American Airlines Loyalty Choice Awards 2022

One of the perks of American Airlines’ new Loyalty Points program is Loyalty Choice Awards such as upgrades on international flights. You earn your choice of American Airlines Loyalty Choice Awards when you earn American Airlines elite status. It’s easy to earn elite status with the new Loyalty Points Program.

Loyalty Choice Awards

There are five levels of Loyalty Choice Awards. Levels are achieved based on the amount of earned Loyalty Points.

Level 1

You reach Level 1 at 125,000 points, earn Platinum Pro elite status, and can choose one award from the following:

1 Systemwide Upgrade (SWU)20,000 American Airlines miles (If you have an AAdvantage credit card you’ll get an extra 5,000 miles)6 Admirals Club one-day passes$200 American Airlines trip creditCarbon emissions offset$200 donation to one of 10 partner charities15% award discount on a roundtrip for up to 2 passengers on any oneworld airlines (rebate posts after travel is completed)Ability to gift AAdvantage Gold status

Level 2

You reach Level 2 after earning 200,000 points and Executive Platinum status, you can choose two of the following Choice Awards:

2 Systemwide Upgrade (SWU) You can use both your choices to receive 4 SWUs.20,000 American Airlines miles (If you have an AAdvantage credit card you’ll get an extra 10,000 miles)6 Admirals Club one-day passesAdmirals Club membership (costs two choices)$200 American Airlines trip creditCarbon emissions offset$200 donation to one of 10 partner charities15% award discount on a roundtrip for up to 2 passengers on any oneworld airlines (rebate posts after travel is completed)Ability to gift AAdvantage Gold statusChoice of one Bang & Olufsen premium products (costs two choices)

Level 3

You reach Level 3 after earning 350,000 points and can choose 2 of the following Choice Awards:

1 Systemwide Upgrade (SWU)25,000 American Airlines miles6 Admirals Club one-day passesAdmirals Club membership (costs two choices)$200 American Airlines trip creditCarbon emissions offset$200 donation to one of 10 partner charitiesAbility to gift AAdvantage Gold status

When to Choose Your Loyalty Choice Award

You can choose your Loyalty Choice Award any time from the date you qualify through March 30, 2023.

Pro-tip: Choice awards are stackable. So if you earn 125,000 Loyalty Points and choose the systemwide upgrade and later in the year earn an additional 75,000 points for a total of 200,000 points you would qualify to select 2 additional Loyalty Choice awards.

So after earning 200,000 points you could select 2 more systemwide upgrades and this would give you a total of 3 systemwide upgrades.

And so forth. The more Loyalty Points you earn, the more opportunities to earn systemwide upgrades.

Loyalty Choice Awards Explained

Some of the Loyalty Choice Awards such as 20,000 miles and Admirals Club passes are self-explanatory but some require a bit of explanation.

Systemwide Upgrades (SWUs)

You can use a Systemwide Upgrade (SWU) for up to 3 segments one-way on any American Airlines marketed and operated flight worldwide.

SWUs are valid for one year. If you don’t have any immediate trips, to get the longest validity you may want to wait until March 30, 2023.

$200 Charitable Donation

One of the award choices is a $200 charitable donation to one of the 10 charities:

American Red CrossCongressional Medal of Honor FoundationCystic Fibrosis FoundationFeeding AmericaGary Sinise FoundationGeorge W. Bush InstituteMake-A-WishSt. Jude Children’s Research HospitalStand Up 2 CancerUNICEF

Pro-tip: You can earn miles donating to Stand Up 2 Cancer.

15% Rebate on Award Travel

One of the Loyalty Choice Awards is a 15% rebate on award travel. You get 15% back on a roundtrip award travel ticket for up to 2 passengers on any oneworld airlines. Your rebated miles will post after travel.

Pro-tip: Miles are deducted from the qualifying elite members American Airlines frequent flyer account. The elite member does not have to be on the award ticket.

Anyone the elite member picks can be on the award ticket. But the rebated miles will go back into the elite member’s account.

Conclusion

One of the perks of American Airlines elite status under the new Loyalty Points program is the ability to choose your Loyalty Choice Award. When you earn 125,000 Loyalty Points, you reach Level 1 and can choose one award.

As you earn more Loyalty Points, you can choose additional awards. These awards are also stackable. Meaning the more points you earn, the more awards.

Of the available options, the SWUs (System Wide Upgrades) are the most valuable.

What are you choosing when you earn an American Airlines Loyalty Choice Award?