techgirl (and hedoman)

Thanks for your comments. I think I follow your logic, but part of my issue with AA is that generally they are a 'pay as you go' airline, whereas as an EXP I've already paid a lot to go. Last year I was on about 300 segments, and I find it difficult to get excited about flying in AA coach - even with MRTC - than being upgraded on the other carriers for free. The extra room, the quieter (forward) cabin, and the extra attentiveness make a difference when I spend this much time on airplanes, and the comp'ed upgrades do make a difference. As a top tier on US/NW/CO, I rarely find myself in the back of the plane and am grateful that they feel enough about my business to offer this sort of perq. It does make a difference.

Not to sound callous, but I'm less concerned with the recognition at the lower levels, but when one flies 100K base miles in a year (with no way to qualify on segments), I don't think having the free domestic upgrades is an out-of-line expectation. Think about how much one normally spends to reach that level. Sure, there may be a fair amount of discount flying in that, but my guess is that a lot of it, across the spectrum of EXPs, involves higher fare tickets.

The pay-as-you-go mentality permeates a lot of AA, and while that doesn't make them a bad airline, it does set a mindset that, to me, creates the gut impression sometimes that no matter how much I spend, it won't be enough. They'll want more.

Here's another example - the closure of the Platinum Service Centers after the September 11th tragedy. Here were a handful of counters especially equipped to deal with the needs of AA's best customers - their bread and butter - and they closed them. In the whole financial equation, how much did it really cost AA to run these centers compared to the amount of business brought to AA by the people who would use them? This was an area which AA could have used to its advantage to reinforce its commitment to its best customers when times got tough, but it was the first thing to go.

AA isn't a bad airline. I'll still maintain my EXP status. I'm just suggesting that I think there are ways that they can improve their EXP offering to make it, in my opinion, closer to parity in some of its basics to what most of the other major carriers offer. A lot of the business that I now give US/CO/NW is business that I made a conscious decision to move from AA for exactly these reasons, and I have not been disappointed.

Thanks...

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/globaldude