basejump

"When you buy or gift miles through December 20, 2013, you can get or give up to 100% more – up to 50,000 more miles".... this cannot be sustainable for anyone except the bean counters at the new AA............ much as it has been said before, it needs to be said again...... a massive devaluation must be factored into any decision to buy and hold.... the only rational buy decision is the one where you buy and burn for an award you know you want and can use.

I should also point out that this is a buy or gift promotion so it is not as good value as the share miles promo that ran earlier this month

Jaimito Cartero

I just saw this and was going to post it.

4 times in just a couple of months, either buy/transfer deals? Seems unprecedented. If a big devaluation is coming, I'm gonna be mighty pissed off.

PGHflyer

$0.0188 each (after taxes and fees) for this one
$0.0114 each (after taxes and fees) with the just concluded share promo

So, about a 65% price increase, not a great deal with all the uncertainty unless you are just needing to "top off" for a particular award......

rsydney

Taught I will let everyone know this from US Airways. Are you in or out of this one?

Microwave

As US Airways is still operating as an independent airline, and the Dividend Miles programme is distinct and separate from the pre-merger AAdvantage programme, this question is being moved over to the pre-merger US Airways forum.

Please note the sticky at the top of the consolidated thread which is titled Welcome to the New American Airlines Forum! PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING. With all of the changes about, it is important to know where to post, and reading that thread before posting (as the title suggests ) will help get you in the right place.

~Moderator

kcaluwae

I was having a look at this. I'm wondering if after the merger we will still have opportunities like this?

1.88cents a mile is quite interesting. If you redeem for international biz tickets you should be able to redeem for 3-4cents a mile.

zh

A bit worried... USDM has been having point sales almost very frequently - hope this doesn't mean a devaluation coming in the New Year!

BoeingBoy

There is one explanation other than a devaluation in mileage value right around the corner - getting as much revenue as possible before the end of the quarter/year to make the bottom line look better.

First, every airline figures that some percentage of miles will never be used - breakage it's called. Just think of the folks who fill out one of the cc applications on a flight, visions of free airline tickets dancing in their heads. A year later the first annual fee comes due and they still don't have enough miles for 1 free ticket, never mind 2 tickets for a couple or 3-4 for a family. So they cancel the card rather than pay the annual fee - thousands of miles gone to breakage each. Or even the very FFer who has a few thousand miles left every time he/she gets an award ticket - those extra miles in their account represent breakage.

Then they figure that most of the extra miles given out that will be used most likely won't be used this fiscal quarter/year which puts off the cost incurred by their use to at least next year.

I'll admit that I haven't looked at AA's award charts but if the mileage requirements are generally higher than US' I'd be looking at a strong possibility of devaluation compared to US' current charts, i.e. the higher redemption will probably be retained rather than the lower.

Jim

olouie

Not a horrible deal if you are going to use them soon. I would only buy if I was sure I could use the 100k up before the next devaluation.

Jaxxon

mad_atta

Has US Airways gone on record as saying what happens with US Airways miles post-merger? Do we know for sure that they exchange 1:1 with AA miles? And that AA's award levels are not changing?

There are some very nice redemption opportunities on AA's chart too...

freakazoid

No nothing has been said, but which airline merger did not result in a 1:1 exchange?

gv111

Is this the state of things to come when both programs will be merged and probably enhanced a great bit?

GaryZ

I'm not sure how that would play out this time, because I believe they will be stating revenue as the combined company, although it's as good guess as anything else.

I also suspect there's a bit of marketing involved: both promotions are for very short periods and at totally different price levels. Might be they are just sampling the waters to see what prospective US/AA members are willing to pay. From what I read over at the AA board, they apparently think anything <2.5 cents/mile is a bargain - so go figure.

BoeingBoy

If it's like previous mergers they'll state pro forma performance prior to the closing date and combined after - both for the parent company US Group and AMR prior and the combined holding company (still AMR?) after. Also, as long as AA and US are separate units they'll most likely break out the two division numbers. You do make a good point however. Of course, this quarter will be odd anyway given BK accounting on AA's part.

Jim