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Under the guise of offering members “new choices, valuable redemptions and status opportunities” Hyatt and American Airlines have announced a series of serious changes to their partnership which will, in effect, make that partnership considerably less useful for most people. This is a big devaluation that’s on the way.
The changes (in brief)
- On 31 December 2024, the ability for linked status members to earn AAdvantage miles and World of Hyatt Bonus Points at the same time will end.
- From 1 January 2025:
- World of Hyatt members will be able to select an American Airlines benefit as their choice of Milestone Reward at 20, 30, 40, 50, 70, 80, 90, and 100 nights.
- World of Hyatt Explorist and Globalist elites will be able to redeem World of Hyatt points for AAdvantage Status for a Day.
- From 2 January 2025, American Airlines AAdvantage members will be able to redeem miles for World of Hyatt Free Night Awards when they earn 40,000 and 125,000 Loyalty Points.
- From 1 March 2025, AAdvantage members will be able to select a World of Hyatt benefit as their choice of Loyalty Points Reward when they earn between 100,000, and 5,000,000 Loyalty Points.
Without any further information than what you see above, you may start to think that, overall, these changes could be quite interesting. As usual, however, you need to dig into the details before you get a true idea of what the partnership will offer from next year.
Benefits for World of Hyatt members
In 2025 and in exchange for no longer being able to earn AAdvantage Miles alongside World of Hyatt points on Hyatt bookings, World of Hyatt members will be given the opportunity to choose an American Airlines benefit as one of their Milestone Rewards.
These are what AAdvantage benefits will be on offer and how they’ll fit in to the Milestone Rewards program:
At this point I can either let that table do the talking for me or I could write a small essay on just how abysmal the new options are. I’m choosing to go with the former as if I start writing I’ll just get increasingly more irritated with how American Airlines and Hyatt are trying to spin this utter garbage as a positive move.
Yes, the Platinum elite status may come in useful for some people because it maps to OneWorld Sapphire Elite status, but given that only a tiny subset of World of Hyatt members will ever earn the 100 elite night credits needed to choose that status as a benefit and given that only a small subset of that subset will actually have a use for this status, I don’t see this as an improvement to the Hyatt/American Airlines partnership.
Moving on …
In addition to the Milestone Rewards options, select World of Hyatt members will also be allowed to burn some Hyatt points on temporary American Airlines elite status.
Specifically, World of Hyatt Explorist and Globalist members will be able to spend …
- 5,000 World of Hyatt points for AAdvantage Gold Status for a day
- 8,000 World of Hyatt points for AAdvantage Platinum Status for a day
- 12,000 World of Hyatt points for AAdvantage Platinum Pro Status for a day
Here at TFM, we value Hyatt points at 1.4 cents each and so that values these ‘status for a day’ opportunities at $70, $112, and $168 respectively.
Given that you can enjoy most of the benefits of AAdvantage Gold status for a year just by holding a credit card that costs $95/year and given that AAdvantage Gold is a deeply unimpressive elite status, the first option doesn’t really look like good value.
If you’re traveling domestically on American Airlines, I can’t really see either of the other two options offering good value either, but if you’re traveling internationally and have stopovers, the lounge access that you’ll get may, for some people, make the transaction worthwhile.
Keep in mind, however, that members who are enjoying ‘status for a day’ are not eligible for the Oneworld Sapphire and Emerald elite status benefits that Platinum & Platinum Pro usually offer.
Benefits for AAdvantage members
Starting on 2 January 2025, AAdvantage members earning set numbers of Loyalty points can exchange miles for World of Hyatt Free Night Awards.
- At 40,000 Loyalty Points: Redeem 25,000 miles for a World of Hyatt Category 1–4 Free Night Award.
- At 125,000 Loyalty Points: Redeem 65,000 miles for a World of Hyatt Category 1–7 Free Night Award.
Given the value of the flights that 40,000 and 65,000 miles can book (sometimes with a bit of work), I’m struggling to see the incentive to exchange miles (which can be easily kept from expiring) for Free Night Awards that expire and that come with limitations.
Related: World of Hyatt Free Night Awards – everything you need to know
Yes, a Category 1-7 Free Night Award could book you a night at some very nice properties, but would the value of that stay be as high as the savings you could make by using the 65,000 miles to book multiple short-haul flights? Doubtful.
Would the savings on that stay be as high as the savings on the transatlantic Business Class fare that, if you’re lucky, you can book with 65,000 miles (or less)? Highly unlikely.
Sure, if you have more AAdvantage Miles than you can use, this may be a way for you to use some miles that would otherwise just sit in your account, but for most people these two new options won’t represent good value.
Moving on …
From 1 March 2025 (i.e. when the new elite year starts), World of Hyatt benefits will appear as selectable Loyalty Point Rewards at various levels.
- At 100,000 Loyalty Points: Select World of Hyatt Discoverist status.
- At 175,000 Loyalty Points: Select World of Hyatt Explorist status.
- At 250,000 Loyalty Points: Select World of Hyatt Explorist status.
- At 400,000 Loyalty Points: Select a Hyatt Category 1-4 Free Night Award
- At 550,000 Loyalty Points: Select a Hyatt Category 1-4 Free Night Award
- At 750,000 Loyalty Points: Select a Hyatt Category 1-4 Free Night Award
- At 1,000,000 Loyalty Points: Select a Hyatt Category 1-7 Free Night Award
- At 3,000,000 Loyalty Points: Select a Hyatt Category 1-7 Free Night Award
- At 5,000,000 Loyalty Points: Select a Hyatt Category 1-7 Free Night Award
You’ll have to take a look at all the various options that American Airlines offers as part of its Loyalty Points Awards to see just what you’d have to pass up if you choose one of these Hyatt options (there are a LOT of choices), but to give you an idea of why I think these options are bad, here are a few thoughts:
- Hyatt Discoverist and Explorist statuses are not very valuable at all, so why would anyone take a pass on benefits like Systemwide Upgrades, trip credits, Flagship Lounge passes, or bonus miles in favor of either of these elite statuses? If you want Discoverist status so badly, don’t pass up on AAdvantage benefits and just apply for the World of Hyatt credit card.
- To choose a Category 1-4 Free Night Award, an AAdvantage member would have to pass up on at least one of the following: A systemwide upgrade, an Admirals Club membership, 2 Flagship Lounge passes, or a B&O product, and all of those are more valuable than a Category 1-4 Free Night Award.
- To choose a Category 1-7 Free Night Award, an AAdvantage member would have to pass up on at least 4 systemwide upgrades and the opportunity to gift Platinum Pro status (top-tier Oneworld status) to someone and there can’t be many people out there who would trade a single night in a hotel for either of those things.
Quite simply, the additions of these Hyatt options to the Loyalty Points Rewards add very little value.
Yes, I’m sure there will be some people who decide that one of these Hyatt options will work for them, and that’s great … for them. But for the overwhelming majority of AAdvantage members, these Hyatt options do not improve things at all, and given that they’re meant to make up for the fact that AAdvantage members will no longer be able earn Hyatt points when they fly with American, that’s bad news.
Bottom line
The American Airlines/World of Hyatt relationship will change significantly in 2025 and what we’re going to see happen is a partnership that was only mildly rewarding to begin with become a partnership that is almost completely useless to the overwhelming majority of AAdvantage and World of Hyatt members.
That’s unfortunate. What’s more unfortunate is that Hyatt and American Airlines clearly think that we’re all idiots because they’re spinning these changes as good news.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So many other bloggers are using euphemisms to obfuscate what an awful downgrade this is of the relationship. It’s nice to read some refreshing honesty on the subject as opposed to bloggers trying to sell the changes to readers as somehow being not so bad, which makes us wonder why they would say things that are so blatantly untrue.