Launched May 1, 1981, it was the second such loyalty program in the world (after the first at Texas International Airlines in 1979) and remains the largest, with more than 115 million members as of April, 2021.

These cards are issued by Barclaycard and CitiCards in the United States, and by Butterfield Bank and Scotiabank in the Caribbean.

Membership was seeded by searching American's SABRE computer reservations system for recurring phone numbers.

The 130,000 most frequent flyers, plus an additional 60,000 members of the airline's Admirals Club were pre-enrolled and sent letters with their new account numbers.

The rapid appearance of competition changed the nature of the program, and as airlines began to compete on the features of their frequent flyer programs, AAdvantage liberalized its rules, established partnerships with hotel and rental car agencies, and offered promotions such as extra free beverages.

In 1982 AAdvantage also became the first program to cooperate with an international carrier; members could accrue and redeem miles on British Airways flights to Europe.

In 2016, AAdvantage began crediting miles based on the amount of the airfare, not the distance traveled.

[9] In 2022, American Airlines simplified the method of keeping track of earning miles for AAdvantage status.

Platinum Pro status confers priority boarding, expedited security, priority baggage delivery, complimentary same-day standby, discounted Admirals Club membership, and unlimited, auto-requested complimentary upgrades on flights regardless of the number of miles.

Individuals who accumulate 1,000,000 miles earned on American receive lifetime Gold status.

Beginning January 1, 2017, elite qualifying dollars were added to AAdvantage's tier qualification status.

[19][18][20] In March 2022, American again revised their expiration policy by increasing the timeframe for required activity to 24 months.

To reactivate previously earned miles, AAdvantage plan members can pay a fee ranging from $200–$600.