SoCalPLT, does this look familiar? (Received Tue 12/14/2004 12:40 PM from the WeCaare response machine...)
[I]We understand your objections to the $250 co-payment on AAdvantageŽ Upgrade Awards between North America and Europe, Japan and deep South America. Before we announced this change we carefully considered the impact on our members. We are convinced that there was no better alternative.
The reality today is that the disparity between discount and premium class fares is too great to be offset by miles alone. The addition of a co-pay allows members to continue to use their miles to upgrade to the next class of service even if they
purchase discounted tickets. If instead we were to raise the mileage level, many
members would have less opportunity to upgrade since it would require them to have
more miles available. Since members already can use straight mileage awards for
travel in our premium cabins, we felt it was important to keep Upgrade Awards at relatively low mileage levels for those who want to combine the award with a revenue ticket.
It is clear that customers want low fares and still want the opportunity to upgrade them. Supplementing that low fare with a co-pay enables members to continue to upgrade for the same amount of mileage they are accustomed to. At the same time, the co-pay enables us to continue to make our premium cabins available for mileage upgrades, even on discount fare tickets. The alternative would be to restrict Upgrade Awards for use only with full-fare tickets, which clearly would reduce the opportunity for our members to use their miles to upgrade.
That is the direction taken by most of our competition. The majority of carriers do not permit Upgrade Awards in conjunction with many discount economy fare tickets, restricting their use to only the highest fare classes. And the one carrier that does permit mileage upgrades from heavily discounted fares charges $200-$450, based on the price of the purchased ticket. American's Upgrade Awards will continue to be highly competitive, and provide exceptional value, even when the co-pay is implemented later
this year.
Thank you for contacting us about this important issue -- allowing us the opportunity to explain. You are a valued customer and your feedback is always welcome.
