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Loyalty programs are popular for a reason: everyone loves to get something for nothing. But for the most part, travel loyalty focuses on the traveler. For business travel, the person paying the bill does not benefit from traditional frequent flyer programs. The American Airlines Business Extra program changes things by offering reward points to the company.
Best of all, double immersion is recommended. For each flight, the traveler can accumulate AAdvantage miles in his individual account while the company pool accumulates Business Extra points from the same trip. The account manager can then determine how to redeem the points, whether it’s to offset the cost of a business trip or to reward an employee.
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What is Business Extra?
Business Extra is a loyalty program for small and medium-sized businesses offered by American Airlines. Unlike the AAdvantage program you may be familiar with, Business Extra is designed to reward companies for their entire group of employees traveling with American Airlines rather than offering rewards to individual travelers.
Joining Business Extra is free and provides access to reward options including free flights, upgrades, elite status, lounge memberships and more.
Who can participate in Business Extra?
Most US businesses are eligible to join Business Extra (businesses in some other countries, including Canada and Mexico, are also eligible). You will need to include a minimum of three unique travelers on your account.
While there is no spending requirement to join or earn points through Business Extra, your business account will need to spend a minimum of $5,000 on qualifying flights during the prior 12-month period to redeem points. Since the intent of the program is to reward loyal business travel, this limitation is not surprising.
Join Extra Business
Signing up for Business Extra is a simple process, asking for your business address and website, as well as collecting personal information for a travel manager on the account (which could be you, a travel agent, or a business assistant). , for example).
Earn Extra Trading Points
Business Extra points are accumulated based on a simple formula: you earn 1 point for every $5 spent on qualifying pre-tax airfare. Points are pooled into a single account, regardless of the number of individual travelers.
For a business that spends $5,000 per year on qualifying flights, the minimum required for program redemptions, you would earn 1,000 Business Extra points. While that doesn’t sound like much, it’s enough for a few select rewards or a free flight within two years of consistent earnings. From time to time, the program also has special offers to earn bonus points when flying selected routes that can speed up your earning considerably.
To earn points, flights must be issued by American Airlines, but may include flights operated by its partners British Airways, Iberia, Japan Airlines or select flights operated by Finnair and Qantas. The Business Extra account number must be included in the reservation for points to be automatically posted. The easiest way to book partner flights and ensure you’ll earn Business Extraa points is to book through the American Airlines business website.
All points expire on December 31 two calendar years after they are earned, which means you will likely have points that expire on an ongoing basis. Unlike individual frequent flyer miles, recent activity does not extend expiration.
Redeem Commercial Extra Points
Business Extra has a separate award table from American Airlines AAdvantage, as well as some redemption options exclusive to the business program.
Free travel booking through Business Extra
With Business Extra points, you can book free flights for travel on American Airlines, British Airways, Iberia or Japan Airlines. All trips must be booked as round trips.
Free flight pricing starts at 2,000 points for domestic flights on “PlanAhead” dates. For international first class travel on any date of your choice, you can pay up to 25,000 points depending on the travel destination.
Flight rewards can be booked directly from business.aa.com. Alternatively, points can be redeemed for a travel certificate to fund future travel. This can be a great way for an employee to choose their own preferred travel options, and it’s also a great way to earn more time to use points. Once your points are redeemed for a certificate, you still have a full year to book travel.
Converting Business Extra Points to AAdvantage Miles
If you prefer to redeem rewards through an individual AAdvantage account, you can convert Business Extra points to AAdvantage miles at a ratio of 1:6 (1,000 Business Extra points = 6,000 AA miles).
For the most part, it’s cheaper to book free travel directly through Business Extra than it is to convert points into miles. However, the AAdvantage program includes several additional partner airlines and the flexibility of one-way awards. Also, converting points might be a good option if you have a small balance that would otherwise expire.
Use Business Extra Points to upgrade paid flights
Redeem Business Extra points to upgrade your flight by a class of service can be an excellent value, but it’s not necessarily an easy option. As with all American Airlines upgrades, these certificates are only valid when you purchase eligible fares and specific, confirmable upgrade space is available.
For travelers already familiar with system-wide updates, these details can feel like second nature. However, there is a definite learning curve to make sure you’ll actually be able to use the upgrade rewards.
Assuming you’re willing to learn the ins and outs of the program, upgrades to a segment start at 650 Business Extra points.
Redeem Business Extra Points for Admirals Club Access
One of the cheapest redemption options, members can redeem just 300 Business Extra points for an Admirals Club day pass.
An annual Admirals Club redemption requires 3,300 Business Extra points for a single Designated Traveler.
Redeem Business Extra Points for American Airlines status
The Business Extra program allows you to redeem points for Gold or Platinum status. Points are charged at a flat rate, regardless of how close the individual member is to achieving status, at a cost of 3,200 points for Gold or 6,600 points for Platinum.
Redeem extra business points for carbon offsets
The final option for Business Extra redemptions is to use points to offset carbon emissions through the non-profit organization Cool Effect. A tonnage compensation is available for 300 points.
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Bottom line
Not all carriers will qualify for a new Business Extra membership, but for those that do, it’s an easy way to earn additional rewards from each flight on top of the AAdvantage miles each individual traveler earns. With redemptions starting at just 300 points ($1,500 in airfare costs), it doesn’t take long to learn a little more.
