milypan

Out of curiosity, do you perceive a difference between PP v 75K or EXP v 100K on AS? (I'm assuming EXP will "outrank" 75K once AS rolls out the 100K tier) The only substantive difference I could see is that the AS member wins the "tie" at equivalent status levels on the upgrade list (and of course RDM earnings are generally better). But are there meaningful differences between AA v AS status otherwise, when flying AS metal?

Flying for Fun

Are they really worth $5K - $7K? You can buy an upgrade for $350 + 25,000 Miles on that route so they can't be worth more than that. If you don't have AA miles, 100K today would cost you 2,096.25 & Add $1,400 co-pay for a total of $3,496.25. Each SWU being $874.07.

Of course if you have earned SWUs you would likely not need to buy AA Miles & the co-pay is offset by the extra you are spending to attain them.

Am I really saving $20K on an CX F/J seat when I am using miles to fly to South Africa? Am I really getting 28.5 cents a mile on my redemption? Of course not.

James

Kacee

I've not found them all that useful since becoming EXP in late 2019. My only uses have been on premium t-cons, mostly going from J to F. Much of that is the pandemic of course; specifically, the shut-down of virtually all of Asia. AA has also become much tighter with advance upgrade inventory, it's now virtually never available on the premium t-cons. Another consideration is where you're based; as AA continues to deemphasize LAX, they become harder and harder to use international from the west coast.

I have similar issues with UA and their PlusPoints, though the ability to use those in 20 point increments for domestic upgrades means you get 14 of them per year if used in that fashion.

Kacee

Anything beyond this year is inherently speculative. But currently as a 75K I'm almost guaranteed upgrades on AS flights from SFO and PHX. That is absolutely not true on AA as EXP. I'd like to retain that top AS priority by hitting 100K, which means crediting most of my OW flights to AS rather than AA.

I also feel that AS tries harder and is more worthy of my business. Do I get treated better on board an AS flight as 75K vs. EXP? No idea, but one of the things I like about AS is they generally aim to treat all their customers well. For example, I saw the GA on a recent PHX departure hand a young couple new boarding passes at the gate, commenting that she'd moved them up to Premium Class because it was a very empty flight. You're not gonna see that flying AA.

Visconti

That's a good point, I had forgotten about these. I'd agree that given these upgrades, it should be the par value for the SWUs.

milypan

Sorry, I was not clear in my original post. Whose metal I am flying will not change; most flights will still be AS metal as long as I am based out of SFO. I was just wondering if there are obvious downsides to flying AS metal as EXP instead of AS 100K. Only two I can see are tie breaking priority on the upgrade list and mileage earnings.

And fully agree that AS treats their customers, all of them, better than US3. That is why I left UA.

TravelingZoomer

It’s not tie breaking, as you will be prioritized second after 100k. But if you don’t care about reduced RDM and the slightly worse upgrade chances there isn’t much of a difference on AS themselves.

milypan

Right, in my mind EXP and MVPG100K are equivalent levels on their respective airlines, so the concordance between the mileage program and the metal breaks the "tie".

TravelingZoomer

I forgot one thing that you won’t get by the rule, although this may differ in practice, is a snack in Y as a 100k

notquiteaff

and chocolate, don’t forget the free chocolate. Or do they give those to OW elites?

milypan

Haha, excellent point. Though IME whether you actually get it is hit-or-miss.

Kacee

Apart from what's already been mentioned, I don't think so. I suspect it's more likely to matter on AA, where you're slightly less likely to be treated like dirt as an EXP.