In February, American Airlines announced that tickets booked through many third parties would no longer earn miles starting May 1 – but they wouldn’t announce the list of sites whose bookings would become ineligible to earn miles until late April.

• They didn’t know which sites would become ineligible!
  
• This was all about getting agencies to move to ‘new distribution technology’ that lowers American’s costs, while having agencies sell ancillaries like bags and seats assignments – not just the tickets

Much drama ensued, and American has put off the date where certain tickets will no longer earn miles to July 11, 2024. On that date you’ll only earn miles for tickets if you:

• book directly with American and eligible partner airlines
  
• book non-basic economy fares through preferred travel agencies

This policy won’t apply to AAdvantage Business members and corporate contract travelers, and non-preferred agencies can add your AAdvantage Business number to a booking (though you won’t earn in the AAdvantage Business program for the travel.

This is all about getting agencies to adopt American’s preferred technology, which many complain is clunky and not fully functional. The airline has also cut staff who support agency bookings as well.

American is big enough that many agencies are doing their best to figure out the best way to comply. In some cases that means technology adoption (and shifting booking volumes onto the platform). In other cases it means working with a compliant host agency.

There’s enough confusion, this is taking longer than the original unrealistic timeline, so it’s no surprise here to see American push back the deadline.