Originally Posted by
eponymous_coward
But if they are part of a downward spiral, as you said, maybe the proper choice in the game is not to play with the "best" in a sorry group of players. If I can accrue miles more easily with a credit card (or just paying cash and flying someone else) than sitting in a tube, and the airline is incentivizing me to do that as opposed to buying cheap fares, I can abstract the mileage acquisition or elite benefits from the actual flying I need to do. Loyalty is for chumps when the airlines keep taking away benefits and watering down programs, at a time where they are making better profits than ever. I'm loyal to my wallet, just like AAG is.
I agree with you in principle. I just don't think it's the case for AS.
If you're willing to pay 2c per mile, then the miles must be worth that much to you (I am, because it gives me good value for award travel)
If you can buy a Main (not saver) transcon round trip for $320, and (as Gold) accrue $200 worth of miles... that sounds like a pretty good deal to me. $120 net cost for a transcon round trip where I'm going to be able to select a premium seat for free? With no status, I paid $113 just to select a Y+ seat on AA, one way (and I don't regret it). Being able to do that for free every single time is worth a lot!
For shorter routes it's less obvious. Certainly if you value flexibility on shuttle type routes you might find a lot better value with Southwest. But I still see AS as the clear winner for mid- and long- distance routes, or routes where I just don't value the flexibility. The exception might be "premium" routes if you are willing to pay $1k+ each way for a real premium cabin experience (I'm still debating that one, personally)
If you don't value the miles or the premium seats then it's a totally different story.
But if you do, you've got to "pick" an airline in order to get the status for those premium seats (not having status mean paying every time, which really adds up.. that's not going to be your most cost effective choice). And you may as well pick the one where the price, adjusted for the value of the miles that you earn, is the lowest. And that's still AS.