American and Hyatt Launch Reciprocal Benefits for Elite Loyalty Members

Elite members of American’s AAdvantage and Hyatt’s World of Hyatt loyalty programs will soon be able to earn reciprocal benefits. In a partnership announced last week, elite members of the AAdvantage program will soon be able to earn miles when booking Hyatt hotels while World of Hyatt members will earn points when booking on American.

Challenges, like giving opposing loyalty members a fast track to elite status, are also on the radar. An Executive Platinum member on American, for example, will soon get a shortcut to earning Globalist status on Hyatt.

For a while it seemed that partnerships like this were going the way of the dodo. Crossover Rewards, the reciprocal program famously employed by Delta and Starwood, went pear-shaped in 2018 when the Marriott and Starwood loyalty programs fully merged, and American’s relationship with Hilton has always been at arm’s length. In today’s economy where frequent travelers are used to their loyalty programs eroding, a promotion that flatly adds benefits to both sides of a relationship is a breath of fresh air.

Is it wrong to feel suspicious?

— Grant Martin, Business of Loyalty Editor

Skift Stories and More Expert Insight

Points.com Hums Along With Growth Despite a Narrow Business Base: Points.com, the reseller of airline and hotel points, reported gains in revenue and profit in 2018 thanks to resilient economies in its key markets.

American Airlines and Hyatt Hotels to Share Elite Loyalty Benefits: American Airlines and Hyatt Hotels are teaming up to reward each other’s elite loyalty program members.

Chase Partners With SBE Hotels to Offer Exclusive Sapphire Card Benefits: Chase is scaling up the hotel perks that come with its Sapphire credit cards.

The Curious Case of Japan’s New Low-Cost, Long-Haul Carrier: Japan Airlines packed a room full of delegates eager to know more about its new low-cost, long-haul carrier at last week’s Aviation Festival Asia. But details were scant, and the audience left without knowing a lot more.

Airbnb Is Buying HotelTonight: Here’s What That Means: Airbnb confirmed Thursday its intent to acquire hotel booking platform HotelTonight.

Marriott CEO Tells Senators Passport Changes Being Considered After Data Breach: Marriott is considering changing the way it stores passport information — that is not without risks — in the wake of the breach of the Starwood reservation system that Marriott announced in November.

American Cancels Flights Because of Shoddy Overhead Bins: American Airlines has temporarily removed from service 14 of its Boeing 737-800 jets because the work to add new overhead bins on some aircraft “was not up to our standards,” an airline spokesman said Thursday.

U.S. Airlines Make It Easier to Redeem Frequent Flyer Miles: As seats shrink and fees multiply, it’s hard to find value from an airline these days. Except when redeeming frequent flyer points.

United Tests Software to Hold Planes for Late-Connecting Passengers: Few things can be more loyalty-jarring for business travelers than when they can’t make tight connections at the airport. United’s experiment is an admirable one as long as it doesn’t impede its on-time arrival efforts.

Qatar Airways Upgrades Economy Class Seating and Amenities: Economy class passengers on Qatar Airways‘ new A321neo fleet will have a new seating experience starting later this year. The carrier unveiled its new coach offering at ITB Berlin with several interesting innovations included. Increased knee/shin room and an updated reclining mechanism lead the mechanical innovations while larger screens and the latest in in-flight Wi-Fi connectivity are the key takeaways on the technical side.

Subscribe to Skift’s Free Business of Loyalty Newsletter

Skift Business of Loyalty Editor Grant Martin [[email protected]] curates the Skift Business of Loyalty newsletter. Skift emails the newsletter every Monday.