Probably something to start getting used to...EXP's in coach. I'm only at approx. 80% on complimentary upgrades this year, and with reductions in service being phased in at several AA cities, I think it's to going to be even worse next year. It's not something I'm real impressed by. I think AA is going to try to force more revenue from the front cabin any way they can...not necessarily a bad thing for the stockholders...evidently Wall Street likes what AA's doing right now.

For instance, SEA-ORD-SEA frequencies are being cut from 6 a day to 3 or 4, depending on the day. For instance, there is no ORD-SEA service at all from 11A.M. until 7:00 P.M. (there used to be a 3:00pm and 5:15pm...both gone). As these flights are packed every time I'm on them now, I hate to see what they're going to look like next year. Oh, you can take the 4:00 pm AS metal back on a codeshare, but you can't upgrade AA flight #s on AS metal. With AA codesharing on more AS metal (thus "combining" schedules, and vice versa), guess what that means other than less service and more connections?

In addition, all the flights I have booked for next year (13) have had a schedule change at least once, both domestic and int'l...some twice already. Some of the connections were spread to 5+ hours and required minor EXP desk surgery to return them to acceptable routing (gosh, I really want a 5 hour layover at ORD in January). Along with these schedule changes came new "automatic" seat assignments (some pretty bad...like being moved from 20B to 30D on a MD-80) and being dropped from the "upgrade requested" list. More interaction with the EXP desk.

I guess the point is this, IMHO:

1. Get used to getting upgraded less
2. If you don't routinely check your future itineraries (like once a week if you have a lot of them), now's a great time to start.