Most of the time when an airline or hotel program sends you an email referring to “changes” to a points or miles program the odds are it will not be for the better. Keeping true to form is a recent American Airlines email from the AAdvantage Program titled “Changes to AAdvantage hotel partnerships” which goes on to share some upcoming adjustments.
What are the Changes and When are They Happening?
At the end of next month, AAdvantage members will no longer be able to earn miles or convert points to miles with Best Western Hotels and Resorts, Choice Hotels or Hilton. These partnerships will be active through March 31, 2020. If you use this partnership to convert points or miles make sure you do so before we reach the second quarter. The Hyatt and Marriot partnerships will remain in effect. Click here for more details on each of these partnerships.
Not that big a deal
While I doubt these changes to the AAdvantage Program are a huge blow to most of us, it is always disappointing when the opportunity to earn additional points or have flexibility in a rewards program is removed. It’s always great to see rewards programs expand partnerships and I would love to see more of that in 2020 instead of emails like this one.
What are your thoughts on these partnership changes? Let us know in the comments below!
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“Not for the better”? Maybe my memory is getting faulty here, but can you name me a couple of changes by American in the last few years that unequivocally benefitted the customer but not the company? I can think of lots of examples to the contrary where the customer got hosed, but I’m coming up empty on AAdvantage making changes to purely benefit the people who keep them in business. Hopefully you can do better.
Christian, that is a great point. Maybe the title should have read “Another AAdvantage Program Change that is Not for the Better.” Although I will say that while the move to dynamic pricing was mostly bad, I have been able to snag a flight or two that were below the pricing on the old tables. Overall though I agree with your opinion.