Yes United obliterated its award chart, essentially knowing that in the long term, the little competition it faces will follow suit because the US has allowed further consolidation with AA-US merging. AA-US may refrain from such a blitzing in the short term so as not to affect goodwill mid-merger, but to recoup that I fully expect it to outdo the UA assault and will pave the way for AP/UA to further devalue their charts.

I have never seen a single round of devaluation as dramatic as UA13. That is what less competition will do for you, 50% miles on low fares is around the corner for our friends South of the border, the question is who will make the first move (my money is on DL).

None of the above really tempts me to sing the praises of AC, it has also dug deep into the rewards at the same time AC has reduced mileage earning and benefits across the board Overall, I would say probably half of the time you will still be better off with MP over AP, and I think there is more chance of MP redemption rates staying stable for a long while over AP.