American Airlines says AAdvantage membership acquisitions are up 30% year-over-year, a figure chief commercial officer Nat Pieper shared at oneworld's Loyalty Summit. The reason behind the surge is deceptively simple: free onboard Wi-Fi now requires an AAdvantage login. But is that real loyalty? A lot of industry voices — including the analyst who reported the story — think it's closer to a mailing-list signup than a genuine fan.
The economics explain the enthusiasm. Cobrand credit cards are the profit engine of US airlines: Citi alone pays American roughly $6 billion a year, and loyalty revenue reportedly carries margins near 50%. Every new member is a potential cardholder, which is why giving away Wi-Fi in exchange for an account looks clever. Watch an ad, log in, get online — and the airline gets your contact details and permission to market to you, especially valuable if you booked through an online travel agency and were otherwise anonymous to them.
The catch is conversion. Someone who created an account to check their email at 35,000 feet didn't choose American; they just wanted internet. Analyst Henry Harteveldt offered a sobering stat at the same event: the share of passengers who describe themselves as loyal to a specific airline has collapsed from 44% to 13% over his career. Meanwhile, a Taj Hotels executive on a later panel described housekeepers replacing a guest's exact brand of toothpaste mid-stay — a reminder that loyalty is built through recognition and treatment, not registration forms.
Here's the part that actually hits your next trip: American has scrapped all mileage earning on basic economy tickets purchased from December 17, 2025. That first flight you took at the cheapest fare will now credit nothing to any account. Critics call it an own-goal, because a small starter balance is exactly what gets a casual flyer checking their account, crediting the next flight, or eventually applying for the card. Since miles expire after 24 months of inactivity anyway, a lapsed starter balance costs the airline essentially nothing — but it might have started a relationship.
Why should a traveller care? If you fly American on the cheapest fares, your days of earning anything are over — consider whether a regular economy fare makes more sense if you collect miles. And if you're prompted to join a loyalty program for free Wi-Fi on any airline, know what you're signing up for: you're trading your data for internet access, not pledging allegiance. Whether that program earns your repeat business depends on what the airline does next. Read the original at View from the Wing.