The Guide to American Airlines Elite Status

American Airlines has one of the best elite status programs out there. In fact, the airline placed well in NerdWallet’s annual analysis of the best airline loyalty programs and first for overall elite status program. Plus, given its wide coverage, the American Airlines AAdvantage program might be the frequent flyer program of choice for many travelers.

There are four elite status levels in the American Airlines AAdvantage program: AAdvantage Gold, AAdvantage Platinum, AAdvantage Platinum Pro and AAdvantage Executive Platinum.

Not to mention a semi-secret fifth level, American Airlines ConciergeKey.

Elite status with American Airlines means opportunities to earn bonus airline miles, free checked bags, upgrade opportunities and more.

» Learn more: Should you aim for airline elite status this year?

What is elite status on American?

American Airlines AAdvantage, like most frequent flyer programs, is free to join; you’ll just have to hand over some personal information like your name and email. So even if you fly American only occasionally, it’s almost always worth signing up.

Once you have a membership, you’ll be able to earn AAdvantage miles. Even if you’re an infrequent flyer, miles can be slowly accumulated and redeemed for free flights (just don’t let them expire, which happens if you go two years without any account activity).

Loyalty Points aren't exactly the same as miles, but they go together like peanut butter and jelly. That's because 1 Loyalty Point is earned per 1 eligible AAdvantage mile. And those Loyalty Points are exactly what you need to become a VIP in the eyes of American. More Loyalty Points means higher levels of AAdvantage elite status.

Your American Airlines status for that year is based on flying and spending with American Airlines partners in a 12-month period starting on March 1 of each year. Once you've earned status, your AAdvantage status is valid through March 31 of the following year.

Here are the four tiers of American Airlines elite status, their top benefits (and value) and how to earn them:

AAdvantage Gold

Gold is the lowest of the elite status tiers, but it’s still useful to those who hold it. Benefits include:

• Complimentary upgrades within North America as early as 24 hours before departure (including award tickets).

• Complimentary Preferred seats.

• Complimentary Main Cabin Extra at check-in.

• One free checked bag.

• Priority check-in, security and boarding.

• Same-day standby priority.

• AAdvantage Gold service desk access.

• Oneworld Ruby benefits.

How to earn: Earn 40,000 Loyalty Points.

Bonus miles earned for spending on base flight miles traveled with American or partners: 7 miles per dollar spent (a 40% bonus).

AAdvantage Platinum

With Platinum status, you unlock an additional free checked bag and a higher earning rate.

Benefits include:

• Complimentary Main Cabin Extra.

• Complimentary Preferred seats.

• Complimentary upgrades within North America as early as 48 hours before departure (including award tickets).

• Two free checked bags with priority handling.

• Priority check-in, security and boarding.

• Same-day standby priority.

• AAdvantage Platinum service desk access.

• Oneworld Sapphire benefits.

How to earn: Earn 75,000 Loyalty Points.

Bonus miles earned for spending on base flight miles traveled with American or partners: 8 miles per dollar spent (a 60% bonus).

AAdvantage Platinum Pro

Not only does Platinum Pro get unlimited complimentary upgrades on North American flights when available, but it’s more than likely any available upgrades will go to you.

If multiple elite status holders are on the flight, then American gives the upgrade to the person with the most Loyalty Points. And since Platinum Pro is among the highest levels of elite status, that upgrade is likely to go to you.

Benefits include:

• Complimentary upgrades within North America as early as 72 hours before departure (including award tickets).

• Complimentary Main Cabin Extra.

• Complimentary Preferred seats.

• Three free checked bags with priority handling.

• Priority check-in, security and boarding.

• Free same-day flight change and standby priority.

• AAdvantage Platinum Pro service desk access.

• Oneworld Emerald benefits.

How to earn: Earn 125,000 Loyalty Points.

Bonus miles earned for spending on base flight miles traveled with American or partners: 9 miles per dollar spent (an 80% bonus).

AAdvantage Executive Platinum

Benefits include:

• Complimentary upgrades within North America as early as 100 hours before departure (including award tickets).

• Complimentary Main Cabin Extra.

• Complimentary Preferred seats.

• Three free checked bags with priority handling.

• Complimentary food and drinks in the Main Cabin.

• Free same-day flight change and standby priority.

• Priority check-in, security and boarding.

• AAdvantage Executive Platinum service desk access.

• Oneworld Emerald benefits.

How to earn: Earn 200,000 Loyalty Points.

Bonus miles earned for spending on base flight miles traveled with American or partners: 11 miles per dollar spent (a 120% bonus).

American Airlines ConciergeKey

American Airlines also has a fifth unpublished elite status level called ConciergeKey. It’s a secret club of sorts, and there aren’t even any written guidelines on how to earn it (some say you’ll have to spend $50,000 or more on American Airlines flights to get invited to ConciergeKey).

With this ultra-fancy tier of status comes lavish privileges like membership for you and guests to Admirals Club lounges, Flagship Lounge access, a dedicated customer service line and the highest upgrade priority.

There are plenty of waived fees, and rumor has it that American Airlines sends customers not only appreciation gifts like chocolates, but even invites them to an annual gathering.

» Learn more: The best airline credit cards right now

How to earn elite status with American Airlines

Elite status is earned through Loyalty Points. You earn 1 Loyalty Point per eligible AAdvantage mile earned. And given how many ways there are to earn American Airlines AAdvantage miles, there are plenty of opportunities to in turn earn Loyalty Points.

How many Loyalty Points do you need to earn status with American Airlines?

Here’s how many Loyalty Points you’ll need to get into each status tier:

Can you buy your way to American Airlines elite status?

In a sense, yes. While you can’t outright hand American Airlines cash in exchange for status, you can earn elite status through spending on things that aren’t necessarily flights.

That includes using your AAdvantage credit card for your everyday spending, or shopping with American Airlines partners, and you’ll rack up Loyalty Points.

The best ways to earn Loyalty Points

Ways to rack up Loyalty Points to boost your ranks in the airline's elite status program include:

1. Purchasing something with an American Airlines credit card.

2. Flying with American, Oneworld or any other American Airlines partner airline.

3. Booking vacation packages through American Airlines Vacations.

4. Online shopping through the AAdvantage eShopping portal.

5. Shopping in store with a credit card linked to a SimplyMiles account.

6. Dining at restaurants that participate in AAdvantage Dining and paying with a linked credit card.

7. Staying at partner hotels, including Marriott and IHG, with a linked American Airlines account.

Spending on American Airlines AAdvantage credit cards

Most AAdvantage credit cards earn 1 base mile per $1 spent on eligible purchases. One base mile equals 1 Loyalty Point toward elite status.

Here's a sampling of American Airlines credit cards along with their earn rates, annual fees and welcome offers.

Even if your credit card earns bonus miles for certain categories (for example, the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® earns 2 miles per $1 spent at restaurants and gas stations), you’ll still earn only 1 base mile off that purchase. So, a $10 dining purchase would net you 20 miles toward your next flight but only 10 Loyalty Points toward elite status.

Welcome bonus offers on credit cards also won’t count toward elite status.

» Learn more: The best American Airlines credit cards

Shop with American Airlines partners

When you shop with American Airlines partners, you can earn Loyalty Points. Understand the terms of each program, as you’ll typically have to either link your AAdvantage account to the company you’re booking through by handing over your membership number to them, or you might have to shop through a link accessed via American’s site.

Partners vary but usually include:

• American Airlines shopping programs: American Airlines Vacations, AAdvantage eShopping, AAdvantage Dining, SimplyMiles.

• Hotels: bookaahotels.com, Hyatt, Marriott International, IHG Hotels & Resorts, Marriott Vacations.

• Rental cars: aa.com/car, Avis, Budget, Payless, Hertz, Dollar, Thrifty, Alamo, National, Sixt.

• Cruises: bookaacruises.com.

• Retail partners: Shell, NRG Energy, Reliant Energy, Xoom, Miles for Opinions.

Loyalty Point Rewards

Other benefits offered to status holders include one-offs or goodies for hitting certain Loyalty Point thresholds. Starting at 15,000 Loyalty Points, you can unlock benefits including the following:

15,000 Loyalty Points – Choose 1

• Personalized luggage tag.

• 1,000 bonus Loyalty Points.

• Priority privileges and Group 4 boarding for a trip.

• Five Preferred Seat coupons.

60,000 Loyalty Points

• Access Avis Preferred Plus status.

• 20% bonus on Loyalty Points from select partners within six months of activating rewards.

100,000 Loyalty Points

• Access World of Hyatt Discoverist status.

• Unlock Avis President’s Club status.

• 30% bonus on Loyalty Points from select partners within six months of activating rewards.

175,000 Loyalty Points – Choose 1

• Access World of Hyatt Explorist status.

• 5,000 bonus Loyalty Points.

• Two systemwide upgrades.

• 20,000 bonus miles (25,000 bonus miles if you have an AAdvantage credit card).

• $200 trip credit ($250 trip credit for AAdvantage credit cardholders).

• 75-gallon sustainable aviation fuel allocation.

• $250 donation to select nonprofit organization.

• Gift two AAdvantage Gold status to other flyers.

• 35,000 miles toward a Mastercard Priceless Experience (AAdvantage cardholders only).

250,000 Loyalty Points – Choose 2

• Access World of Hyatt Explorist status.

• 15,000 bonus Loyalty Points.

• Two systemwide upgrades.

• 20,000 bonus miles (30,000 bonus miles for AAdvantage credit cardholders).

• Admirals Club membership (requires both of your choices).

• $200 trip credit ($250 trip credit if you have an AAdvantage card).

• 100-gallon sustainable aviation fuel allocation.

• $250 donation to select nonprofit organizations.

• Two gifts of AAdvantage Gold status.

• Bang & Olufsen product (requires two choices).

• One Flagship Lounge single visit pass (or two Flagship Lounge single visit passes for AAdvantage cardholders).

• 35,000 AAdvantage miles toward a Mastercard Priceless Experience (AAdvantage cardholders only).

Additional tiers of rewards are available for members who earn 400,000, 550,000, 750,000, 1 million, 3 million or 5 million Loyalty Points.

Million Miler perks

Fly a million miles, and consider yourself American Airlines royalty.

• Once you’ve flown 1 million qualifying miles, you’ll earn Gold status for the life of the program, plus 35,000 bonus miles.

• At 2 million, you get lifetime Platinum status and four one-way systemwide upgrades.

• For every additional million miles you fly, you can earn an additional four one-way systemwide upgrades.

• Additionally, you’ll earn lifetime Platinum Pro status at 4 million miles and lifetime Executive Platinum status at 5 million miles.

Though elite status is earned through spending rather than miles flown, you still need to fly to earn Million Miler status.

What else you need to know

How long do you hold American Airlines elite status and how do you requalify?

American Airlines AAdvantage members qualify for status based on the 12-month period starting March 1 of each year. Then, status lasts through March 31 of the following year.

What about expiring AAdvantage miles?

AAdvantage miles expire after 24 months of account inactivity, but you don't necessarily have to fly to remain active. That means you have to have earned or redeemed at least 1 mile within that two-year window.

You can certainly do that by flying on American, either earning miles for a flight purchased with cash or redeeming miles to book that flight for free.

Though, there are tons of easy ways to maintain activity without flying, such as participating in American’s dining rewards program.

How are upgrades determined on American Airlines?

Upgrade priority is based on the number of Loyalty Points earned. So, the more points you earn, the higher are your chances of getting upgraded.

For example, if you’re a Gold elite with 40,000 Loyalty Points, but there’s another Gold elite on the same flight who earned 45,000 Loyalty Points, that person will have upgrade priority over you.

» Learn more: How American Airlines upgrades work

What are American Airlines miles worth?

According to our valuations, American AAdvantage miles are worth about 1.3 cents each. When thinking about the value you could extract from your miles, a good rule of thumb is to use your miles on redemptions that meet or exceed that valuation.

How to status match with American Airlines

There are a few American Airlines status matching opportunities with other loyalty programs, which allow you to claim American status, even if you’ve never set foot on an American airplane in your life.

Oneworld alliance

Earning AAdvantage elite status also gives you perks when flying with other Oneworld airlines, which include Alaska Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Qantas and Qatar Airways.

If you have Oneworld elite status, you automatically have American Airlines elite status and vice versa. Here’s how status transfers between the two programs:

With Ruby status, you’ll enjoy priority check-in and standby. Sapphire level adds on priority boarding on American, plus access to partner lounges. Emerald gives you access to additional lounges and Fast Track or Priority Lane access at select airports worldwide.

World of Hyatt

American Airlines has a partnership with Hyatt hotels that gives you benefits with both brands. Link your account by entering your World of Hyatt number when logged into your American Airlines account.

Once linked, you get the following benefits:

• Earn 500 miles per qualifying stay at Hyatt.

• Members of the ultra-elite ConciergeKey status tier get World of Hyatt Globalist status.

» Learn more: Your guide to the World of Hyatt loyalty program

Is American elite status worth it?

The value of American Airlines AAdvantage elite status depends on factors including how often you fly, how much you use the perks and the value you place on upgrades.

While members (which is your tier automatically granted by joining) earn just 5 miles per dollar spent on American, you earn bonus miles once you climb the elite status ladder.

Gold members get a 40% bonus, while Executive Platinum members get an incredible 120% bonus. Consider it the airline version of "the rich get richer." Since those miles can then be poured into more free flights, the higher tiers of status have an especially high value of benefits.

Of course, status doesn’t come for free. Before making it your mission to earn the highest tier of status, realize that — unless someone like your employer is paying for these flights for you — earning status comes at an enormous cost, whether it’s paying for airfare or paying the annual fee on airline credit cards.

Earning elite status at American Airlines isn’t easy, but the many thousands of dollars in value it offers to frequent travelers can be worth it. And even if you don’t earn elite status, joining the AAdvantage program still makes sense for people who fly on the airline occasionally, as you’ll earn miles that can slowly accumulate enough to book a free flight.