American Airlines Adds Features To Mileage Program
11 Mayo 2009 - 12:30AM
Noticias Dow Jones
In a bid to strengthen loyalty to its AAdvantage Plus mileage
program, American Airlines, a unit of AMR Corp. (AMR), is giving
customers more choices when they redeem their frequent-flyer
miles.
The new One Way Flex awards will allow customers to use miles
one way, requiring half as many miles to qualify. Also, customers
can combine different types of mileage awards on a single ticket,
said Rob Friedman, president of the mileage program.
The flex awards program was developed in response to customers'
requests, Friedman said.
The new features will appear shortly on the airline's Web
site.
AAdvantage remains the industry's largest frequent-flyer
program, Friedman said, even though Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) last
year overtook American as the world's largest airline by passenger
traffic.
Airline mileage programs have expanded over the years to include
other partners, such as hotels, car rental firms and retailers.
While airlines don't say how much income they get from
frequent-flyer miles, the programs are worth millions of
dollars.
At American, "last year, 4.8 million awards were redeemed,"
Friedman said. Of those, 3.1 million were used for airline tickets.
The American Airlines program has more than 60 million members, and
adds about five new members every day, Friedman said.
On the AA.com Web site, customers now will be able to cash in
their frequent-flyer miles in either Spanish or English.
-By Ann Keeton; Dow Jones Newswires
312-750-4120;ann.keeton@dowjones.com