This week American Airlines announced some changes to its loyalty program. On Dec. 9, 2013, American and US Airways announced the legal close of its merger that will make it the world’s largest airline.
Suzanne Rubin, President–AAdvantage Loyalty Program, American Airlines participated in an engaging Q&A with Loyalty360 to discuss these changes. In February, Rubin told Loyalty360 that integrating the loyalty programs for American Airlines and US Airways will offer customers a more cohesive and beneficial travel experience.
What factors prompted American Airlines to make these changes to its loyalty program and what are the goals for the revamped loyalty offering?
We want to ensure our redemption programs do not have blackout dates. In order to offer this, we have switched to a more fluid structure of award levels which vary based on customer demand.
These changes are not an adoption of any one set of policies from Legacy American or Legacy US, but instead, we really wanted to create a structure that works for the new American. These changes also allow us to be more consistent across our combined network, ensuring that our customers know what to expect when traveling on either carrier and helping them better plan their travel–especially customers traveling with both carriers on our extensive codeshare agreement.
Can you explain the main changes made to the program and when they become effective?
AAdvantage will be changing to a multi-level AAnytime award structure for travel on or after June 1. The full award chart can be viewed at http://bit.ly/AADVFLTS.
Dividend Miles Medium/High award structure and levels will be changing so that both carriers are harmonized.
We’ll offer customers the ability to redeem miles for absolutely any seat remaining any day of the year. For a domestic flight, award levels are just 20,000 miles one way (AAdvantage AAnytime Level 1, Dividend Miles Medium in the Main Cabin) for more than half of the year. The remaining part of the year, these seats will be predominantly available for 30,000 miles one way (AAdvantage AAnytime Level 2, Dividend Miles High Level 1 in the Main Cabin), and for a few of the busiest travel days of the year, (like the Sunday after Thanksgiving, which used to be a “blackout” date for the Dividend Miles Program), AAnytime Level 3 and Dividend Miles High Level 2 will apply.
In another step to harmonize our frequent flyer programs, beginning April 23, Dividend Miles elite members will pay the same co-pay rates as the Dividend Miles base members when using miles to upgrade on revenue tickets. More information regarding co-pay rates (i.e. “mileage upgrade fee”) can be found at: http://www.usairways.com/en-US/dividendmiles/programdetails/upgrades/mileageupgrades.html
Baggage allowances for our elite members will now align with the industry – offering three bags for high tier members, two bags for middle tier(s) and one bag for low tier members.
Our goal is to always provide the best possible travel experience for our loyal customers, but to remain competitive and financially sustainable, we also have to ensure that our policies align with the industry and positively impact our ability to continue to invest in our people and our products.
What will be new and unique for members?
These changes give AAdvantage members more options to book AAnytime Awards at a lower award level than before, changing from 25,000 miles one way to 20,000 miles for travel within the lower U.S. 48 states, and eliminates blackout dates for Dividend Miles members.
How do you think these changes will impact membership?
The changes we announced should help customers experience greater consistency when traveling across the new expanded network. The integration of our two loyalty programs is a long and ongoing process, but we are committed to taking customer feedback into consideration as we continue to plan ahead.
AAdvantage is recognized as one of the best loyalty programs and in the industry, and the combined 110 million members are already enjoying some of the benefits of bringing our programs closer together. In January, we started reciprocal programs to earn and redeem on American and US Airways. We also have opened access to the different clubs and lounges, and our codeshare was started earlier this year. Since January when American and US Airways launched the first phase of reciprocal frequent flyer benefits, AAdvantage and Dividend Miles members have earned more than 587 million miles through travels across the new American’s combined global network. We’re laser-focused on integrating these two programs so that our customers can continue to see the benefits as soon as possible.