As others have said, this doesn't affect most of us on FT at all, but I think it's a very consumer-unfriendly move. A big to AA for listening to the beancounters running with the herd instead of exploiting the PR differential.
I am somewhat surprised there is not exception for at least some elite levels. Here is a scenario: I made EXP May 10 - valid to feb 09. What if something happens in my personal or professional life and I stop flying, and in fact FFPs become much less important than the life event (eg birth of a child, family sickness, redundancy, etc...).
My EXP status would actually last longer than my miles - I would lose all my miles on Nov 10 2008 if I have no other activity. Could they have possibly exempted EXPs and PLTs?
Although I may not have had activity for 18 months, there is a good chance I will return to AA once I get through the life event which arose - but not if they take all my miles away.
I do agree that keeping the miles active is not that difficult, but not necessarily a "slam dunk" - you may not have a Citi AAdv card, etc...
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Would also seem to much harder for kids to stay current... while I signed up mine for FF accounts - they are likely in much greater peril for expiration. Although my 13 year and 6 old have been sent numerous AA credit card offers (!) - they probably have substantially less opportunity to stay current via CC or other methods that most of us use.
I have used their FFP's on occasion for free tickets.
Would also seem to much harder for kids to stay current... while I signed up mine for FF accounts - they are likely in much greater peril for expiration. Although my 13 year and 6 old have been sent numerous AA credit card offers (!) - they probably have substantially less opportunity to stay current via CC or other methods that most of us use.
I have used their FFP's on occasion for free tickets.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by j3823x
As long as AA doesn't go the route of JetBlue where, unless you have the B6 Amex card, your points expire after 12 months whether you fly or not.
and Southwest too (24 months) with no way to extend them.
I don't have a problem with the policy -- it makes sure that people continue to stay active with the airline in one way or another. I'd even be in favor of something like requiring a flight every once in a while, but that's also because I actually fly a lot.
In reference to the "people could take off two years and know their miles were still there," the only thing that has changed about that situation is the timeline. If they'd waited 3+ years the miles would expire, so they would have to do something to make sure they were retained. Unlike WN or B6, there are so many options out there to have activity in a program that it makes sense to me to clean up the orphaned accounts that are just taking up liability (or if they haven't gotten to 25K just taking up space) and clean up the balance sheet.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alect
I do agree that keeping the miles active is not that difficult, but not necessarily a "slam dunk" - you may not have a Citi AAdv card, etc...
Slam dunk is exactly what it is.....
first and above: fly every 18 months
but if not:
flowers - your SO or your mom
Dining out - Idine
shopping - AAdvantage shopping with 100s of vendors
staying at a partner hotels
car rental
electric bills
phone bills
etc. etc.....
and many many more
If all else fails:
buy 1K miles every 18 months for ~$55
or donate 1K miles every 18 months
You don't need an AAdvantage CC card for any of the above.
If you can't do any of the above then perhaps you should not be collecting miles in the first place.
As others have said, this doesn't affect most of us on FT at all, but I think it's a very consumer-unfriendly move. A big to AA for listening to the beancounters running with the herd instead of exploiting the PR differential.
I disagree.
Frequent flyer programs are meant to reward - FREQUENT FLYERS. If you're not flying every 18 months, the program's not intended for you.
What has happened is that the program drifted from its original intent and became a program to try to reward everyone - which doesn't work very well.
They're simply returning to the original intent - reward your best customers.
Sure, I'll lose a few miles on UA, DL, CO and US if I don't take a survey once in a while, but since > 95% of my travel is on AA, I really don't care.
Frequent flyer programs are meant to reward - FREQUENT FLYERS. If you're not flying every 18 months, the program's not intended for you.
What has happened is that the program drifted from its original intent and became a program to try to reward everyone - which doesn't work very well.
They're simply returning to the original intent - reward your best customers.
Sure, I'll lose a few miles on UA, DL, CO and US if I don't take a survey once in a while, but since > 95% of my travel is on AA, I really don't care.
I agree with this too. I just think it's a bit punitive. Life is long and plans change. I know people who have accumulated hundreds of thousands (or millions) of miles over decades of work as consultants, etc. They bank them for retirement. The wisdom of this plan is debatable, but it's a major reason people sign up for FF programs, and I'm sure there are *many* people who have chosen AA, for example, for many flights to build this bank for the time when they can use them. I have an in-law who was a VP at a major investment bank and commuted twice weekly. He retired last year and is now spending every month in a different country with his wife. I'm sure that's hardly an exception. Also, if you look at lifetime status on AA it seems that this retirement group was taken into account there as well.
Short point - many people choose flights NOW with the idea of retiring and seeing the world. They are most certainly frequent fliers in any sense, even after they've stopped buying tickets.
And given how easy it would be for someone to be rendered unable to (or not interested in) travelling for 18 months or more, this seems unfair. Especially since many of the older set might not even consider online shopping and the like.
Like I said, it won't affect me. But if someone comes on here in 18 months with a post that says something like "My dad accumulated miles for years at his job and was just about to start travelling and he suddently found out all his miles were gone, what can we do" (and we will) then frankly, I think that person was indeed screwed and should damm well be pissed. And you can bet he will. And you can bet some paper somewhere will be happy to tell the story of the guy who flew on some airline every week for 25 years and is now destitute and housbound in his retirement.
Obviously this is subjective, but that's my point of view.
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to AA for listening to the beancounters running with the herd instead of exploiting the PR differential.
