While I agree that I am disappointed in the overall and ongoing reduction of benefits...and definitely fear what is coming in the future, I am a bit shocked about the ongoing, spiraling downhill discussion going on here.
Let's face it, the AS visa has been on every bloggers TOP airline credit card list for years now...why? Because the full F companion ticket with mileage earning was too good to be true. Probably, for a while, only a few customers took advantage of this benefit - many never thought to try...because they probably never purchased an F ticket in their life. But, as awareness increases, soon abuse creeps in - likely many people made aware of this card, got the card ONLY for this benefit, and many ONLY flew AS once a year, and only used the card once a year for that purchase. It's no great mystery that these aren't great customers to AS or to BofA... So now when multiple FTers on this thread are saying that their 3 or 4 cards are going to be cancelled...well, it's no great mystery that the system was being abused... In some ways, I'm surprised AS maintained this benefit as long as it did. But, I'm going to have to say that the few probably killed this benefit...but the many will still value the companion certificate for what it is.
Don't get me wrong...for those that benefited from this, it sucks to lose a benefit. But for those threatening to take all of their business elsewhere exclusively because of this...well, let all of us know when you find the other airline offering an F companion certificate. AS's companion certificate post August 1 is matched by whom...US Air probably. WN...not at all (no AK, no HI, no Mexico in their route network...not to mention no place to upgrade to even if it were available.)