American, US Air Programs to Merge Soon

It’s been well over a year since American and US Airways completed their merger. Completed their merger on paper, that is. Operationally, merging the two airlines has been a decidedly slow-motion affair.

In particular, the integration of the two airlines’ loyalty programs has been a long series of baby steps. On the plus side, so far whatever integration has occurred has been seamless, with no notable technical or service snafus.

In an email sent to members of US Airways’ Dividend Miles program earlier this week, the timeframe for the biggest and final step in consolidating the mileage programs was disclosed:

Next month, we’ll reach the next milestone on our path to integration by bringing Dividend Miles into the American Airlines AAdvantage program. We’ll transfer your mileage balance and elite-qualifying activity into your new (or existing) AAdvantage account.

So, sometime in April, AAdvantage and Dividend Miles will be merged.

Aside from getting ready, mentally, for the change, members of the two programs can do a few things to prepare. Among them:

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• Match accounts. That means ensuring that the member information (name, address, etc.) in both accounts is identical. Doing so maximizes the odds that accounts will merge automatically.
• Sign up for the US Airways credit card to earn the 50,000-mile sign-up bonus, which will convert to AAdvantage miles with the merger. After the merger, only the Citi-issued AAdvantage cards will be available to new cardholders.
• Redeem miles according to Dividend Miles rules, which allow stopovers. (It’s assumed that current AAdvantage rules, which no longer permit stopovers, will govern the new program.)

Having dispensed with the above, travelers with accounts in both airlines’ programs can rest assured that they’ve done everything possible to get the most out of this one-time event. The final step is checking, post-consolidation, to confirm that miles, status, and contact information from both accounts have been completely and accurately merged into a single account.

And it wouldn’t hurt to keep your fingers crossed.

Reader Reality Check

Are you ready?

This article originally appeared on FrequentFlier.com.