American Airlines Is Handing Out Free Gold Status Onboard—While United Courts Its Chicago Customers

American Airlines is giving some passengers free Gold elite status, delivered in a personalized card by a flight attendant. It’s been reported in Chicago, where American is fighting aggressively against the larger United Airlines. On September 13, a passenger on an American flight from Chicago O’Hare to Salt Lake City watched a local manager board and explain the process to the crew. The cards came in envelopes with passengers’ names handwritten on the outside. Inside was a message and a code offering Gold status. The manager said she had about 25 cards that day at O’Hare, including one for a passenger on that flight. The passenger described: An ORD manager just boarded to show the FAs a seemingly new program where the FA hands out a card (like a greeting card in an envelope with the passenger’s name handwritten on the outside) and the card has a message and a code granting free AA Gold status. The names already on the envelopes suggest that recipients were picked in advance. Flight attendants appear to be delivering an offer to specific customers. We don’t know what got those passengers selected. I haven’t seen other reports of these cards yet, but would love to know if anyone sees them outside of Chicago. To be sure, American has been giving away temporary status for years. Last fall I covered a particularly generous offer that matched some competitors’ elites to a higher tier and included Flagship Lounge passes. The unique thing here is having an employee deliver the offer personally, while the customer is already on the plane. That’s special and carries a lot more impact. I’ve written about American’s experiments with onboard million miler celebrations. There’s room to make an impression on passengers who haven’t flown a million miles, too. United Is Already Offering Chicago Customers Status United has a special status match for Chicago-area residents, with registration through September 30. Eligible customers can receive 120 days of status after a qualifying O’Hare flight. Keeping it requires just two qualifying flights plus the required qualifying spending, and eligible United credit card spending can count. Scott Kirby has spent the past year arguing that American will eventually give up its Chicago hub. I covered his claim that American lost $1.1 billion there and his ambition for a 1,000-departure United hub. United has the larger schedule, more gates, and an advantage in local customers and corporate contracts. But United’s profitability in Chicago lags. They’d love American to leave so they could fill planes and raise fares (modestly). As I’ve argued about American’s retreat in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, shrinking makes the airline less useful to the people who live there. They move their flying to a competitor, get that airline’s credit card, and put their spending on it. American loses revenue well beyond the tickets on the flights it cut. Adding flights back gives those customers more reason to consider American. Status can help get them to book, especially when the schedule and fare are close. And handing someone a card on board reaches a customer who has already shown they’re willing to fly the airline. Gold Can Be Worth More To A New Customer Than It Costs American Gold normally takes 40,000 Loyalty Points. For someone without status, a free checked bag, priority boarding, complimentary preferred seats and access to available extra-legroom Main Cabin Extra seats at check-in can make the next trip better. First class upgrades will be very rare. Giving away baggage and seat benefits to someone who would’ve paid for them anyway costs revenue. Getting a customer to book additional trips, or start using an AAdvantage credit card, can more than pay for those benefits. Topics on this page