Surprise!
I didn't see any recent comments in this thread or any newer threads addressing what I believe to be some major (unwanted) changes to the Choice bundles. Could it just be me?
Starting some weeks ago I started noticing the price of Essentials and Plus creeping up. At first it was just $10/round trip (for the exact same flights in the same inventory two weekends apart in April BOS-ORD r/t I was seeing $78/98 (essentials/plus) for the first weekend and the "expected" $68/88 for the second). But the descriptions of the bundles was the same as I've been used to (with the annoying caveat that First at times includes no change fee and at times does not - and you need to watch like a hawk to know for sure).
Starting this week I've been seeing ~$60 essentials and $160 Plus! And the benefits for Essentials are effectively ZERO. It appears it only waives a bag fee and provides Group 1 boarding for folks who might not already get it.
This is a major devaluation of the program for me. I carefully picked Choice, Essentials, or Plus on a trip-by-trip basis based on whether I guess I'd need to make a change and whether or not I'd want SDFC. Now Essentials is completely valueless to me (why even offer it if I'm logged in as an elite??) and the cost of Plus makes buying it to hedge much more difficult. I was happy to pay $88 to hedge against changes with some frequency. I will only pay $160 if I know for certain that I will need to make a change.
Also I read some of the agency rules posted at AA.com and it appears you can no longer move between products on a reissue. For instance I have previously bought a Choice fare and needed to make a change - for which I pay a change fee without objection - but I know there's a decent chance that I'll need to change again, so I ask EXP to book the new reservation in Essentials or Plus (and pay the extra fare for the bundle) to protect against future change fees. I've also made a last minute change to an Essential or Plus ticket knowing I would make no further changes but also moving to a higher fare; in those cases I've asked EXP to price the new flights without a bundle to decrease the fare difference I was paying out of pocket. According to the rules I read, these sorts of changes will no longer be permitted.
I wonder what happens to all my existing itineraries? I have four future ticketed itineraries that include Essentials or Plus. There is a very good chance that I will want to change some of them; and possibly cancel some altogether. I assume I'm OK to make changes (to Essential) itineraries previously booked and will not face a change fee. But I'm curious about what happens if I cancel completely. In the past I would be able to take the full value of that ticket and apply it to any future itinerary, even if I chose to book the new one in vanilla Choice. I'm sadly anticipating some quite unpleasant conversations for these ticketed itineraries.
Are others seeing these changes? Am I missing the silver lining and there's actually some good news here? Am I possibly misunderstanding something?
I'd love others' thoughts.