Originally Posted by
1worldFlyer
It's really not any more complicated than what we have now. In fact, with 500 mile minimum going away and CoS bonus for "earn by distance traveled" choice going away, one could argue that it gets a tiny bit less complicated.
Especially the "earn by distance traveled" choice becomes really simple with only a few rules to know:
.- RDP and SP earn actual distance traveled, except no RDP on award tickets
- no CoS bonus
- elite bonus for RDP on revenue tickets only
Now for "earn by price paid" choice there are a few more nuances:
.- base earnings are either:
- 1 point earned per 20 points redeemed for award tickets [SP only], or
- 5 points earned per $1 spent (before taxes and fees) for revenue tickets booked with AS, or
- actual distance traveled for revenue tickets booked with partner
- CoS bonus only applies to revenue tickets booked with partner
- elite bonus same above
I think that's pretty much all there's to it (disclaimer: preliminary interpretation, subject to change).
This is true when the new program changes actually roll out. For rest of 2026 I need to compare existing setup to both distance and earn options for future options, and compare against crediting to other programs. I have a bunch of pending partner trips and cannot count on any certainty for AS so right now its a crapshoot as to what to do with those. Would be nice if they at least gave us certainty by saying that any "later in 2026" changes only impact 2027 and beyond since we are already 1/4 the way through the year and could be 1/2 or maybe even 3/4 by the time they give us more details.