A new pass to access American Airlines’ loyalty program will set you back $5,000
AA is doubling down on perks and partnerships, as the nonflying parts of the operation have become a billion-dollar business.
If you’ve ever sat around at the departure gate waiting to get onto an American Airlines flight, eyeing priority boarding members with envy, we’ve got some news: you can now gain access to the carrier’s AAdvantage loyalty program at entry level… for a cool $5,000.
According to Travel Weekly, cash-flush fliers can skip the usual process required to obtain AAdvantage Gold status — notching 40,000 or more loyalty points by clocking air miles, using AA co-branded credit cards, or spending via their various partnership schemes — by paying the fee up front to enjoy perks such as “priority check-in and boarding, a free checked bag, complimentary preferred seat selections, upgrades when available within 24 hours of departure, and 40% accrual bonuses for miles and loyalty points.”
Loyalty bonus
Even before this new pay-to-play scheme, the airline’s loyalty program and its other activities that aren’t directly flying people or things around the world have become a billion-dollar part of its operations each quarter.
Last year, American Airlines’ “Other” revenue accounted for some 7% of the company’s overall annual sales, or about $3.83 billion. For the first three quarters of 2025, the division, which is predominantly made up of marketing revenue from its loyalty program — or the money that American makes from selling mileage credits to co-branded credit card merchants and other AAdvantage partners — has consistently pulled in revenues that hover around or above the $1 billion mark.
Of course, that’s just the direct, measurable impact of the program. What’s not captured is the intangible value, that which makes someone choose American over another airline just because they have some status or points with the carrier already.
