I'm planning a short trip just to hit rewards status, which has me thinking about the specifics of earning rewards. With air travel you can plan as much as you want, but sometimes things happen - weather problems, you miss a connection, equipment malfunction, etc. Often this means that you are forced to re-book, sometimes through another city, sometimes on another airline or even train*.

In the event of an involuntary rebooking, what happens to rewards points? I would guess that qualifying dollars doesn't change, since you have still paid the same cost. Do you get more (or less) miles and segments if you have to take a different route to your destination? If you end up on another airline or on a train, do you lose your points altogether? I'm assuming this varies by airline, so I'll focus on American and United.

_{*From personal experience, during a winter storm I had United convert a plane ticket to an Amtrak ticket at no extra cost.}

I'm planning a short trip just to hit rewards status, which has me thinking about the specifics of earning rewards. With air travel you can plan as much as you want, but sometimes things happen - weather problems, you miss a connection, equipment malfunction, etc. Often this means that you are forced to re-book, sometimes through another city, sometimes on another airline or even train*.

In the event of an involuntary rebooking, what happens to rewards points? I would guess that qualifying dollars doesn't change, since you have still paid the same cost. Do you get more (or fewer) miles and segments if you have to take a different route to your destination? If you end up on another airline or on a train, do you lose your points altogether? I'm assuming this varies by airline, so I'll focus on American and United.

_{*From personal experience, during a winter storm I had United convert a plane ticket to an Amtrak ticket at no extra cost.}

I'm planning a short trip just to hit rewards status, which has me thinking about the specifics of earning rewards. With air travel you can plan as much as you want, but sometimes things happen - weather problems, you miss a connection, equipment malfunction, etc. Often this means that you are forced to re-book, sometimes through another city, sometimes on another airline or even train*.

In the event of an involuntary rebooking, what happens to rewards points? I would guess that qualifying dollars doesn't change, since you have still paid the same cost. Do you get more (or fewer) miles and segments if you have to take a different route to your destination? If you end up on another airline or on a train, do you lose your points altogether? I'm assuming this varies by airline, so I'll focus on American and United.

From personal experience, during a winter storm I had United convert a plane ticket to an Amtrak ticket at no extra cost.

I'm planning a short trip just to hit rewards status, which has me thinking about the specifics of earning rewards. With air travel you can plan as much as you want, but sometimes things happen - weather problems, you miss a connection, equipment malfunction, etc. Often this means that you are forced to re-book, sometimes through another city, sometimes on another airline or even train*.

In the event of an involuntary rebooking, what happens to rewards points? I would guess that qualifying dollars doesn't change, since you have still paid the same cost. Do you get more (or less) miles and segments if you have to take a different route to your destination? If you end up on another airline or on a train, do you lose your points altogether? I'm assuming this varies by airline, so I'll focus on American and United.

_{*From personal experience, during a winter storm I had United convert a plane ticket to an Amtrak ticket at no extra cost.}