component to its requirements to its calculation for elite status, requiring 2017 members to spend a requisite amount of cash on the airline each year in order to qualify. Like its competitors, the required-spend ranges from $3,000 for Gold status, the lowest elite tier, up to $12,000 for Executive Platinum status, the highest published tier.