Travelers on American Airlines will now be able to earn loyalty points no matter where they book their ticket after the airline walked back prior plans to place a limit on its loyalty program.
The carrier will continue to allow travelers who book with a third party to earn AAdvantage Miles on their ticket. Under previous plans, travelers booking with certain sites (like corporate travel) would have lost the ability to earn miles on those tickets.
Under the now-abandoned plan, American would have designated “preferred” booking agencies with whom customers could continue to earn points. The change was previously set to go into effect in July.
However, Isom said the airline still wants to target direct bookings.
The decision to scrap this change comes months after American revamped its loyalty program, introducing “members-only” benefits like free same-day standby to earlier domestic flights and 12 months of validity for trip credits, compared to just six months for non-members.
American isn’t alone in walking back changes to its loyalty program following negative feedback. Last year, Delta Air Lines similarly made changes to its planned SkyMiles revamp after swift backlash to the initial announcement.
