By PYMNTS | October 22, 2026
American Airlines’ loyalty program, AAdvantage, differentiates the company from its rivals and provides a competitive advantage, executives said Thursday (Oct. 22) during a third-quarter earnings call.
“We said we’d lead in loyalty, and we are,” American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said during the call. “AAdvantage enrollments and spending on our co-branded credit cards are up year over year, and the AAdvantage program remains one of our strongest competitive advantages.”
During the third quarter, the number of enrollments in the AAdvantage program increased 27.4% year over year, according to a Thursday press release.
American said in the release that its loyalty program drives customer engagement, premium demand and long-term value creation.
American Airlines Chief Commercial Officer Nat Pieper said during the call: “The AAdvantage program is a differentiator for American, and we plan to keep it that way.”
American announced Oct. 2 that it had begun rolling out a feature that lets eligible members of the AAdvantage loyalty program combine cash and miles when booking flights on its website and digital app, PYMNTS reported.
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The company said that as the feature goes live over a period of weeks, AAdvantage members will see during checkout a slider that allows them to choose a combination of cash and miles and then see the cost summary update to reflect that combination.
Pieper highlighted this feature during Thursday’s call and said, “the early results are encouraging.”
American said in its Thursday press release that its co-branded credit card partnership with Citi saw card spend grow nearly 10% year over year
Pieper said during the call that American sees “opportunity for even better performance in our expanded partnership with Citi going forward.”
American highlighted these offerings in a financial results presentation released Thursday, saying that its loyalty program leads the industry, continues to evolve and offers exclusive benefits; the new cash-and-miles functionality provides customers additional flexibility when booking travel; and the growth in card spend demonstrates sustained engagement across the portfolio.
Rewards, loyalty programs and credit cards are becoming increasingly intertwined with the decision about where to travel and how to pay for it, PYMNTS reported in July.
Pieper said during Thursday’s call that loyalty is one of American’s four priorities, alongside network, customer experience and premium revenue.
“I think not only have we made considerable strides on each of those, we’ve got initiatives in the pipeline that are going to continue to deliver revenue performance, continue to help us close the gap versus our peers and drive margin expansion,” Pieper said.