What is the difference between Platinum and Platinum Pro? (AAdvantage Status Program)

American Airlines (AA) is the major carrier in the United States with its headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas. It is the world’s biggest airline in terms of fleet capacity, scheduled passenger carried, and revenue passenger mile. 

AA flies to 350+ destinations across the globe with a capacity of over 900 aircraft. The fare classes available are Flagship First, Flagship Business, First Class, Business Class, Premium Economy, and Main Cabin.

Explore the Difference between Platinum and Platinum Pro Status

American Airlines offers a Loyalty Program to its loyal, and frequent flyers, and it is known as the AAdvantage Status Loyalty Program. AAdvantage Executive Platinum, Platinum Pro, Platinum, and Gold Status are the four tiers of AAdvantage Status.

In this blog, we are going to explore the major difference between Platinum and Platinum Pro status. We will primarily compare qualification requirements, and benefits offered by the Platinum Pro, and Platinum status.

Let’s begin with a short introduction to AAdvantage Platinum Pro, and Platinum Status.

Introduction to AAdvantage Platinum Pro

American Airlines AAdvantage Platinum Pro is the second-highest level of the AAdvantage Status Loyalty Program. Passengers need to acquire at least 125,000 Loyalty Points to qualify for Platinum Pro Status.

Loyalty Points can be collected by flying (1 mile = 1 Loyalty Point) with American Airlines or Oneworld partner airlines. Besides, AA passengers can use AAdvantage Credit Cards for purchases and earn loyalty points.

We have already published a detailed article on AAdvantage Platinum Pro status which you can read by clicking here.

Platinum Pro members are provided with various exclusive benefits including a Loyalty Choice Reward, complimentary upgrades, status mileage bonus, discounts on Admirals Club, priority lanes, free checked baggage, and more.

Introduction to AAdvantage Platinum

AAdvantage Platinum is the third-highest level of the AAdvantage Status Loyalty Program which requires at least 75,000 Loyalty Points. Passengers earn Loyalty Points by earning eligible AAdvantage miles whenever they fly with American Airlines, use AAdvantage Credit Cards for making purchases, or earn eligible miles with AAdvantage partners.

Complimentary premium cabin upgrades, free checked bags, a status mileage bonus, priority boarding, and a 48-hour upgrade window are the key benefits provided by Platinum Status.

If you want to discover AAdvantage Platinum Status in detail, you can visit this article.

With the short intro, let’s move forward to explore the major differences between AAdvantage Platinum Pro, and Platinum Status.

The difference between Platinum and Platinum Pro

AAdvantage Platinum Pro, and Platinum status are the second-highest, and third-highest levels of the AAdvantage Status Loyalty Program respectively. These two levels offer distinctive benefits.

Platinum Pro can be taken as the enhanced version of Platinum as it offers more benefits.

First of all, let’s compare the requirements to qualify for AAdvantage Platinum Pro, and Platinum Status.

Platinum Pro Status requires at least 125,000 Loyalty Points so, passengers need to acquire these points by flying with American Airlines or Partner airlines, or using their AAdvantage Credit card for purchases. As we discussed above, 1 Eligible Mile is equal to 1 Loyalty Point.

On the other hand, passengers need at least 75,000 Loyalty Points to qualify for AAdvantage Platinum status. It is 50,000 Loyalty Points less than the Platinum Pro.

AAdvantage Loyalty Program Status	Loyalty Points Requirement
Platinum	75,000
Platinum Pro	125,000

Now, it’s time for the benefits comparison.

AAdvantage Platinum Pro Benefits vs Platinum Benefits

AAdvantage Platinum Pro offers more benefits compared to the Platinum Status.

AAdvantage Platinum Benefits	VS	AAdvantage Platinum Pro Benefits
Not Available	Loyalty Choice Reward	1 Loyalty Choice Reward
48-hour Upgrade Window	Upgrade Window	72-hour Upgrade Window
60% Status Mileage Bonus	Status Mileage Bonus	80% Status Mileage Bonus
Complimentary Upgrades on American Airlines	Complimentary Upgrades	Complimentary Upgrades on American Airlines, and Alaska Airlines
Yes	Complimentary Main Cabin Extra	Yes
Yes	Preferred Seats	Yes
2 Free Checked Bags	Free Checked Baggage	3 Free Checked Bags
Oneworld Sapphire	Equivalent Oneworld Status	Oneworld Emerald
Yes	Priority Lanes Access	Yes
Group 3	Priority Boarding Group	Group 2
Yes	Priority Baggage Handling	Yes
Available but not complimentary	Same-day Flight Change	Complimentary
Offered with Discounted Rates	Admirals Club Access	Offered with Discounted Rates

As we observe in the table above, the key contrasting factors between AAdvantage Platinum, and Platinum Pro are Loyalty Choice Reward, Upgrade window time, Status Mileage Bonus, number of free checked bags, and priority boarding group.

For instance, Platinum Pro members get benefited from the Loyalty Choice Reward which is not available for Platinum holders.

Platinum Pro members receive Level 1 Loyalty Choice Reward and can choose 1 reward among the following amenities.

• 20,000 AAdvantage® bonus miles (AAdvantage® credit card members receive an additional 5,000 bonus miles for a total of 25,000 miles)
• 1 Systemwide Upgrade
• 6 Admirals Club® One-Day Passes
• $200 American Airlines Trip Credit
• Carbon emissions offset
• $200 donation to your choice of one of 10 partner charities
• One-time 15% off award discount (rebate post travel)
• Gift of AAdvantage Gold® status

Likewise, AAdvantage Platinum Pro members receive an 80% mile bonus which means they can earn 9 award miles per U.S. dollar spent. The extra miles earned are also counted toward earning Loyalty Points which expedites Loyalty Choice Rewards, and AAdvantage Status qualification.

On the other hand, Platinum Status holders receive a 60% mile bonus and can earn 8 award miles per U.S. dollar spent. 

Conclusion on Differences between AAdvantage Platinum and Platinum Pro

As we come to the end of this blog, we discovered the difference between Platinum and Platinum Pro in terms of qualification requirements, and benefits.

In a nutshell, the AAdvantage Status Loyalty Program features four levels including AAdvantage Executive Platinum, Platinum Pro, Platinum, and Gold Status.

AAdvantage Platinum Pro is the second-highest level of the AAdvantage Status Loyalty Program whereas Platinum is the third-highest. Platinum Pro can be understood as the enhanced version of the Platinum status.

FAQs on AAdvantage Platinum Pro vs Platinum