American Unveils “Personalized, Collectible” Luggage Tags

With the new American AAdvantage program year being right around the corner (it starts on March 1), the airline has just revealed a new luggage tag that members can select as part of the Loyalty Point Rewards system.

American’s new 15,000 Loyalty Points luggage tag

With the Loyalty Point Rewards program, AAdvantage members can select from various perks for passing different thresholds. New as of this year, American is letting members select a “personalized, collectable luggage tag” when passing 15,000 Loyalty Points, which is the first tier at which you can select a reward.

To be clear, you have to select this in lieu of other perks, with the other three choices being the following:

• Priority check-in, security, and Group 4 boarding for one trip
• Five preferred seat coupons
• 1,000 Loyalty Points toward status

American has been teasing this new perk for some time, and has now unveiled the design of this new luggage tag. Well, below is the first picture…

I wasn’t expecting some incredible luggage tag, or anything, but this does look like your typical, cheap, plastic luggage tag. Fair enough, since it’s not like the other rewards cost American much to provide. But calling this “collectible?” That seems like a bit of a stretch to me.

Does selecting this perk make sense for anyone?

I’m mainly writing about this because I’m curious to see how many of these tags there are around airports in the future, and I wouldn’t otherwise know what they are. However, unless you’re really desperate for an American luggage tag, I have a hard time imagining the type of travelers who would select this over the alternatives:

• If you have elite status or are pursuing elite status, you’ll probably want to select the reward of 1,000 Loyalty Points, as that gets you closer to the next elite threshold
• If you don’t have elite status, the five preferred seat coupons, or priority services on one trip, seem like the better option

Over the years, American has cut back the number of luggage tags it sends elite members. Nowadays, Executive Platinum and Platinum Pro members typically get one luggage tag in their elite kit. I don’t believe lower elite tiers get luggage tags anymore, but I could be mistaken.

Bottom line

American has unveiled the design of its “personalized, collectible” luggage tags, which can be selected as part of the Loyalty Point Rewards program. When you pass 15,000 Loyalty Points in a year, you can select one of these tags, though it comes at an opportunity cost.

What do you make of American’s new luggage tags? Do you think a good number of people will select these?