My thoughts mirror those of many others above. The last five years of AA LT Plt status removed the pressure to requalify.

Thus I now more often fly on OA direct when AA is a connection. I also frequently use the AMX Plt card front cabin twofer on international travel with my wife. Domestic airlines do not offer this. I am burning the many thousands of miles I have on UA, CO, NW and DL at a rapid rate. I top them off with AMX and Diners awards.

I too purchased Life memberships in ALL of the Clubs (that made them available) back in the 1970's. I seem to recall the cost of each was 12 x the yearly rate of about $25. This seemed like a pretty sound investment at my then age. I (and my employers) spent less that $2K in total. I'm still flying, but EA, PA and TW are gone (with my miles moved to CO, DL and AA respectively. But the AMX card gets gets me where my remaining AA and UA club cards don't.

I am a senior FF who spent the first half of my business and personal travel life during the time of airline regulation, when routes and fares were set by the CAB. Schedules and equipment were the major factors in flight decisions. A Club in the destination cities was also a consideration.

After de-regulation, with “open skies” routing and competitive pricing, the airline and flying world changed. My trans-Atlantic carriers were no-longer PA and TW; but became DL, UA and AA. The domestic carriers adopted FF programs to capture my loyalty. AA, because of my location and its superior schedule to my most frequent destinations, became my favored carrier.

I really cannot imagine not giving AA the bulk of my domestic revenue, in order to secure exit row seats and upgrade with points. And with my well over 600K miles, I will obviously be also using it on international flights for mileage upgrades and award flights.

But I really do have a "loyalty" soft-spot for AA. Over the past fifty years of flying, I’ve had my ups and downs with it – just as with other airlines. However, taken as a whole, I must say the AA experience has been a very good one. For which I “Thank You AA”.



[This message has been edited by kappa (edited 05-28-2003).]