I was drafting another set of Trip Reports for today’s post, but I stumbled upon this deal far too good to pass over! For those with AA elite status and with an AA credit card (either Citi or Barclays), there is a deal right now that enables you to earn Loyalty Points at just around face value. You need both current status and a CC to qualify for this deal.
Update: As of February 1, this deal is now dead and subject to shutdowns.
The Deal
American Airlines allows you to earn miles and Loyalty Points by spending with partners, including AAdvantage Hotels (powered by Rocket Travel). I just booked a series of hotel reservations for the next qualification year (2024-2025) which starts on March 1. Due to a backend error, some hotels are calculating the room rate incorrectly.
The hotels listed on the website search page show about $80 a night and offer about 2800 miles per stay. That would normally be a return of 33.75x, still a pretty good deal. Know that these miles also count towards loyalty points for elite status.
But after clicking through, the price drops drastically to $24 a night, but the rewards stay the same! Here is one example I just booked:
So for $108, I received 11,400 miles (which I normally peg at $114 value) PLUS I receive 11,400 Loyalty Points too. That already propels me over 1/4 of the way to Gold for the next year. An absolutely amazing deal!
For those who explore further, multiply this by about 17-18 times, and you get Executive Platinum status for about $1890. But you also get the miles from that which you can redeem. Even if you redeem them for 1 cent per mile (200k miles = $2,000 value), you’d still come out ahead because you got the status. And on AA, status upgrades are also valid for award flights AND a companion.
Also a gentle reminder that AA Hotels credit miles to the date of CHECK-IN. So if you checked in February 27 and checked out March 2, your points qualify for the PREVIOUS year’s status. Year 1 earnings do also count towards Year 2, but earning status Year 2 count for all of Year 2 AND Year 3.
Final Thoughts
This is definitely an AMAZING deal for take advantage of if you’re chasing AA status for the rest of this year or into next year. I know I’m certainly taking advantage of this one before they notice and plug the loophole!