In today's highly competitive airline industry, carriers are making major efforts to attract returning customers whose business they can count on.
In September, Delta Air Lines (DAL) -) stumbled as it attempted to make some changes to its SkyMiles loyalty plan.
Related: A low-cost airline just lost its right to fly over budget and safety issues
Noticing overcrowding in its airport lounges, Delta began to reduce access to them. These efforts included removing lounge privileges associated with its SkyMiles Platinum American Express Card.
After a wave of criticism over the move, Delta eventually reversed course and said it would walk back some of the proposed changes.
In an effort to poach disgruntled Delta passengers, Alaska Airlines (ALK) -) had offered SkyMiles customers a match one level higher than what they had currently.
JetBlue (JBLU) -) offered business class upgrades to the SkyMiles travelers.
And Southwest Airlines (LUV) -) began making changes to its Rapid Rewards program on Oct. 16 to make its customer loyalty program more attractive.
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American Airlines introduces its new program
Now, American Airlines (AAL) -) has offered a plan for both businesses and their travelers, which it calls AAdvantage Business.
American says, with the program, it is the only U.S. carrier with a business loyalty program that helps travelers earn status faster.
"Companies earn AAdvantage miles, while business travelers earn additional Loyalty Points, accelerating their path to AAdvantage status," the airline said in a statement.
The AAdvantage Business plan has a credit card component.
"The CitiBusiness/AAdvantage Platinum Select Mastercard allows companies to accumulate even more rewards and travelers to earn even more Loyalty Points," American said.
The program also emphasizes using the carrier's website and app to take advantage of the offer.
"Travel management is made easier with a fully digital program and access to American's best fares and servicing," it said in the statement. "Program members also have access to a suite of online tools, including reporting, traveler management, duty of care and more for convenient business travel management."
Rewarding the business and the traveler
American calls this the first program of its kind.
"American has built something no one else offers," said Scott Laurence, senior vice president of partnerships and retailing, according to the statement. "We want to reward both the companies doing business with us and the traveler who's actually flying in the airplane seat. It's a win-win. We've designed a simple program that goes above and beyond in delivering rewards and tools that benefit everyone."
The airline explained some of the important details of the program this way:
AAdvantage Business is a simple, convenient loyalty program for businesses of at least five employees, without any minimum spending requirement for the company to start earning miles.
For every $1 spent on eligible business travel, businesses earn 1 AAdvantage mile to redeem on travel and more including hotels, car rentals, Admirals Club lounges, and other experiences for employees. For that same $1 spent, eligible individual travelers earn 1 Loyalty Point that counts toward their accrual for earning status as an AAdvantage member. These Loyalty Points are in addition to any miles or Loyalty Points the traveler is earning as an AAdvantage member.
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