If you haven’t reached your desired American Airlines AAdvantage elite status yet, the qualification deadline of Feb. 28 is rapidly approaching. Although you still have the rest of January and February to earn Loyalty Points toward your desired status, American Airlines AAdvantage is already sending out opportunities to use miles or cash to buy elite status valid through March 31, 2026.
Some TPGers have received emails from the AAdvantage program with links to check their offers. Even if you didn’t get an email, you could go to the AAdvantage status offer landing page and log in to see what offer(s) you have.
Now, let’s look at what you should know about these offers and some of the offers TPG staffers have seen in their accounts.
Related: Last-minute strategies for earning American AAdvantage elite status
AAdvantage buy-up status offers
Here are some offers we’ve seen at TPG. Keep in mind these are targeted to individual members, based on factors like the expiration of their AAdvantage status membership level on March 31, 2025 and/or their 2024 status qualification process, so yours may be different.
Senior editorial director Nick Ewen currently holds AAdvantage Platinum status, but so far this qualification year he’s only earned around 23,000 Loyalty Points — 17,000 points short of the 40,000-point threshold for Gold. He received two offers: one to bridge the gap to Gold ($719 or 72,000 AAdvantage miles), the other to buy his way back to Platinum for another year ($1,449 or 145,000 miles).
Aviation reporter Sean Cudahy, who holds AAdvantage Platinum status, has already reached the 75,000 Loyalty Points needed to requalify for his current tier and is 34,000 Loyalty Points away from leveling up to Platinum Pro. His offer would allow him to secure Platinum Pro status next year for $3,569 or 357,000 miles.
Some AAdvantage loyalists haven’t seen any offers. For example, senior editor Giselle Gomez and director of content operations Andrea Rotondo both hold Platinum status or higher and saw “No offers available” when they logged into their accounts. However, Giselle just reached the 40,000 Loyalty Points required to qualify for Gold status next year, while Andrea is only 200 Loyalty Points shy of qualifying for Executive Platinum.
Even if you don’t currently hold elite status with AAdvantage, it may be worth checking your offers. In the past, we’ve seen similar offers for AAdvantage basic members who have already earned some Loyalty Points toward Gold status through flying and/or spending on cobranded American Airlines cards.
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Unlike status match challenges, these buy-up offers don’t provide status for a shorter promotional period; instead they give you another way to qualify for status for the next year. Since the AAdvantage status year starts in March, any status you reach through these buy-ups will be valid through March 31, 2026.
Is an AAdvantage buy-up status offer worth it?
In most cases, it won’t make sense to accept your AAdvantage buy-up status offer even if you want the perks of the status.
For example, consider Nick’s offer for $719 or 72,000 miles to secure Gold. He needs only 17,000 more Loyalty Points to qualify organically for Gold status. Nick currently has Platinum status, meaning he earns 8 Loyalty Points per qualifying dollar spent on American, British Airways and Iberia. As such, he could book and fly on flights costing at least $2,125 for base fares and carrier-imposed fees before the end of February to earn the required Loyalty Points. In doing so, he’d not only earn Gold status but also go on one or more trips and earn at least 17,000 AAdvantage miles, worth about $280 based on TPG’s January 2025 valuations.
If he couldn’t travel more by the end of February, there are many other ways to earn Loyalty Points, like spending on cobranded cards and shopping through the AAdvantage eShopping portal and SimplyMiles program. He may be able to earn even more miles and Loyalty Points by double dipping.
So, we recommend considering the many other ways to earn Loyalty Points before paying money or miles for an AAdvantage status buy-up. And if you’re on the fence, you may as well wait until the end of February to see how many more Loyalty Points you’ve earned and see if and how your status buy-up offer has changed.
If you decide to purchase a buy-up offer, the next decision is whether to use miles or cash (or a combination). At these prices, you’ll get less than 1 cent per AAdvantage mile — well under TPG’s January 2025 valuation of 1.65 cents apiece — so we recommend the cash route. However, if you have a large stash of miles you don’t think you’ll spend, it could make sense to redeem AAdvantage miles.
If you purchase a status buy-up offer, your account will show the new status within five business days of the purchase if you accept an offer for a higher status than you currently hold. But, if you purchase a status level that is the same as or lower than your current one, your account will gain the status April 1 (or within five business days of your purchase if you complete the purchase after that date).
Finally, note that you won’t be eligible for Loyalty Point Rewards if you pay for an offer. You’ll only earn Loyalty Point Rewards if you meet the published Loyalty Point thresholds for them.
Related: American Airlines won’t raise elite thresholds in 2025, but other changes are coming
Bottom line
So far, the American AAdvantage status buy-up offers we’ve seen haven’t been compelling, and in most cases there are better ways to earn more Loyalty Points and secure status. Most travelers will find flights, AAdvantage credit cards and the AAdvantage eShopping portal are the most lucrative ways to earn the Loyalty Points they want. Still, it doesn’t hurt to check your offers here.
Even if you find your current offer compelling, we recommend waiting until you’re done earning Loyalty Points for this qualification period before purchasing an AAdvantage buy-up status offer because these offers are nonrefundable.
