American Airlines AAdvantage 2025 Updates

American Airlines announced updates to its AAdvantage program for 2025 today (or more importantly, a lack of updates) which should come as welcome news for the airline’s frequent flyers.

an airplane on the tarmac — American Airlines has announced updates to the AAdvantage program for 2025.

We’ll get to the most important announcement right off the bat. For the second year in a row, American is not increasing the loyalty point tiers for elite status. Currently, and for 2025, American frequent flyers will need to earn 40,000 loyalty points for AAdvantage Gold status.

Scott Chandler, American’s Senior Vice President of Revenue Management and Loyalty, had this to say about the tweaks to AAdvantage for 2025:

“We’ve evolved the AAdvantage program over the last few years to be easy to understand and to engage with, all with the goal of delivering the best and most rewarding experience possible for our members. We’ve heard fantastic feedback from our members about the creative ways we’ve given them to earn and redeem miles, and we’re continuing to do so.”

Changes to American AAdvantage Status

While the requirement thresholds aren’t changing, there are a few changes coming for AAdvantage members. Some are good while others have me scratching my head.

Great

My favorite changes to AAdvantage are related to lifetime status. Starting in 2025:

Members who fly 4 million miles will receive lifetime AAdvantage Platinum Pro status.
Members who fly 5 million miles will receive lifetime AAdvantage Executive Platinum status.

These new lifetime status levels are in addition to lifetime AAdvantage Gold status members receive when they fly 1 million miles and lifetime AAdvantage Platinum status members receive when they fly 2 million miles.

American Airlines has expanded its longstanding partnership with Citi, becoming the only co-branded card issuer for the airline in 2026. — American has made updates to its lifetime status tiers.

Good

While not groundbreaking, the upgrades for semi-frequent flyers are also good:

Starting March 1, 2025, passengers will have more time to use their systemwide upgrades, which will be valid through the status membership year.
Members can redeem miles for inflight Wi-Fi on most aircraft.
AAdvantage Platinum Pro status members can redeem miles for access to American’s Flagship First Dining ahead of eligible flights.
Members can purchase an Admirals Club One Day Pass or Flagship Lounge single visit pass with miles.
Members can enjoy unique experiences and events by using miles to purchase tickets for concerts and professional sports games.

a room with chairs and tables — AAdvantage members can use points to access the American Airlines Flagship Lounge DFW.

Head Scratchers

Not every change will be good, and these leave me questioning why anyone would value these as part of a loyalty program. In addition to the items outlined above, American plans to offer:

The option to select a personalized, collectable luggage tag even when the threshold starts at 40,000. This choice is in addition to several other options members can enjoy, including Preferred Seat coupons, Priority boarding privileges and more.
The ability to choose World of Hyatt awards at various levels in Loyalty Point Rewards, including unlocking World of Hyatt status opportunities or the ability to redeem miles for World of Hyatt Free Night Awards.
The option to support the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel in the airline’s operation beginning at 175,000 Loyalty Points.

Summary

All in all, American’s updates to the AAdvantage program should be welcome news to frequent flyers. With status levels staying the same, and the introduction of new tiers, this seems like a win for travelers. However, I am still confused about the luggage tag offering when you’re still short of some major goals.