Earn More Everything, With New American Airlines x Hyatt Partnership…

Hotel points while flying, and status fast tracks too? Nice…

When airlines and hotels announce partnerships, there’s rarely much to shout about. This is not one of those cases. American Airlines and Hyatt have announced new details of their travel partnership which brings bonus miles, bonus points and added elite benefits whether you’re in the air or on the ground.

Here’s what it all means for you, and how to win the most…

First, You Need Status

Elite status is easier to attain than ever, thanks to instant status offers from credit cards, fast tracks from airlines and hotels and a few tricks to get more out of every flight or hotel stay. To benefit from this new partnership you need elite status in either World of Hyatt or American Airlines AAdvantage programs. Status in either program will trigger the good stuff, and once you’re in, both programs promise opportunities to earn status in the other faster.

Basically, whenever you fly American, you’ll be able to earn Hyatt Points for every dollar spent and, when you stay at Hyatt, you’ll earn American AAdvantage miles in addition to Hyatt Points. If you have status in one but not the other, you’ll have the opportunity to gain both faster. Faster is good…

AAdvantage 

• In addition to World of Hyatt points earned through Hyatt hotel stays, AAdvantage Gold, Platinum, Platinum Pro, Executive Platinum and ConciergeKey members will be able to earn one AAdvantage bonus miles for every eligible dollar spent at qualifying Hyatt properties.
• On top of earning more miles, American’s invitation-only ConciergeKey members will receive World of Hyatt Globalist status as a new way to extend the care provided throughout the entire travel journey.

World of Hyatt 

• In addition to AAdvantage miles earned by flying on American, World of Hyatt Discoverist, Explorist and Globalist members will be able to earn one World of Hyatt bonus point for every eligible dollar spent on qualifying American flights.

Roll Out And Sign Up

Don’t panic, this isn’t live yet but it will be soon. Much like previous iterations, there will be an opportunity to link your American and Hyatt accounts and everything will take care of itself from there.

Yep, register once and all your points and status should track automatically. We say should because travel brands and IT systems haven’t been getting along lately…

Fast Track Or Status Match To Get In

The opportunity to earn hotel points from booking flights or frequent flyer miles from booking hotels is great stuff, especially as many other hotel and airline alliances continue to dissolve.

The fastest route to Hyatt elite status is to pair stays with the World Of Hyatt Credit Card or a corporate fast track offer. For more opportunities to status match to Hyatt, check out Status Matcher. For American Airlines, status challenges are the best way forward, which allow you to complete a certain amount of flying in three months to enjoy full benefits. Here’s more on how to do that.

Intriguingly, the reciprocal Hyatt x American Airlines partnership teases opportunities to acquire more reciprocal benefits for anyone who participates via exclusive fast tracks. It’s not out of the question to think that any American Airlines traveler will gain access to an exclusive Hyatt fast track, and vice versa once things kick off. It could be almost as good as a get one status, get the other half off.

It’s generally advantageous to complete status matches or challenges after June 30th, so that the status then lasts for the rest of the year and through the next, as opposed to just the end of the year. There’s no clock on when you sign up for this reciprocal partnership, so if you don’t currently hold status, look to get it via a fast track in the second half the year.

Featured image Andaz Tokyo.