American AAdvantage

Pros: Early boarding.
Cons: Nearly impossible to get an upgrade, Y-ups cheaper on other airlines

If you are a frequent traveler that cannot plan 6 months in advance you can forget about AAdvantage now. The upgrade policy has been changed to hand out upgrades (within status level) to the first request. Sounds fair except the upgrades go to the guy ...

Pros: Miles don't expire
Cons: 25k miles to get anything at all

I'm told the AAdvantage program is the most popular frequent flyer program out there. I've been a member myself for five years - but I have to wonder.

I've flown for business, flown for personal, and even had miles earned through having an...

Pros: One of the best mileage programs with lots of partners.
Cons: Cannot think of any cons at this point.

The airline itself (see my review of August 2001) I regard as rather impersonal and sometimes overrated, even though it has a vast route structure and most planes are new and/or well-maintained. However, AA is an "anchor member " (together with British...

Pros: Everything!!!
Cons: None!!!

I joined AAdvantage two years ago when traveled to San Francisco. I had never relatively no where at that time, and went to visit a friend. I had heard that there were lots of benefits to joining a frequent flyer club, I just had no idea at the time...

Pros: Easy too book free flights
Cons: Must be flexible

I have been a memeber of the Aadvantage program for over 10 years and i have collected over 500,000 miles. I have used all of those miles on free trips within the United States, Europe and South America. I have never had a problem booking a flight as...

Pros: none
Cons: bad all around airline, numerous restrictions

American Airlines is the worst one to deal with- their AAdvantage miles are not valid at the most frequent travel times, which does not make sense- i personally could not travel the Sunday after thanksgiving, and could not buy a ticket for December 23rd,...

Pros: Promotions, Great Customer Service, Fast Processing
Cons: Only Update Miles Once Every Quarter.

There is an amazing number of frequent flyer programs - and some with very complex alliances, let alone rules. I belong to nearly 20 frequent flyer programs, and so far, American Airlines has stood out as the best program to deal with.

They...

Pros: Web site Giving away rewards to charity
Cons: Difficulty getting seats to desirable locations at attractive travel times Hassle of making arrangements

I have earned over a 1.5 million flight miles on American in the last 15 years and regard myself as an AAdvantage veteran. Since last year, redeeming miles for trips has become a disagreeable hassle. I have found that it takes four or five attempts to ...

Pros: 1 free flight, elite status
Cons: 50 flights to get one free flight

Well I think this is a valuable service but the facts remain that 25000 miles gets a domestic flight and 30000 gets an international flight. I got into the program because it is a win-win situation. If you do not fly American you do not get the miles ...

Pros: Miles don't expire, ease of use, customer service
Cons: difficulty upgrading/using free tickets on some routes

I have been a member of AAdvantage for over 8 years. By using this program for business, I rarely pay for personal travel. While I belong to many frequent flyer programs, AAdvantage is the one that I prefer and use the most for these reasons:* Ease of...

Pros: Easy to accumulate miles
Cons: High interest rate if not paid off each month

My family has belonged to the American AAdvantage program for about 10 years & would recommend it to anyone who can pay off their Visa card debt each month. The 18% interest rate is high, so you don't want to carry-over high monthly debt...

Pros: Good choice for TWA fans
Cons: None yet, stay tuned.

I have only begun flying on vacations and stuff recently, but the first frequent flyer plan I had was TWA Aviators, so I am partial.

I was treated great by TWA and I will be sad when they merge with American, but it seems to be a match made in...

Pros: Most flights to Caribbean
Cons: Not free upgrade when seats empty in B.Class

It is my opinion that the hub your are flying from and too defines what frequent flyer program you should join. A frequent flyer program works the best if you collect a lot of miles. For the last 5 years I'm flying on all major (domestic) airlines. For...

Pros: You can earn miles through lots of activities.
Cons: Miles can expire, and you need at least 25,000 for a free flight.

Overall, I found it easier to get more miles for items other than just flights than some other rewards programs, such as Northwest Airlines Worldperks, Delta Sky Miles, and United Airlines Frequent Flyer Program.  By items, I mean stuff you can buy ...

Pros: Easy to earn miles.  No 1st/2nd checked bag fees.
Cons: Difficult to get upgrades/free tickets.  Poor service.

I have been flying out of St. Louis, MO for about 20 years.  Started on TWA (which was great), have continued with American.  The ease of getting upgrades has drastically gone down.  It used to be if it were available it would happen ...