Originally Posted by
jrl767
depending on how volatile your travel schedule is, unlimited free changes for MVPG can quickly offset the price of a couple late-year MRs ... yes, WN has some level of flexibility but imo doesn’t offer anywhere near the overall value of AS
Huh? Dirt on WN gets the exact same change benefit as MVPG on AS: unlimited free changes/cancels, just pay add/collect if the change results in a higher fare. In fact, WN also has the same GARR AS has; flight gets cheaper, collect the $ back in future travel credit. WN is pretty darn flexible (it's why it's probably going to be where I run to if AS decides to add spending requirements to elite status).
Yeah, there's
no standby/SDC for WN unless you're A-List, but OP has a grand total of
two AS flights a day to choose an SDC on involving IAH. Free SDC is a lot more useful if you're on a route where you have more choices than that, when you live in an AS hub (like I do, and I actually use SDC)...but it's $25 for an MVP (and works the same way at MVP as it does with MVPG, just $25 fee). If you're spending a thousand dollars in airfare + buyups to Gold, that's 40 SDCs. I use SDC a fair amount. I don't use it 40 times a year. I went back and looked, I use it maybe 5-10 times a year. So that's like a couple hundred (like I said, flying SEA-LAX/LAS some). But it's sure not a thousand dollars/forty times.
Anyways, the whole "upgrades/free changes/SDC/GGUs/more miles/benefits vs. what you spend to get it" has to be done and thought out for every individual to go "is it worth it to sit in aluminum tubes for no real reason other than to sit in more aluminum tubes"... but IMO contorting yourself to fly AS/retain status to the tune of a LOT of money has the distinct possibility of being irrational from an economic sense, especially if AS service to your city isn't very good. Not that airlines mind us spending money irrationally. And it's certainly your own money to spend irrationally if you want.
