brp

Completely agree with your analysis. What you have written very likely represents a far wider range of AA customers that other anlyses "showing" how this would be a loss. That other analyses seem very centered in the way FT people think. However, most people don't think like we do and aren't going to do a whole bunch of MRs on these fares. They will, however, make the kinds of decisions you made (just a few when they're close) and spend money that otherwise would have gone elsewhere or not been spent at all. And the loyalty-of-status part of the argument is right on.

Nice to have something well-reasoned like this to counter some of the other stuff ^

The thought that "mileage runs" have any appreciable impact on the AA bottom line is pretty amusing, though

Cheers.

mainbill

Living in DFW area, I pretty much need to fly on AA anyway even without the promos.
So I always welcome promos like this, and we need some more competitions coming into the DFW.

greatsagex

I am going to go neutral on this issue.. they are going to get more revenue from me because of this promotion, but I do think that this year AA has created too many promotions that were restricted in whom they benefited.. 6 months ago, if you asked me how I felt about AA, I'd tell you I am completely loyal and think they are the best by far.. Ask me this month and I'd say, they are still the best, but a few more slights and I might start looking at UA.

People want promos that they can be a part off.. I have seen a lot this year that I didn't get.. A quick $100 free facebook promo for CitiAA, which I have.. Went in less than an hour.. free flight coupons like the eagle coupon, or deqm promos which I shouldn't be apart of but my family does have a home in California and naturally thats my new address.

Anyways.. I do have a question.. Which of the following will get me double miles (on the ORD-LAX segment) with this promotion? (assuming I am living in California)

A. TYS-ORD-LAX (RT)... which I booked on the 27th before knowing about this promo.. I actually have to be in LA.
B. TYS-ORD-LAX-LAS (RT)
C. LAX-ORD-YYZ (RT)
or D. LAX-ORD, ORD-YYZ, YYZ-ORD, ORD-LAX. In a multiple city ticket.

Basically, I want to make sure that the ORD-LAX segment counts even when my RT ticket is to somewhere else. Hoping its all of the above.. I am hoping open-jaw doesn't describe just D.. and I know FT will give me a better answer than AAgents.

Thanks! I figure I have about 4 of these to book to get EXP again.

sdsearch

Wouldn't it be wonderful to split this thread into two:

DEQ11: How It Works

DEQ11: Opinion

Yet another thread where the infomration (for exmaple, about what itineraries are valid and what aren't) is getting buried among tons of posts about whehter this is good or bad for AA or fair or unfair to people who don't live in in IL/CA/TX.

I don't think there's anything with discussing the latter issues, but it makes the actual information in the thread hard to find.

Mods, any thoughts?

mathlete

Indeed. I recently spoke to a woman at the gym that said she'll be three segments short of PLT this year. I told her it was a no-brainer to book a quick trip to get the status. She just looked at me confused and said "but I've already booked all my flights". I let it rest.

igopogo

Seems like all four qualify...as long as each of the LAX-ORD and ORD-LAX segments have a flight number different from the surrounding segments.

bzz100

So if I flew:

LAX-DFW-SFO and then returned via SFO-DFW-LAX would I get double miles on both the LAX-DFW and the DFW-SFO segments and then vice versa? The first flight would occur on a Monday and then the return on a Friday.

igopogo

No, you only get the credit on one pair of segments per PNR

Herb687

Of course if B is correct and it was "successful," that begs the question successful by what metric...

Airlines are notorious for chasing share at the expense of profitability.

It's entirely plausible that these promotions could be quite successful at shifting/retaining share while still making AA less profitable.



I hope you realize you really don't need to fly on AA. I live in the DFW area too. Delta is my airline of choice. Do you want to whine about being "hub captive" or do you want to do something about it?

alhcfp

Probably too late to split it out- but I AGREE. I want info on DOs and DONTs and don't like reading about HOW YOU FEEL.

Of course we can start a new thread on whether there should be one or two threads,

THANKS

Dudey

I sure hope they do as it will secure me for 1K. UA ran a DEQM promo about 2 quarters ago targeting SFO/LAX - ORD flights for CA/IL residents.

volvo99

Not sure of your logic. "More competitions" in the form of VX arrive in the DFW market. AA, worried about customer erosion, fare matches and tosses crumbs off the table in an attempt to keep your business. Assuming AA runs VX out of DFW, expect AA to withdraw the promos and raise fares, all because not enough people rewarded the new entrant who brought competition in the first place. Then, we are worse off than before. How is that a good thing?

igopogo

When I was in retail, our mantra was "Get the sales, everything else will follow." In my opinion, this led to some really ridiculous promotions.

Also in retail, we would get scared if we ran a sale last year and didn't run it this year. Called a "liability" that we had to "anniversary." Usually we would be encouraged to add even more items to a sale than the previous year, or go for a deeper discount. I imagine airlines have the same mentality, thus last year we had DEQM sfo/lax-dfw and this year we have sfo/lax-dfw/ord.

volvo99

It's only good if VX can consistently lure and keep travellers in this market enough to expand and be profitable. Many FF's falsely acknowledge the graciousness of their incumbent carrier price matching and offering promos on a contested route. By showing "loyalty" to the incumbent carrier that only offered lower fares because of the face of competition, they assist the incumbent in driving out the new competition, leading to an inevitable increase in fares and a loss of competitive pressures in the market.

Dudey

Well, usually, when one company lowers prices, others in the same market segment will follow. It was best explained to me in one of my econ classes a while back using gas stations as an example.

If gas station X lowers their price by 10 cents thinking it would lure customers, they would be correct assuming that the gas station Y across the street does nothing. However, when gas station Y losses business because of this, they will lower the price even more to "beat the competition". This is a no win for retailers...and hence, most gas prices you see (on the same block) is near identical to each other. They know that if one decides to undercut the other, it will be a net loss.

So I would not be surprise to see other airlines based in ORD/SFO/LAX/DFW to follow suit.