AA Toys With Adding Dynamic Awards
Joe Cortez August 22, 2016
Spokesperson confirms experimenting with shifting AAdvantage awards based on demand.
American Airlines could soon join Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines as carriers that base their award prices on multiple factors outside of distance. Skift reports that the airline has begun experimenting with dynamic flight awards on AAdvantage miles.
The first notice of the shifting award prices came over the weekend, after a blogger noted a FlyerTalk thread highlighting several anomalies among American award flights. Instead of pricing out based on the tier price, some flights were pricing at 68 percent above the advertised award chart.
In a statement to Skift, a spokesperson for AAdvantage confirmed that the airline was experimenting with dynamic award pricing, but was limiting it to the most expensive “AAnytime” award tickets in business class and first class on routes between Los Angeles and New York. Additionally, the spokesperson said that American will also increase award pricing on flights to and from Sydney and Auckland at the end of September.
“After launching our Sydney route about a year ago and reviewing the years’ worth of data, we’ve decided that some dates merit higher AAnytime levels in business and first class,” the American spokesperson told Skift. “For business, it could be up to 375,000 miles and for first, up to 420,000 miles.”
Although the airline has not yet announced a shift to dynamic pricing, the move would mirror an airline trend to maximize profitability from reward programs. All four major American award programs have moved to a revenue-based reward profile, where flyers earn points based on their base fare price and loyalty status. However, loyalty tiers are still calculated based on cumulative distance flown in one year.
If American moves to a dynamic model, they would become the third major American carrier to do so. Southwest Rapid Rewards award flights have been historically based on several factors, including route price and demand, while Delta Air Lines moved to dynamic pricing when they removed their official award chart in 2015.
[Photo: American Airlines]
That'll mean an EXP has to spend $34,090 to collect 375K miles...yikes, that's about paying for about 7 rt to AU/NZ out of pocket......no reason to maintain status, just buy tickets.
That's 375k for "anytime" (last minute) business awards, not for "saver" (capacity controlled awards). The reason these awards are shooting up is because they can be used last-minute, pretty much as long as the airline is willing to sell a seat you can also use this last-mintute "anytime" reward (only on the airline's own metal). If you only use "saver" awards, these numbers have nothing to do with you! Meanwhile, good you for who burned all your miles right before Citi clamped down double hard on AA card churning (now only one Citi AA perosnal card bonus of any type -- Exeuctive, Platinum, or Gold card -- once every 2 years). So there you go plans to replenish. Meanwhile, I didn't burn, so no matter how much AA devaluates, i still have something at least. So I'll be able to get award seats at least here and there (with much flexibility) for years to come, while those of you who burned because of feared devaluations may now have trouble coming up with replacement miles, and will have to pay $$$$ for all your trips (or just not take any more longhaul trips).
Agree. I burned the majority of my miles year back.I fly mostly AA, DL but am not married to anyone airline. I burn most of my miles because they won't and don't hold there value. I started building a nest again on accident and am working on 3/4 mil again on AA. 375k for a business award reminds me to take the best flight and not to be to loyal to anyone airline.
They might as well just do away with miles.
Yup continue that race to the bottom for award redemption! This is basically the beginning of the end for international business awards at anything affordable.