AAdvantage Business Program Guide

American Airlines took flight in 1926 when the legendary Charles Lindbergh piloted a Robertson Aircraft Corporation mail plane from St. Louis to Chicago. From those auspicious beginnings, American Airlines began to take shape. An amalgamation of several airlines, by 1939, AA was trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

In 1940, AA was the first to open an airline lounge, an innovation that we modern travelers continue to appreciate. In another first, AA introduced the AAdvantage loyalty program in 1981. 1999 saw the formation of the Oneworld airline alliance with AA as a founding member.

Today, AA flies to more than 350 destinations in over 60 countries with its major hubs in Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Washington, D.C.

Eligibility

In order to qualify for the AAdvantage Business Program, companies must meet the following criteria:

• Have at least five active employees who are enrolled in the AAdvantage program members as business travelers
• Maintain its primary physical business address in the United States or Canada
• Have a Federal Employer Identification Number or Canadian Business Number
• Spend $5,000 or more on American Airlines flights over a period of 12 months in order to use miles earned.

These requirements are waived if there is an authorized representative of the company who is a CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard®* cardholder.

To participate in the program, businesses can sign up at AA’s dedicated page.

Once registered, companies are required to appoint a Business Travel Manager to manage the company’s AA account, enroll employees in the company’s AAdvantage Business program, book travel for employees and review account spending and activity.

Business Earning

Businesses can earn 1 AAdvantage mile per dollar of eligible purchases booked through official American Airlines channels, such as aa.com, the AA mobile app and American Airlines Reservations. Eligible purchases include business travel on American Airlines and American Airlines-ticketed flights on partners, net of taxes and fees for registered business travelers.

Both the company’s AAdvantage Business account number and the employee traveler’s personal AAdvantage number must be included on the reservation for miles to post correctly.

By obtaining the CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard®* and using it to book employee flights, the business can earn an additional 2 AAdvantage miles per dollar for a total of 3 miles per dollar on eligible AA purchases. The primary card member will also earn 1 Loyalty Point per dollar for the purchases on the card.

Employee Earning

The AAdvantage Business Program is beneficial for employees, giving them two ways to earn, both as individual travelers and as business travelers.

Employees accrue redeemable AAdvantage miles and Loyalty Points as usual. But in addition, they earn bonus Loyalty Points when traveling on company business as long as they are enrolled in the company’s AAdvantage Business Program. The extra Loyalty Points helps employees attain AA elite status faster while earning Loyalty Rewards along the way.

Read more: How to Earn American Airlines Elite Status

An employee with no AA elite status would earn 5 AAdvantage miles and 5 Loyalty Points per dollar on eligible flights as normal (i.e. without a business affiliation). With elite status, the employee would earn more than 5 AAdvantage miles per dollar, depending on the elite status level.

As an employee traveler, additional Loyalty Points are earned at the rate of 1 point per dollar as long as the flight is booked through official AA channels such as the mobile app or website.

If the flight is purchased with a CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard®*, then the employee earns one more Loyalty Point per dollar.

In summary, an employee traveler can earn (depending on status), a minimum of 5 AAdvantage miles per dollar plus up to 7 Loyalty Points per dollar by participating in the AAdvantage Business program.

In order to trigger the additional earnings in the AAdvantage Business Program, the employee must choose “Business travel” in the Travel type dropdown box when booking.

From this point, continue booking as usual. Be aware that once a trip is designated as “business,” it cannot be changed. So if the incorrect designation is made, the reservation must be canceled and rebooked with the correct travel type. Similarly, business account numbers cannot be added after the fact—so be sure to link the employee account to the company’s AAdvantage Business account prior to making a booking.

Note that an individual can only be enrolled as a business traveler in one AAdvantage Business Program.

Credit Cards

By holding the CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard®*, the conditions for eligibility and point redemption can be waived. Having the card also increases the number of points that can be earned by the business so getting the card is a no brainer for a company that plans to implement the AAdvantage Business Program

The CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard®* offers a welcome bonus of 75,000 bonus miles after spending $5,000 in purchases within the first 5 months of account opening. The card earns 2 miles for every dollar spent on cable and satellite providers, select telecommunications merchants, eligible American Airlines purchases, car rentals, and gas stations and 1 mile for every dollar spent on other purchases. Also earn 1 loyalty point for every one eligible mile earned from purchases. Benefits include free first checked bag, priority boarding and no foreign transaction fee. The annual fee is $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $99 of card ownership. Additional employee cards are free.

Businesses can only earn and store AAdvantage miles—they cannot redeem them directly.

In order to use miles, the business must transfer them to an individual employee who is enrolled in its AAdvantage Business Program. However, businesses are only eligible to transfer their miles once the company has spent $5,000 or more on eligible AA flights and each of five unique business travelers have flown at least once on an eligible flight in the prior 12 months. These conditions are waived if the company holds a CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard®*.

By transferring their miles to an employee, companies can use the earned AAdvantage miles to defray their business travel expenses by having an employee use them for flights, rental cars or hotels.

Alternatively, the company can reward employees by transferring miles for their personal use. Transferring miles to an individual employee traveler can be done online by accessing the company’s Business AA account through the travel management portal. Once the employee has the miles in their own account, redemption is through the regular AAdvantage program website.

Note that once miles are transferred to an employee, they cannot be transferred back to the company.

Read more: How to Redeem American Airlines Miles

Expiration

Miles expire after 24 months of inactivity. Qualification is reassessed on a rolling 12-month basis. The business must spend at least $5,000 on flown revenue and maintain at least five registered, active business travelers. If the company has a CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard®*, the qualification criteria is waived and miles will not expire.

Should a company’s miles expire, it doesn’t affect the individual employee’s additional Loyalty Points or any miles that the business has transferred to them. However, the transferred miles are subject to the regular expiration policy of the AAdvantage program as it pertains to individuals.

American Airlines’ refreshed AAdvantage Business Program benefits both the business and employee travelers. The program is relatively straightforward to use and understand. Holding the CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard®* eliminates the restrictions that complicate the program so it makes sense to get the card if the company is planning to implement it.