What happens frequent flier miles in light of the announced merger Wednesday between US Airways and American Airlines?
While no one knows for certain yet, the consensus seems to be that your frequent flier miles are safe.
When asked the question back in June, the Los Angeles Times travel expert answered, "Your miles, in all likelihood, would be safe, airline experts told me."
USA Today says don't worry, the American US Airways will mean that you will keep your miles. The paper notes, "Mileage programs are a key perk airlines use to hold onto their top customers, and the new "merged" American won't risk alienating any of those customers by not honoring the "other side's" miles in a merger. It would take several months – maybe even a year – from the time a merger closes, but the carriers eventually will consolidate their frequent-flier programs and merge the accounts of fliers who have miles with both airlines."
The PointsGuy.com writes that the merger of miles would likely take place within a year. "That would be a quick turnaround, but even if the carrier was still operating as two separate airlines, it could be possible to streamline the frequent flyer programs sooner. However, before you go off buying US Airways elite qualifying miles in hopes of them transferring to American next year, I’d wait for more information so you don’t drop a lot of money on potentially useless EQMs".
The BusinessInsider.com writes, "There's not much to worry about here. Frequent flyer miles and statuses will be merged and, once the merger is complete, there should be even more route combinations available to use them." But the site warns that there could be some "hiccups"
So the consensus seems to be relax, the US Airways American merger means the frequent flyer miles were merge as well and you won't lose anything.
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