American Airlines and its budget airline partner JetSmart are working out the details to bring AAdvantage miles redemptions to the South American carrier.
The airlines have faced “some challenges” rolling out AAdvantage as JetSmart’s loyalty program, said Victor Mejia, chief commercial officer of JetSmart, at the Routes Americas conference in Nassau, Bahamas, on Tuesday.
American and JetSmart first unveiled plans for the latter to adopt AAdvantage as its own loyalty program in July 2021 as part of an investment by the former. A key facet in that pact was realized in September 2024 when AAdvantage members were able to earn miles and Loyalty Points on JetSmart flights across South America. Miles redemptions were expected by the end of the year but have yet to begin.
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AAdvantage redemptions are coming “very soon” to JetSmart flights, Mejia said when asked about the delay. While he would not specify a date, he did say it would be this year.
“There’s an important customer base in Latin America that, maybe, doesn’t have enough AAdvantage miles for a ticket to the U.S. but have enough for a one-hour flight on us,” he said.
That customer base is important to both American and JetSmart.
American is the largest U.S. airline in Latin America, where it has a sizable number of AAdvantage members, executives have said. The program, according to a 2021 investor presentation, is among the largest airline loyalty programs in the world with more than 115 million members globally.
The U.S. carrier has taken a two-pronged approach to serving those AAdvantage members in Latin America. It has an equity partnership with Gol Airlines in the Brazilian market, with JetSmart covering much of the rest of South America. American adopted the strategy after its longtime partner LATAM shifted its allegiance to Delta Air Lines in 2019.
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JetSmart has local operations in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru, and big growth plans for the years ahead. The Chilean carrier aims to more than double its fleet from 44 Airbus A320-family planes today to 100-plus aircraft by the end of the decade.
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Indigo Partners, the private equity firm behind budget carriers Frontier Airlines and Wizz Air, owns the majority of JetSmart and American holds a roughly 35% stake.
“Investment from our side leads into a domestic expansion [at JetSmart], which allows us to expand our long-haul,” said Anmol Bhargava, vice president of global alliances and partnerships at American, in a 2023 interview. “It just becomes a circular wheel for our partners.”
JetSmart has expansive plans for its new aircraft as they arrive, Mejia said. That includes filling out its domestic and intra-South America networks, especially in Argentina and Colombia, and expanding north from Colombia to destinations in the U.S., Caribbean and Mexico.
In the meantime, JetSmart is already benefiting from its adoption of AAdvantage last year. Nearly 10% of travelers include an AAdvantage number on their reservation today, Mejia said. And the percentage is expected to grow once miles redemptions come online.
The airline is also in the process of expanding its codeshare partnership with American to include Colombia, he added. JetSmart anticipates having approvals in hand and the pact implemented by the end of the year.
American and JetSmart currently codeshare in Chile and Peru, and on select flights in Argentina.
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