American Airlines Replaces Business Extra With New AAdvantage Business Program

Updated: October 17, 2023, 10:33am CDT

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American Airlines Replaces Business Extra With New AAdvantage Business Program

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American Airlines has long had a business frequent flyer program for companies called Business Extra. With the program, companies could also earn on the travel for their employees, and it was an opportunity for businesses to be rewarded for ensuring their employees would fly American.

Now, American has replaced this program with the AAdvantage Business program, a much more simplified system. Here are all of the details.

American Airline’s Old Business Extra Program

The new AAdvantage Business program has replaced Business Extra. Previously, under Business Extra, companies could accrue points, while travelers would continue to earn regular frequent flyer miles. Those points the company would accrue could be used for club memberships, upgrades, free tickets, and other common perks.

The program was pretty straightforward, but redemptions required the interpretation of benefit charts, which made it a little cumbersome. Additionally, earning was not 1 for 1, which complicated the program even further.

Traveler on Computer — AAdvantage Business replaces the Business Extra program. Image Credit: American Airlines

Details of the new AAdvantage Business Program

With AAdvntage Business, travelers still earn 1 Loyalty Point per dollar spent for their ticket toward elite status, but the company now accrues 1 AAdvantage mile per dollar spent as well. These miles are the same miles travelers accrue, and they can be used on complimentary tickets, upgrades, and more.

In addition, there’s no need to reference a separate perks chart for Business Extra and AAdvantage. Miles are miles, and they can be used on anything miles can be used for.

If you have a CitiBusiness^® / AAdvantage^® Platinum Select^® Mastercard^®, companies will earn double the AAdvantage miles and Loyalty Points for every dollar spent.

This is a much more simplified program from the Business Extra scheme and will make it easier for both companies and employees to understand.

Hot Tip:

The AAdvantage Business program requires 5 employees to be on the account, and American verifies these people as actual employees of your business. Individual travelers cannot use the AAdvantage Business program.

Final Thoughts

American has removed the complexity behind its Business Extra concept and moved to a much easier-to-understand AAdvantage Business program. Businesses will earn 1 AAdvantage mile for every dollar spent at the business, and travelers will continue to earn miles and elite status as they do today.

The information regarding the CitiBusiness^® / AAdvantage^® Platinum Select^® Mastercard^® was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.

Featured Image Credit: Katie Seemann

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About James Larounis

James (Jamie) started The Forward Cabin blog to educate readers about points, miles, and loyalty programs. He’s spoken at Princeton University and The New York Times Travel Show and has been quoted in dozens of travel publications.

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