Originally Posted by
GunsOfNavarone
Find it hard to write- but Chairman Parker has been beyond generous extending EXP for an additional year with no qualifying, reducing EXP qualifying requirements for 2021, and allowing OCT-DEC 2020 EQD/EQM to be used for 2021 EXP qualifying. I don't think AA owes any EXP additional anything. Want awarded SWU for 2020, get on the plane, seven weeks left and the qualifying is easier than eating a pancake. Or better yet- buy some J tickets in 2021 and help AA a little.
Oh gosh. I don’t believe the Dear Leader and other airline executives do things for prospective consumers out of generosity—they’re done to ensure that prospective customers who provide above-average profits remain loyal to the company and not to a competitor. My belief (armchair analyst) is that *some* EXP will over the next 2+ months, decide that they’re going to become free agents in 2021 as a result of AA extending unused 2020 SWUs only to mid-2021 and not for a full year. The carriers need to retain their customer base now even more than ever, especially frequent flying international pax. Given US consolidation of domestic markets, there’s less free agent action amongst domestic elites. I’d be surprised if AA doesn’t announce extension of the 2020 SWUs and other instruments beyond mid-2021 given the slow uptake of international travel during the second half of 2020.