Check your American Airlines accounts: 2021 rollover elite miles, dollars and segments now posting
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If you’re an American Airlines frequent flyer, you may now have more elite miles, dollars and segments in your account.
In addition to reducing elite status requirements for the 2021 calendar year, American also announced it was rolling overall qualifying flight activity flown between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, 2020.
That means AA flyers received three extra months to earn status. And here’s the good news: Those flights have started to post into AAdvantage accounts today.
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Sure enough, when I check my AAdvantage account for the 2021 status year, it reflects two flights that I took in November 2020.
While $314 elite-qualifying dollars (EQDs), 3,679 elite-qualifying miles (EQMs) and 1.5 elite-qualifying segments (EQSs) isn’t much, it’s good to see something occupying these otherwise-empty bars.
Related: All of the elite qualification changes you need to know about for 2021
Unlike Delta, American doesn’t typically roll over any elite-qualifying criteria from one year to the next. In fact, Delta is rolling over all Medallion Qualifying Miles (MQMs) from 2020 (but notably, no Medallion Qualifying Dollars).
American’s pandemic-era rollover decision was made to give AAdvantage members 15 months to earn status at the reduced levels announced late last year.
Here’s a look at the reduced elite qualifying criteria for 2021, approximately 30% less than what was required compared to 2019 before the pandemic:
| Metric | Gold | Platinum | Platinum Pro | Executive Platinum |
| Elite Qualifying Miles (EQM) | 20,000 | 40,000 | 60,000 | 80,000 |
| Elite Qualifying Segments (EQS) | 20 | 45 | 70 | 95 |
| Elite Qualifying Dollars (EQD) | $2,000 | $4,500 | $7,000 | $12,000 |
Instead of hitting the EQD requirement up to the Platinum Pro status level, American also rolled out a new option. By spending $30,000 in the calendar year on a cobranded AAdvantage credit card — such as the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® — you can bypass the required EQDs.
Select AAdvantage cards also give you EQMs, so this is potentially a lucrative double-dip opportunity in 2021.
In December, we also found out the details on American’s revamped elite perks, including new options for rewards. If you hit the 2021 thresholds outlined above, you’ll be able to enjoy these new benefits. And the good news is that your headstart from the last three months of 2020 is now posting in AAdvantage accounts.
Featured photo by Chris Dong / The Points Guy.
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