American Airlines' AAdvantage Business incentive program for small and midsize companies has begun awarding miles and loyalty points for bookings made via travel agencies.
The change, implemented July 16, reverses American's policy that only rewarded AAdvantage Business participants for direct bookings. That policy had been in place since last October, when American rebranded its Business Extra program to AAdvantage Business.
The program is available to companies that have a minimum of five active travelers and have spent at least $5,000 on American Airlines flights over the past 12 months as well as to all businesses that use the Citi AAdvantage Business World Elite Mastercard.
The move is the latest by American to unwind steps taken between April 2023 and May 2024, when the airline focused on increasing direct bookings and coercing travel agencies to book via NDC modern merchandising technology.
American jettisoned that strategy in late May because its corporate travel share declined. The airline has since returned most of the fare content that it had pulled from legacy booking systems, abandoned a plan to eliminate the accrual of loyalty points on tickets purchased through travel agencies that hadn't met NDC targets, and instituted a summer-long 10% commission program for sales of bundles and seat assignments via NDC.
Under AAdvantage Business, registered companies earn one reward mile for every dollar they spend on flights, plus an additional two reward miles per dollar for flight purchases through the AAdvantage Business Mastercard.
Companies can redeem points for flights, hotels, car rentals and Admiral Club passes, or they can transfer points to employees as a perk.
In addition, employees can earn points toward loyalty status on top of the the reward miles and loyalty points they earn as an individual AAdvantage member.
Along with instituting point accrual for agency bookings, American said it opened a customer service phone number for the AAdvantage Business program. The phone line is open on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Central time.
The airline said more enhancements are coming.
Later this summer companies will be able to redeem and manage miles directly from their account on the American website and they'll be able to store company credit cards in their business account for easier checkout.
Before the end of the year, companies will be able to set and customize their travel policies on AA.com as well as manage and redeem shared trip credits within that account.
In addition, by year's end American will enable name change waivers for all registered travelers in an AAdvantage Business account, providing companies with the flexibility to transfer tickets between employees.