Elite status can be a holy grail of sorts to travelers who yearn for a little more comfort and luxury aboard airplanes and while staying at hotel and resort properties — it can even help with rental cars and cruises — so when American Airlines introduced a new benefit called Enhance with Miles recently, some people were hopeful that elite status was closer within their reach…
Elite Status For a Day With American Airlines. Great? Not Exactly…
…but the initiative is not as attractive as one might believe. First, you can redeem American Airlines AAdvantage miles to customize your experience when reaching certain Loyalty Point levels to “unlock” opportunities:
- 40,000 Loyalty Point Level
- Gift of AAdvantage Gold elite status for a day
- AAdvantage Executive Platinum elite status for a day
- 75,000 Loyalty Point Level
- Gift of AAdvantage Platinum elite status for a day
- AAdvantage Executive Platinum elite status for a day
- 125,000 Loyalty Point Level
- Gift of AAdvantage Platinum Pro elite status for a day
- 200,000 Loyalty Point Level
- Gift of AAdvantage Executive Platinum elite status for a day
One issue is that the actual pricing for redemptions with Enhance with Miles will vary, as rates are not set with a chart. For example, the gifting of AAdvantage Gold elite status for the day to someone you designate could cost you 15,000 AAdvantage miles.
Here are the terms and conditions for this benefit.
Status For A Day Terms and Conditions
- Status for a day must be purchased at least seven days before the desired usage date
- Members who do not already have access to complimentary Preferred or Main Cabin Extra seats when they purchase will receive four Main Cabin Extra seat coupons in their AAdvantage account
- Seat coupons will expire two days after the selected date and must be applied to future travel before expiration. Travel date must be before the coupon expiration date.
- Status for a day is limited to two purchases per member, per unlocked Loyalty Point level available until the expiration date shown in your AAdvantage membership account
Gift Of Status For A Day Terms and Conditions
- Recipients of gift of status must be an AAdvantage member
- Status for a day can only be gifted to an AAdvantage member without status or holding a status tier lower than the gifted tier
- If your gift of status recipient earns the gifted tier or higher on their own before their use of the gift of status for a day, contact AAdvantage customer service
- The date selected by the recipient to use the award must be at least seven days in advance of the desired usage date
- Recipients of status for a day must choose a day to use their award within 372 days from receipt
- Recipients who do not already have access to complimentary Preferred or Main Cabin Extra seats when the day is chosen will receive either four Preferred Seat coupons or four Main Cabin Extra seat coupons in their AAdvantage account, as determined by their current tier
- In cases where seat coupons are deposited, they will expire two days after the selected date and must be applied to future travel before expiration. Travel date must be before the coupon expiration date.
- Gift of status for a day is limited to two purchases per member, per unlocked Loyalty Point level available until the expiration date shown in your AAdvantage membership account
General Terms and Conditions For Both Status For A Day and Gift Of Status For a Day
- Once purchased, status for a day cannot be changed, exchanged, modified, or transferred
- Status for a day is nonrefundable
- If your selected day is impacted by an involuntary flight cancellation, please contact AAdvantage customer service
- Status benefits and seat coupons cannot be applied retroactively to ancillaries which have already been purchased
- Complimentary upgrades and access to Preferred and Main Cabin Extra seats for status for a day recipient and companion(s) are subject to availability and may not be available on all flights
- Members who have AAdvantage status through status for a day are not eligible for discounts on Admirals Club memberships other than what your earned tier status may provide
- Status for a day is only available on American Airlines marketed and operated flights
- Applies to all ticket types including purchased, award and employee travel
- AAdvantage program terms and conditions apply
Final Boarding Call
This article contains additional information pertaining to the Loyalty Points component of the American Airlines AAdvantage membership program.
Some frequent fliers do not like the idea of “ordinary people” being gifted elite status for a day because they believe that they will lose out on their benefits to them. Other people are not thrilled about all of the requirements, terms, and conditions which need to be met in order to enjoy this benefit.
For years, frequent fliers have said that if everyone is an elite member, no one is an elite member. That is true. However, I believe that everyone should have a chance to enjoy elite status at some point in their lives — even if only for a day — just to be able to have experienced it.
With few exceptions, I do not see much value in the Enhance with Miles benefit in general — at least, not worth going out of your way to achieve…
All photographs ©2019 by Brian Cohen.
