American Airlines has had its Million Miler program ever since I joined AAdvantage 20+ years ago. Delta and United have allowed their members to earn even the top tier status by continuously crediting flights to their respective programs, while American has not, but this will now change.
In March 2025, American Airlines AAdvantage members can earn lifetime Platinum Pro and Executive Platinum in addition to the current Gold and Platinum.
You can access AA’s page for the program updates here.
AA’s Million Miler Program Update:
New lifetime status levels
Enjoy higher status with select Million Miler™ levels. To reward the loyalty of our most frequent fliers, we’re adding new lifetime status levels starting March 1, 2025:
Fly 4 million miles for lifetime* AAdvantage Platinum Pro® status
Fly 5 million miles for lifetime* AAdvantage Executive Platinum® status
If you already reached 4 or 5 million miles, you’ll have your new status on or around March 1, 2025.
*For the life of the AAdvantage Platinum Pro® or AAdvantage Executive Platinum® programs.
The current Million Miler status requirements are:
- Gold (Oneworld Ruby) = 1 million miles
- Platinum (Oneworld Sapphire) = 2 million miles
Both the Platinum Pro and Executive Platinum map to Oneworld Emerald status.
You can see your lifetime achievement on the AA’s website or app, along with your current award miles and Loyalty Points.
Most of my Million Miler miles were earned when ALL the miles credited to the program were Million Miles qualifying.
Yes. Miles earned or converted from ALL sources used to count. I would say that more than half of mine came from Marriott Travel Package conversions.
United Lifetime Requirements:
1 million Premier Gold
2 million Premier Platinum
3 million Premier 1K®
4 million United Global Services®
Delta Lifetime Requirements:
1 million Gold Medallion
2 million Platinum Medallion
3 million Diamond Medallion
5 million Delta 360
Conclusion
American Airlines must have quite a few “legacy” members, like me, with a Million Miler balance mainly from partner transactions credited to the program.
Delta and United offer their highest current standard status at the 3 million mark (Diamond & 1K), while American requires you to reach 5 million for Executive Platinum. That is out of touch with their competitors.
I stopped crediting flights to AAdvantage years ago when there was no possibility of earning lifetime Oneworld Emerald and switched to BA, which offers this (I am more than 70% done).
I see no point in doing anything different now that I am 1.2 million miles short of Platinum Pro. The difference between Platinum and Platinum Pro (2 million lifetime miles) is simply too significant.
If AA had offered Platinum Pro at 3M and Executive Platinum at 4M, altering my current flight crediting plans would have made sense.
