dcpatti

To be fair, the only "low roller" a higher tier elite competes for is one who wishes to trade in an upgrade instrument, be it miles or stickers, either way it's not exactly a free upgrade, and anyone who wishes to put up some form of payment (even if it's not cash) really should get that seat before the guy who only wants it if it's free.

I can see both sides of the sticker system if it stays in place. Sure there will be more competition coming from the lower tiers if they have stickers to use, but if I can use my own stickers to secure an upgrade on a transcon where even a current US CP has a good chance of missing the upgrade, that might be worth sitting in coach going to Orlando now and then.

One big plus I can see is that AA fares end up in the FT Mileage Run Deals section a lot more than US does--- likely a combination of US' hubs being placed in such a way that it's harder to maximize routing, US seeming to have less flexibility in the routing rules themselves, and more AA elites looking for (and posting) those fares. If there is no spend component introduced to the elite qualifications, it may be a little easier to rack up the BIS miles without spending a fortune and still enjoy upgrades, etc, by flying your own metal. Currently when I do mileage runs it's more often on UA--- just seems easier to find the really good CPM fares there than on US--- and credit to US, but that means I'm guaranteed to sit in the back, pay their version of the Move Up fees, etc.