Originally Posted by
NiceLanding
That pretty much illustrates the problem for AA's MM program. Here's someone with 5MM in his account that would have been less than half as much under the new rules. As a AA loyalist who expects to qualify for EXP each year for the foreseeable future, the current MM program is not terribly useful to me because it will take so long to earn lifetime Plat, the first level I'd really value in retirement. If they added EXP at 3MM or 4MM, I don't think I could ever get there myself, but there'd still be lots of lifetime EXPs, based on the old earning structure, competing for my current benefits.
As much as it pains me to admit it, I have to agree. AA doesn't want deadwood like me devaluing EXP status for those folks who are paying a lot to requalify every year.
Having said that, it does seem to me that even with an inflated balance like mine, the incremental benefit of each million miles over two was ungenerous. I rolled the odometer three times - at 3 million, 4 million and 5 million -- and each time all I got was four SWU's. Nice, to be sure, but not quite what I thought each incremental 1 million miles ought to be worth. Lifetime EXP at 3 million might be asking too much, but shouldn't five million miles - all earned by following the rules, with a LOT of revenue to AA -- be worth something more than just PLT for life plus some SWU's?