AA Gives Away 42 Million Miles to Celebrate Anniversary

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of American Airlines' loyalty program, a host of airlines travelers got a surprise yesterday: 25,000 AAdvantage miles.

Passengers aboard 10 American and American Eagle flights—including flight 1487, which left Chicago's O'Hare International Airport bound for Los Angeles—were notified in the gate area about 30 minutes before departure that they had each won 25,000 miles to celebrate the anniversary, enough for an economy class round-trip ticket. Flight 1487 carried about 136 passengers. American said it awarded close to 1,700 passengers in 10 markets.

The Celebration Flights, sponsored by MasterCard, kick off a 25-day run of promotions—25 Deals in 25 Days—that AAdvantage members can participate in through May 25.

The AAdvantage program, the industry's first frequent flyer program and the template for points-based programs, began on May 1, 1981 with 300,000 members. The program now has about 50 million members.

"The Celebration Flights...are just one of the many ways we plan to celebrate the anniversary and the loyalty of our members over the next 25 days in May," said Kurt Stache, American's president of AAdvantage Marketing Programs, in a statement.