Did you know that Hyatt and American Airlines have joined forces to offer members more ways to earn points? Once you link your World of Hyatt and American AAdvantage accounts, this is an easy way to earn extra points and miles without any extra effort.
Benefits of Linking Your Hyatt and American Airlines Accounts
If you have both a World of Hyatt account and an American Airlines account, it’s a great idea to link them so that you can earn some bonus points! Here’s the catch — only elite members are eligible to earn bonus points or miles.
When your accounts are linked you’ll enjoy the following benefits:
- 1 World of Hyatt bonus point for every eligible $1 spent on qualifying American Airlines flights if you’re a Hyatt elite member (Discoverist, Explorist, or Globalist)
- 1 AAdvantage bonus mile for every $1 spent on qualifying Hyatt stays and experiences if you’re an AAdvantage elite member (Gold, Platinum, Platinum Pro, or Executive Platinum, or ConciergeKey)
This is in addition to the normal World of Hyatt points you’d earn for a Hyatt stay or the AAdvantage miles you’d earn for a flight. These points and miles do not count toward elite status in either program.
Hot Tip: The names in your Hyatt and American Airlines accounts must match to get the reciprocal benefits. If your name doesn’t match, you can send a name change request along with a state-issued I.D. to [email protected].
If you happen to be an elite member in both programs (minimum of Hyatt Discoverist and AAdvantage Gold) you’ll be able to earn bonus Hyatt points for your American Airlines flights and bonus American Airlines miles for your Hyatt hotel stays.
Earn bonus AAdvantage miles and bonus World of Hyatt points through this partnership. Image Credit: HyattWhat Type of Flights Qualify for Bonus Points?
World of Hyatt elite members will earn 1 bonus point per $1 spent on eligible American Airlines flights (not including taxes, baggage fees, or inflight purchases). An eligible flight is one that’s marketed by American Airlines and operated by American Airlines or American Eagle.
The following flights do not qualify for bonus points:
- Flights marketed and operated by other American Airlines partners or codeshare partners
- Flights that don’t earn AAdvantage miles, including award flights (flights purchased with miles)
- Flights that earn miles based on the distance flown (including bulk fares or consolidator fares)
- Flights taken prior to linking your accounts
What Type of Hotel Stays Qualify for Bonus Points?
American Airlines elite members will earn 1 mile per $1 spent on qualifying Hyatt stays and experiences. This includes many types of incidental charges that are added to your Hyatt folio.
Elite Status Promotions
While none of the bonus points earned through this partnership count toward elite status in either the Hyatt or American Airlines loyalty programs, there are other opportunities to earn elite status faster.
AAdvantage Platinum, Platinum Pro, and Executive Platinum members may have opportunities to earn elite status with Hyatt through various offers throughout the year.
World of Hyatt Explorist and Globalist members may be able to earn American Airlines elite status through promotional offers, however, these offers won’t allow an AAdvantage member to requalify for the same level of status held at the time of registration in the offer.
If you’re already an American Airlines ConciergeKey member, you’re eligible for Hyatt Globalist status through this partnership.
Bottom Line: This partnership between Hyatt and American Airlines allows higher-level elites (Hyatt Explorist and Globalist, AAdvantage Platinum, Platinum Pro, and Executive Platinum) opportunities to earn elite status in the reciprocal program through occasional elite status offers. Plus, AAdvantage ConciergeKey members are automatically eligible for top-tier Hyatt Globalist status.
Get Elite Status With Hyatt or American
If you’re a fan of Hyatt or American Airlines, but don’t have elite status in either program, you may be disappointed to know you won’t be able to link your accounts to earn bonus points. But the good news is that you can get elite status quickly (with Hyatt at least)! Here’s what you need to know about earning elite status with both Hyatt and American Airlines.
Get American Airlines Elite Status
Earning elite status with American Airlines requires earning Loyalty Points from things like credit card spending, spending on American flights, and using the American shopping portal
Get World of Hyatt Elite Status
It’s easy to earn Hyatt elite status. That’s because Hyatt Discoverist status comes automatically with both The World of Hyatt Credit Card and The World of Hyatt Business Credit Card. That’s enough to allow you to link your American Airlines account to your Hyatt account to start earning bonus World of Hyatt points on eligible American flights.
If you’re after a higher level of Hyatt status, you’ll be able to earn elite night credits on both Hyatt credit cards. World of Hyatt cardholders will get 5 elite night credits automatically and will earn 2 elite night credits for every $5,000 in spend. World of Hyatt Business cardholders will earn 5 elite nights for every $10,000 in spend. You can even spend your way to top-tier Globalist status!
Bottom Line: Remember, you only need elite status with 1 of these programs in order to link your accounts. If you have Hyatt elite status, you’ll be able to earn bonus Hyatt points on eligible American Airlines flights. If you have American Airlines elite status, you’ll be able to earn bonus miles on Hyatt hotel stays and experiences. If you happen to have elite status in both programs, you’ll be able to earn bonus miles and bonus points on any eligible flights or hotel stays.
How To Link your Hyatt and American Airlines Accounts
You’ll link your Hyatt and American Airlines accounts through the program you have elite status with.
If you have Hyatt elite status (Discoverist or higher), you can link your accounts from your Hyatt account.
If you have American Airlines elite status (Gold or higher), you can link your accounts from your American account by logging in, selecting Partner accounts from the AAdvantage menu then selecting Link your account, or by using this direct link.
If you have elite status with both programs, you can link your accounts from either Hyatt or American Airlines.
If you want to unlink your accounts you can call either Hyatt at 800-323-7249 or American at 800-882-8880.
Final Thoughts
While this partnership isn’t mind-blowing, any extra opportunities to earn more points without any more work is a good thing. If you’ve got elite status with either Hyatt or American Airlines, it makes sense to link your accounts so you can earn some bonus points the next time you book a flight with American or stay in a Hyatt hotel.
Featured Image Credit:
American Airlines