Even though many AAdvantage members fly almost exclusively on American Airlines, many others prefer to fly on partner airlines. This can be particularly lucative for international flights in Premium Economy, Business Class or even First Class. You can often earn more miles by flying on a partner airline, due to distance-based accrual rather than money-based mileage accrual.

For those of us who like to combine travel-hacked sweetspots with wanting everything to run smoothly, AAdvantage is facing a pretty serious problem…  Since the British Airways IT update (and website downtime) in November, British Airways and Iberia flights are rarely, if ever, crediting to AAdvantage.

Personal Experience

In November, I wrote about a travel hacking dilemma I was facing. If I chose AAdvantage for a return trip from Europe to South America, I would earn Platinum Pro status until March 31, 2023.

In the end, I decided to go for it.  However, I didn’t expect that my flights would not credit… EVER!

My outbound flight from early December… still waiting.

My return flight before Christmas… still waiting.

American did manage to incorrectly send out emails to my wife and I, stating…

Despite chasing my miles with AAdvantage and providing all of the relevant boarding passes and e-ticket information, the best AAdvantage can do is reply to emails with a completely useless…

Thank you for sending your e ticket/boarding pass as proof you were on

all the flights with our partners Iberia and  British Airways. I have

sent your document to our partner desk. They will go back to Iberia and

British Airways with proof you were on the flights and request

permission to post the miles to your account. This could take up to 30

days to hear back from Iberia and  British Airways. When they post they

will post with the days you flew and count towards this year’s

qualification.

Bottom Line

On Flyertalk, other members are also complaining about partner flights not crediting properly to AAdvantage. And to be fair to American, the problem is clearly on the British Airways / Iberia side.

Nonetheless, if American wants its membership of the Oneworld alliance to mean something, it needs to find a solution fast…