Originally Posted by
eponymous_coward
AA isn't full revenue for burning (fixed award chart, which
AS no longer has, note the "starting at" all
over the award chart).
Revenue is getting linked up with earning:
- Saver earns at 30%
- Partners earn on Y fares at 50% or less unless you buy at alaskaair.com, even very expensive Y fares
- Credit card spend is part of EQM earning (which gives ALK considerably more profits on margin compared to flying you)
- MVPs, Golds and 75ks all got RDM earning taken away in 2025
- all the award gamification in the new milestone benefits just took earning that 50k bonus AND GGUs (instead of choosing one or the other) away from 75K
I mean, sure, enjoy your "a mile is a mile" but don't think because that fig leaf is there that AS hasn't moved towards linking earnings tighter with revenue.
Spin that status hamster wheel faster...
We are on the same page that there is an erosion of benefits and I believe it's going to hurt AS sooner than later. But point is that if AS goes full blown, it will mean the end of AS. I and many like me will cease to be AS customers. Many will go free agent and others will go with the Big 3. A substantial amount of AS revenue is derived from FF'ers. Enough to make the difference from being in the black vs in the red.
This thread is about what AS should do to continue to grow and sticking closer to its MP, I believe will help it do that vs following in the much larger antics of the big 3.
No one is arguing that AS has not changed course by going to revenue based to some degree. It's not like MP is not itself revenue based, since more miles flown means more revenue earned. But once AS status is based on how much you spend then AS will have gone full revenue and it will fall victim to its own misguided belief that it can compete against its larger competitors. It will then only be time before it goes the way of HA et al.