American Airlines Loyalty Points

An airline coming at us with horrible I.T.? Not possible! As shocking as this may be to hear, there was a blunder with the American Airlines Loyalty Points year end tabulation a few months back. No, this isn't about the fact that sloths are in the back room figuring out the year end loyalty points for weeks every April 1st. A process so slow that it makes me think they use the paper and pencil routing matrix method that Southwest is so famous for. In case you were wondering, yes I am still annoyed that the lack of brevity involved in this process caused me status match issues. But, no, this blunder occurred AFTER they took all of that time to tally it all up – and still got it wrong! The good news is that American Airlines' ineptitude ended up working out in our favor.

What Happened

It appears that American Airlines x'd when they should have o'd, or was it they o'd when they should have x'd? Ah, hell, it doesn't really matter – what matters is they left a whole bunch of i's undotted and a whole bunch of t's uncrossed. Yes, in the time of AI and super computers, American Airlines can't seem to figure out a way to make their Loyalty Points counting quick OR accurate. Here is an email they sent out about the issue:

Hello, Mark

We wanted to let you know about a small update to your Loyalty Points.

You recently received your Loyalty Point deposits for February and March based on your AAdvantage® credit card spending. However, too few Loyalty Points were posted in February, and too many were posted in March.

The good news: We updated your February posting to reflect what you earned. Plus, you get to keep the extra Loyalty Points from March as a gift from American. We’re happy to give you these Loyalty Points as a head start toward AAdvantage® status and Loyalty Point Rewards.

If these Loyalty Points helped you reach status or rewards, you'll see those changes reflected in your account.

What is the difference in my balance? Who knows! I am not even sure if they do, but I'll take these perceived extra points towards status in 2025 I guess.

American Airlines Loyalty Points: ToP Thoughts

I will give American Airlines credit on owning up to their Loyalty Points error. Especially the fact that they let it work in our favor. Although, I am not so sure their system could figure out how to pull out the misappropriated points anyway. I kid, I kid – sort of. I would love to see them invest in some upgrades in tech so that this process is done quickly, efficiently and correctly in the future. All loyalty programs have year end processes, many that are not based on the calendar year too, and they don't seem to have problems figuring out what goes where each year. Making your loyal customers wait weeks to see where they stand, only to get it wrong, is not a good look.

Let me know your thoughts on this American Airlines Loyalty Points blunder over in the ToP Facebook Group.