ASTA Continues Fight Against American’s AAdvantage Move

The American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA) is not giving up its fight against American Airlines’ anti-trade AAdvantage move.

American announced in February that only those consumers booking direct or through preferred agencies will be able to earn AAdvantage loyalty points, a move that was largely seen as both a way to force agencies to fully adopt NDC and another push for consumers to book direct.

ASTA, which came out strong against the move immediately, continued its fight with a pair of moves designed to raise awareness among consumers and policymakers this week.

The first is a sponsorship in Politico, the Washington D.C.-based political digital publication that is one of the most popular news sources for those working inside the Hill and a publication that ASTA had placed ads in previously (American is the busiest airport out of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics).

The sponsorship is of Politico’s weekly transportation roundup and includes a message from ASTA in the middle alerting all AAdvantage members reading the article that “YOUR MILES MAY BE AT RISK.”

The sponsorship includes some banner ads that link to a webpage ASTA has set up specifically for its fight—SaveMyMiles.com. That webpage contains a landing page for consumers, along with a separate page for travel advisors.

Those pages not only inform consumers and advisors as to what is going on with American, but also give options on how they can take action by writing to their local Senator or Representative or posting on social media to better inform their clients on what American is doing to them and their advisor.

“American Airlines is wielding its considerable market power to condition the way miles and loyalty points are awarded and, in the process, disenfranchising customers who prefer to — or have to — book through a travel agency,” ASTA says on SaveMyMiles.

“Starting May 1, the burden is now on the traveler to make sure their agency is preferred, and jump through even more hoops, just to obtain their loyalty points.”

ASTA’s message for lawmakers is not just about losing miles, it’s all about American, one of only a handful of big American airlines that controls the domestic and outbound market, eliminating consumer choice.

“DON’T LET AMERICAN AIRLINES ELIMINATE CONSUMER CHOICE,” ASTA says on SaveMyMiles.