Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links below. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
American Airlines just introduced AAdvantage Pass™, a new offering that provides loyalty perks in exchange for a substantial $5,000 fee. While there is nothing inherently wrong with the airline creating an optional paid pathway to elite benefits, the overall value proposition is questionable and giving this as a gift is laughable.
For $5,000, AAdvantage members will receive:
- Instant entry-level AAdvantage Gold® status
- 100,000 AAdvantage® bonus miles
- 15,000 bonus Loyalty Points
American says that the pass can be bought for personal use or gifted to another traveler.
At a generous valuation of roughly 1.5 cents per mile, the 100,000 bonus miles amount to around $1,500 in value. That leaves approximately $3,500 of the purchase price attributable to the Gold status and the 15,000 bonus Loyalty Points. Spending $3,500 for entry-level elite status and a modest boost in Loyalty Points is a steep proposition. The benefits of Gold status include some perks like priority access, free seat selection, and free checked bags, but an American flyer would be better spending this money on flights and paying the ancillary fees for these perks on a per-flight basis or picking up a co-branded credit card that offers most of them for carrying the card.
Anthony’s Take: I’m not sure who is going to waste their money on this one and I’ll bet that American sells very few of these AAdvantage Passes™. Now, if they bring back their original AAirpass with unlimited flights for life, they’ll have some takers.
(Image Credits: American Airlines.)
User Generated Content Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat encourages constructive discussions, comments, and questions. Responses are not provided by or commissioned by any bank advertisers. These responses have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the responsibility of the bank advertiser to respond to comments.
Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
