2016 AAdvantage program changes American Airlines American Airlines AAdvantage British Airways Cathay Pacific Airlines - Oneworld FinnAir - oneworld alliance Iberia Airlines Japan Airlines oneworld LAN Airlines - Oneworld Alliance Malaysia Airlines - Oneworld Alliance oneworld alliance Qantas Qatar Airways Royal Jordanian - Oneworld Alliance S7 (Russia) - Oneworld Alliance Sri Lankan - Oneworld Alliance TAM Brazil airlines

Table showing Jan 1 2016 EQM and RDM earn changes to AAdvantage and Oneworld airlines

a screenshot of a document

The main AAdvantage change you need to know for most Oneworld Alliance airline partner flights beginning January 1, 2016 is many economy class booking codes that earned 100% EQM elite qualifying miles and 100% RDM redeemable miles in 2015 will have reduced EQM earning rates in 2016.

The main thing to know in my AAdvantage and Oneworld Alliance EQM-RDM earning table below is partner airline booking codes apply to flight segments not ticketed as American Airlines codeshare flights. If flight is operated by a Oneworld Alliance partner airline and ticketed with an AA number, then American Airlines AAdvantage chart applies for EQM/RDM earning.

Link: American Airlines AAdvantage airline partners (aa.com)

Oneworld Alliance airline links for AAdvantage earn miles webpages.

[Note: Technically my table below should show 2015 EQP and not 2015 EQM.  I named it 2015 EQM, since the 2016 elite qualifying route essentially takes the 2015 EQP measure and renames it EQM for 2016.]

AAdvantage Oneworld-1

AAdvantage Oneworld partners-2

AAdvantage Oneworld-3

All the highlighted cells show reductions in EQMs, elite qualifying miles earned in 2016. British Airways and Iberia are the only Oneworld Airline partners reducing redeemable miles for discount economy booking codes.

Redeemable miles earning will be changed in the second half of 2016 when American Airlines moves to revenue-based miles, similar to Delta and United Airlines.

The main impetus for these changes seems to be to encourage AAdvantage members seeking elite status to fly American Airlines rather than Oneworld Alliance airlines.

Loyalty Traveler series on 2016 AAdvantage Changes

American Airlines AAdvantage 2016 changes with new award charts on aa.com

AAdvantage 2016 Business and First Class American Airlines Award Chart changes

AAdvantage 2016 Changes to Off-Peak Seasons for discount economy awards

Table with AAdvantage OneWorld and Partner Airline Award Changes March 22, 2016

AAdvantage Earn Miles Oneworld partner changes on January 1, 2016

AAdvantage and Alaska Airlines Economy EQM changes January 1, 2016

6 Comments

  • Tom November 21, 2015

    My understanding is that for AA operated and codeshare flights you earn:
    3 EQMs per flown mile for full fare first & business class
    2 EQMs per flown mile for discounted first & business class
    1.5 EQMs per flown mile for full fare economy class.

    Is that not accurate?

  • Greg November 21, 2015

    I wonder when they will let us know the earning RDM for partners that will take place in 2016???

  • DavidB November 21, 2015

    I agree with Tom, your first table is incorrect. the EQM column for 2016 should read full F/J fares 3.0, discount F/J fares 2.0, all Y fares 1.0. I believe this formula also applies for codeshares on other OW carriers with AA flight numbers. And of course, RDM formula will change mid-year for these flights. And Greg, these new charts have already been posted by AA, while some OW partners like BA officially made their changes known a month or two ago.

  • Ric Garrido November 22, 2015

    @Tom – thanks for the correction. I added American to the chart as a last minute change and those were mistakes. Fixed now.

  • Ric Garrido November 22, 2015

    The Flight Deal pointed out to me that 1.5 EQM for 2015 is not correct, since it is EQP that were measured in 2015 in the way EQM will be measured in 2016.

    The main point of these tables is to show how EQM are reduced for partner airlines with the 2016 EQM qualification route compared to the way EQP were calculated in 2015.

    My goal was to create a simple table in a couple of hours for a visual representation of 2016 changes.

    Please let me know if you see other problems with the table. This is not a peer reviewed table of AA changes.

    Readers are my reviewers. Let me know if you see other issues with the data.

  • […] Traveler continues covering the AADisadvantage devaluation better than most bloggers. He has a devastating table showing the EQM and RDM changes to AAdvantage and Oneworld airlines effective Janu…. Is loyalty dead? Vote with your dollars away from these companies, be a free agent like […]

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