American Airlines and Hyatt Hotels are redesigning their loyalty program partnership.
Beginning Jan. 1, individuals who hold AAdvantage status will no longer be able to earn AAdvantage points for Hyatt stays and those with World of Hyatt status will no longer be able to earn World of Hyatt bonus points for American flights.
The companies instead will replace that benefit with a series of layered perks that individuals who have linked their AAdvantage and World of Hyatt accounts will become eligible for as they accrue points and status.
Perks can include free stays at Hyatt hotels, free extra-legroom seats on American and AAdvantage or World of Hyatt status, among other options.
For example, beginning March 1, AAdvantage members who earn 100,000 loyalty points will automatically receive World of Hyatt’s entry-level status, called Discoverist. And AAdvantage members will also have the choice of selecting World of Hyatt’s second status tier, Explorist, when they reach the AAdvantage program’s Loyalty Points Reward threshold of 175,000 points, and again at the 250,000 point threshold.
Starting at 400,000 loyalty points, AAdvantage members can select free Hyatt room stays.
Conversely, beginning Jan. 1, World of Hyatt Members will have the choice of receiving the AAdvantage entry level Gold status at the 70, 80 and 90 night reward thresholds, and will have the choice of selecting the AAdvantage second-level Platinum status starting at 100 nights.
World of Hyatt members will also be able to select preferred seat coupons on American with as few as 20 lodging nights.
Also beginning Jan. 1, members with Explorist and Globalist status will be able to redeem World of Hyatt points to receive AAdvantage status for a day. For example, 12,000 World of Hyatt points will buy those members AAdvantage Platinum Pro status for one flight day.
Despite doing away with the ability for individuals to simultaneously earn AAdvantage and World of Hyatt points, executives at the companies are characterizing next year’s changes as an enhancement of their partnership.
“We feel that these changes in our program really make us share status and benefits that enhance experience across travel,” said Alyssa Heath, the managing director of the AAdvantage program.