American Airlines Will Require Direct Booking To Earn Miles (Or With Preferred Partners) [Delayed] – Doctor Of Credit

Update 4/23/24: Start date has been pushed back from May 1, 2024 until July 11, 2024

American Airlines has announced that starting May 1, 2024 changes will be made to bookings that earn AAdvantage miles and Loyalty Points. Customers will earn miles and Loyalty Points on flights when they:

• Book directly with American and eligible partner airlines.
• Book travel anywhere as an AAdvantage Business™ member or contracted corporate traveler.
• Book through preferred travel agencies. American will share a list of eligible preferred agencies on aa.com in late April.

I assume that American Airlines isn’t providing a list of preferred agencies yet as they wanted to make this announcement to strong arm online travel providers into joining this program. This is what hotel loyalty programs already do, although it is slightly different in that commission on hotel bookings can be anywhere from 10-25% and hotel loyalty programs generally manage the properties rather than owning them. American Airlines also announced an increase in bag fees.