If you have not reached your required American Airways AAdvantage elite standing but, the qualification deadline of Feb. 28 is quickly approaching. Though you continue to have the remainder of January and February to earn Loyalty Factors towards your required standing, American Airways AAdvantage is already sending out alternatives to make use of miles or money to purchase elite standing legitimate by way of March 31, 2026.
Some TPGers have acquired emails from the AAdvantage program with hyperlinks to test their presents. Even in the event you did not get an e mail, you can go to the AAdvantage standing provide touchdown web page and log in to see what provide(s) you may have.
Now, let us take a look at what you need to find out about these presents and a few of the presents TPG staffers have seen of their accounts.
Associated: Final-minute methods for incomes American AAdvantage elite standing
AAdvantage buy-up standing presents
Listed below are some presents we have seen at TPG. Take note these are focused to particular person members, primarily based on elements just like the expiration of their AAdvantage standing membership degree on March 31, 2025 and/or their 2024 standing qualification course of, so yours could also be totally different.
Aviation reporter Sean Cudahy, who holds AAdvantage Platinum standing, has already reached the 75,000 Loyalty Factors wanted to requalify for his present tier and is 34,000 Loyalty Factors away from leveling as much as Platinum Professional. His provide would enable him to safe Platinum Professional standing subsequent yr for $3,569 or 357,000 miles.
Some AAdvantage loyalists have not seen any presents. For instance, senior editor Giselle Gomez and director of content material operations Andrea Rotondo each maintain Platinum standing or increased and noticed “No presents out there” after they logged into their accounts. Nonetheless, Giselle simply reached the 40,000 Loyalty Factors required to qualify for Gold standing subsequent yr, whereas Andrea is simply 200 Loyalty Factors shy of qualifying for Government Platinum.
Even in the event you do not at present maintain elite standing with AAdvantage, it might be value checking your presents. Previously, we have seen related presents for AAdvantage primary members who’ve already earned some Loyalty Factors towards Gold standing by way of flying and/or spending on cobranded American Airways playing cards.
Day by day E-newsletter
Reward your inbox with the TPG Day by day e-newsletter
Be a part of over 700,000 readers for breaking information, in-depth guides and unique offers from TPG’s specialists
In contrast to standing match challenges, these buy-up presents do not present standing for a shorter promotional interval; as an alternative they provide you one other approach to qualify for standing for the following yr. Because the AAdvantage standing yr begins in March, any standing you attain by way of these buy-ups can be legitimate by way of March 31, 2026.
Associated: Why (and the way) I am incomes AAdvantage Platinum Professional elite standing and never going for AAdvantage Government Platinum
Is an AAdvantage buy-up standing provide value it?
Most often, it will not make sense to simply accept your AAdvantage buy-up standing provide even if you need the perks of the standing.
For instance, take into account Nick’s provide for $719 or 72,000 miles to safe Gold. He wants solely 17,000 extra Loyalty Factors to qualify organically for Gold standing. Nick at present has Platinum standing, that means he earns 8 Loyalty Factors per qualifying greenback spent on American, British Airways and Iberia. As such, he might e-book and fly on flights costing no less than $2,125 for base fares and carrier-imposed charges earlier than the tip of February to earn the required Loyalty Factors. In doing so, he’d not solely earn Gold standing but in addition go on a number of journeys and earn no less than 17,000 AAdvantage miles, value about $280 primarily based on TPG’s January 2025 valuations.
If he could not journey extra by the tip of February, there are a lot of different methods to earn Loyalty Factors, like spending on cobranded playing cards and purchasing by way of the AAdvantage eShopping portal and SimplyMiles program. He could possibly earn much more miles and Loyalty Factors by double dipping.
So, we advocate contemplating the numerous different methods to earn Loyalty Factors earlier than paying cash or miles for an AAdvantage standing buy-up. And in the event you’re on the fence, you might as nicely wait till the tip of February to see what number of extra Loyalty Factors you’ve got earned and see if and the way your standing buy-up provide has modified.
In case you resolve to buy a buy-up provide, the following resolution is whether or not to make use of miles or money (or a mixture). At these costs, you will get lower than 1 cent per AAdvantage mile — nicely underneath TPG’s January 2025 valuation of 1.65 cents apiece — so we advocate the money route. Nonetheless, when you’ve got a big stash of miles you do not assume you will spend, it might make sense to redeem AAdvantage miles.
If you are going to buy a standing buy-up provide, your account will present the brand new standing inside 5 enterprise days of the acquisition in the event you settle for a proposal for the next standing than you at present maintain. However, if you are going to buy a standing degree that’s the identical as or decrease than your present one, your account will acquire the standing April 1 (or inside 5 enterprise days of your buy in the event you full the acquisition after that date).
Lastly, observe that you just will not be eligible for Loyalty Level Rewards in the event you pay for a proposal. You may solely earn Loyalty Level Rewards in the event you meet the revealed Loyalty Level thresholds for them.
Associated: American Airways will not increase elite thresholds in 2025, however different adjustments are coming
Backside line
To this point, the American AAdvantage standing buy-up presents we have seen have not been compelling, and usually there are higher methods to earn extra Loyalty Factors and safe standing. Most vacationers will discover flights, AAdvantage bank cards and the AAdvantage eShopping portal are probably the most profitable methods to earn the Loyalty Factors they need. Nonetheless, it does not damage to test your presents right here.
Even in the event you discover your present provide compelling, we advocate ready till you are performed incomes Loyalty Factors for this qualification interval earlier than buying an AAdvantage buy-up standing provide as a result of these presents are nonrefundable.
