Originally Posted by
nineworldseries
It's quite the conundrum for me. I'm obviously going to fly a bunch on AA next year as an EXP, so RDMs are quite useful to me. I could eke a bit more value out of the Bilt card and transfer to Hyatt or United, but why am I going to fly an airline with no status? I guess I'll just keep being slavishly loyal and keep racking up RDMs.
I do think it would be better if the further Loyalty Choice tiers would be more obtainable-- even 300k would give me a more reasonable goal to shoot for and incentivize me more to keep spending with AA.
The way I see it, once i hit 200k, plus any additional RDMs/LPs from AA flying, i am comfortable accumulating Chase UR Points for the rest of the qualifying year. Freedom Unlimited gives me 1.5 on non-bonus, and, as i also have a Reserve, i can redeem in the UR portal for a flat 2.25CPM on AA. This is above average in its own right for domestic travel. And, oddly enough, as this is an OTA booking, i will get more RDMs/LPs from this.... At least this way i can be flexible by having a flat 2.25CPM redemption option on AA, and also have transfer partners (read: Hyatt) if need be. Don't get me wrong, OTA bookings suck, but for the few that i would eventually make, i think i can handle it. Besides, my spend/travel is not such that i would come close to the 350k LPs for the next loyalty choice anyway.
AA needs to figure out how to incentivize actively pursuing non-flight LPs above 200k, or maybe there are not enough people in that category for them to care.