Update: American has pushed the start date to July 11, 2024.
Paddle Your Own Kanoo: "American Airlines said on Tuesday that it will soon stop awarding frequent flyer miles and status Loyalty Points through its AAdvantage program to passengers who don’t book direct with AA or a small number of partner airlines and ‘preferred’ travel agents."
"The change will come into effect on May 1, 2024, but tickets issued before that date, regardless of the date of travel, will earn miles and Loyalty Points no matter where the ticket was bought from."
Points Wire Note:
While you'll continue to earn American miles and Loyalty Points on non-basic economy tickets booked through select travel agents, we don't have any indication of who the eligible agents are at this point. Given how small commissions are on flight bookings, this feels like they're playing at the margins rather than focusing on driving revenue from the core business.
I have a feeling that corporate travel agents may be exempt from this change. Can you imagine the outrage from road warriors if they no longer earned elite status and miles for all their time traveling around the country or world?!
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