Why I’m Disappointed by the Recent Changes to the Hyatt-American Airlines Partnership

At first, I was excited to learn about the “enhanced” relationship between Hyatt and American Airlines that will take effect in 2025. After all, they are my favorite hotel chain and airline, and I have status in each program (Hyatt Globalist and AA Platinum Pro).

Unfortunately, I quickly realized that these changes were disappointing, at best.

While some of these new features may be good for casual travelers, they punish the most loyal members of each program: those who hold elite status.

Let’s jump into the details of the Hyatt American Airlines partnership changes and why I’m not a fan of them.

Overview of Hyatt and AA Partnership Changes

I was excited when I learned that Hyatt and American Airlines were enhancing their relationship and offering unique new benefits.

Sounds great, right? Not so fast.

World of Hyatt and American Airlines AAdvantage have had a partnership since 2019. It allows elite members in each program to earn points and miles in the other program:

• Hyatt elite members (Discoverist, Explorist, or Globalist) earn 1 World of Hyatt bonus point for every eligible $1 spent on qualifying American Airlines flights,
•  AAdvantage elite members (Gold, Platinum, Platinum Pro, Executive Platinum, or ConciergeKey) earn 1 AAdvantage base mile (and 1 Loyalty Point) for every $1 spent on qualifying Hyatt stays and experiences.

Unfortunately, these reciprocal earning benefits will end on December 31, 2024. I have elite status in both these programs and have earned 5,018 Hyatt points and 1,593 American Airlines miles and Loyalty Points this year so far.

Since I like to redeem points and miles for many of my trips, these numbers are much lower than those in the accounts of many American and Hyatt elite members. In essence, they’ll be losing out on lots of extra points and miles beginning next year.

New Benefits for Hyatt Members

Beginning January 1, 2025, new Milestone Rewards options will be added to the World of Hyatt program. These new Milestone Rewards are in addition to the ones already offered.

• 20 and 30 nights: 2 preferred seat coupons for American Airlines
• 40 and 50 nights: 2 Main Cabin Extra seat coupons for American Airlines
• 70, 80, and 90 nights: AAdvantage Gold Elite status
• 100 or more nights: AAdvantage Platinum status

For anyone who already has American Airlines elite status, these new choices are completely worthless. While getting American Airlines Gold or Platinum through Hyatt stays is interesting, that doesn’t start until you reach at least 70 nights, so it’s out of reach for most travelers.

Additionally, Hyatt Explorist and Globalist members will be able to redeem Hyatt points to purchase American Airlines elite status for a day.

• AAdvantage Gold status for a day: 5,000 Hyatt points
• AAdvantage Platinum status for a day: 8,000 Hyatt points
• AAdvantage Platinum Pro status for a day: 12,000 Hyatt points

Again, these new options have no value for American Airlines elite members and, frankly, aren’t a great deal any way you look at it. According to our points and miles valuations, Hyatt points are worth about 1.5 cents each. That means you’d be using $75 worth of points to buy AA Gold status for a day, $120 to buy AA Platinum status for a day, or $180 to buy Platinum Pro status for a day.

I can’t think of many scenarios where that would make sense. I love my AA status, but unless you can guarantee an upgrade — which you can’t — or have multiple people on a reservation who need to check bags (the free bag perk extends to 8 passengers on the same reservation), it’s just not worth paying $75 to $180 for a single day.

New Benefits for AA Members

Beginning on January 2, 2025, American Airlines elite members can choose to purchase Hyatt free night certificates using American miles.

• AA Gold members (40,000 Loyalty Points): Redeem 25,000 American miles for a Hyatt Category 1-4 free night certificate (up to 4 times per membership year).
• AA Platinum Pro members (125,000 Loyalty Points): Redeem 65,000 American miles for a Hyatt Category 1-7 free night certificate (up to 4 times per membership year).

We value American Airlines miles at 1.4 cents each which means a Category 1-4 free night certificate would cost about $350 worth of miles, and a Category 1-7 certificate would cost $910 worth of miles.

Sure, there are circumstances where that may be a good deal, but many times it won’t be. Consider that you can purchase a business class flight from the U.S. to Europe for around 57,500 AAdvantage miles, which can be much more valuable than 1 night in a nice hotel.

Here’s another way to look at it: You could buy a Hyatt Category 1-7 free night certificate with 65,000 AA miles or you could fly from New York to the Maldives in Qatar Qsuites for just 5,000 more miles. I know which one I would choose.

More Additions Coming in March 2025

Starting in March 2025, new AA Loyalty Point rewards will also be added.

• 100,000 Loyalty Points: World of Hyatt Discoverist status
• 175,000/250,000 Loyalty Points: Choice of World of Hyatt Explorist status
• 400,000/550,000/750,000 Loyalty Points: Choice of Hyatt Category 1-4 free night certificate
• 1 million/3 million/5 million Loyalty Points: Choice of Hyatt Category 1-7 free night certificate

These additions aren’t too exciting, but at least they aren’t negative. In theory, it’s great to be able to get Hyatt status by earning American Airlines Loyalty Points, but Discoverist and Explorist statuses aren’t that valuable, so it’s an underwhelming addition.

Having the choice of Hyatt free night certificates is fantastic, but since that choice doesn’t start until you earn 400,000 Loyalty Points, most people, even the most frequent of travelers, won’t be able to take advantage of this new option.

Final Thoughts

I was initially thrilled to hear that Hyatt and American Airlines were enhancing their relationship since these are 2 of my favorite programs. After reading the details, I discovered that these new perks offer almost no benefit to elite members. Additionally, the valuable dual accrual benefit will be ending, which is a big negative for each program’s most loyal members.