Rate American AAdvantage
 

We are going to review American AAdvantage in the January issue of InsideFlyer magazine and would like your input.

If you would like to participate, please post your response in the thread with the pros and cons of American AAdvantage and grade the program from A to F (A being the highest grade). You can include a plus or minus with the rating.

You can also respond directly to me at [email protected].
Thank you!

I give the AAdvantage program A- (not a reflection of the airline, just the program). The recent change to allow all fares to be upgraded goes a long way in this.

Cheers.

I say B+, again just rating the program. Props to AA for changing the SWU fare restrictions, although it was sad to see increase in co-pay for mileage upgrades and domestic stopover for int'l award tickets. The changes however have symbolized that AA has put a greater emphasis on EXP with these changes as well as protecting first class integrity with sticker upgrades.

I would say somewhere between an A and an A-.
Granted, I've never had status on any other Frequent Flyer programs. Being based in Dallas, my only real options are AA and WN. With WN I have to stopover somewhere, so really I don't have a choice but to go AA.

A-

I'm able to upgrade almost all of the time, even internationally. I have few complaints, other than no Flagship Lounge in DFW and the inability to upgrade on other oneworld carriers.

Great partners, great people.

I wish I had switched from Delta as my primary carrier sooner.

I do not like the co-pays, however. :mad:

I'd go with B+

Hate the co-pays for mileage upgrade, happy to have SWUs
Would like to see partner availability online at aa.com, even if it isn't possible to book online

I am happy with the award levels.
For example 50K to Europe from the US for a One Way BC ticket, all year
I was looking at DL for February and they wanted double that for Moscow for the entire month. Premium 50,000 100,000 175,000 are the low, medium, high award levels. How is Russia in February not "low"? Also, I was checking for a one way ticket, and was quoted 200K. Does DL not have one way award for 1/2 the RT miles. This was a BIG improvenent by AA this year.

Grade: B

I like the award levels and selection on AA metal, but would like to see a lot more utilization of the oneworld alliance by offering online award ticket booking on partners.

Upgrades could go without the copays as well, to be in line with other carriers. I enjoy the ability to collect and use stickers to upgrade my travel on the flights that are most important to me, rather than automatically getting updated on all flights.

Customer service is stellar at the elite levels, and the program offers the most options for accruing mileage that I've seen. It would be nice to be able to use miles more easily and valuably for services other than air travel (cars, hotels, etc.).

A-

A++ SWUs
A Domestic Upgrades, which are by Status and then by date booked. This may hurt last minute high dollar flyers, but does create a sense of equality within each status level
A- 500 mile upgrade coupons. Forces PLTs and GLDs to decide how much they really want an upgrade on any given flight. I like this better than other airlines who wind up having an upgrade waitlist of 50 people on a flight, just because there is no skin off of anyones nose to ask. I rarely miss an upgrade, even when I was a PLT. If I was king for a day I change how the coupons are handed out, to perhaps 4 every 7,500 miles.
B- copays for upgrades
A+ GLD/PLT Challenge. Did a PLT Challenge in December of 08. That is a great way to enter the program with status. Never having had status before, I was amazed at how nice travel can be with the right card in your pocket! Since most of my trips are TATLs lounge access (read: showers) and ability to select exit rows is just wonderful.


I never had FF status until last year. Last November I realized I would be flying a lot, with most trips involving TATLs, so I carefully reviewed the different schemes and decided to go with AA. European schemes tend to be restrictive and complicated, and US based programs are more restrictive with SWUs, or they don't offer them at all.

All in all I am very happy with my choice to go with AAdvantage.

I'd give it an A-, simply because you can always do better and improve things.

My opinion is based on EXP status, so that will contribute to the A- simply because of better award availability and fewer charges.

In general, I get the awards I want and I get treated with respect on AA as an EXP.

Adding MX and allowing more SWU to be used are great advantages for me, so I hope that AA will continue to add quality partners (poach other alliances) find more ways for me to go to cool places.

I don't like the inability to upgrade on partner airlines with status.

A-

The change to the EVIPs on almost every fare was big for me.
Good award availability.
Decent website.
Good customer service.
Good routing to N/S America and Asia. (Good to Europe but BA taxes/fees suck)

Improvements:
Better partners to Africa.
Lack of partner award viewing/booking at aa.com
Lack of using upgrades on partners from Y fares.

Pros

EXP Line A+
EVip Program A++ (puts DL to shame)
EXP (Emerald) Global OW F Lounge Access A+
Reward Redemption B (better than others, but one needs to be flexible; BA offers GGL level one any seat available redemption per year)

Cons

The Airline C (once known for clean, new planes and leading edge products - think International Flagship Service in the 90s), the actual in air product is bottom middle of the pack among domestic legacy carriers IMHO. NGBC was dated from the day it was introduced. Continued management - labor issues have taken its toll on service.

Overall - B+ (AAdvantage is a great program particularly if you can make EXP and want to fly up front on low fares; also if the AA network works )

For me, AAdvantage (not AA) is A- or better. The minus is because of the pervasive upgrade copays, and the antiquated, limited online booking engine (no OW partners allowed).
The pluses are too numerous to count: decent award availability (compared to many competitors), good customer service and AAgents, good AAward schedule (love the flexibility the new AAll PAArtners AAwards offer!), LT Plt at 2MM, and many others I can't think of right now.

AA as an airline is less than stellar, and OW could use a few more partners (but the lack of them is exclusively a problem of BA's making), but overall, AAdvantage as a program works very well for me.

Grade: A

From a first year GLD point of view, I like the ability to earn stickers and upgrade when I really want to. Customer service has been very good.

Prefer the upgrades lose the copays, just increase the miles required.

B+ : Dislike the co-pay for upgrades.

A-

Pluses ^: Upgrade-ability on all fares; lots of upgrade inventory; definite perks for elite fliers (and let's hope we can keep them); the only program that counts non-BIS miles for lifetime status; reasonable lifetime status thresholds; satisfying network of partners, both airline-wise as well as non-flight related; great EXP reps

Minuses :td:: No (current) possibility of top-tier lifetime status; web-based possibilities for many functions either non-existent or very convoluted; one of the slowest websites I have encountered in the travel industry (only surpassed--or underpassed--by Hilton's dinosaur)

I must say, I am very happy to have been an AA member for more than 25 years.

AAdvantage Program -------- A

my only complaint is that you should be able to use the 500-mile upgrades on international flights!

Standing alone = A
Compared to other programs = A+

^^^

In absolute terms, I'd give the program a B.

+ The ability to earn miles on and redeem upgrades on (almost) all fare classes is a plus compared to some other programs.

+ I also like the way the 500-mile upgrade system works. I'm happy to buy extra stickers when necessary, because the F product is worth the cost.

– However, the high copays on international upgrades make it much more difficult to get a good value for your mile these days. As AA continues to devalue AAdvantage miles, they risk reducing demand for those miles on the other side of the equation.

– An alternative to being able to use 500-mile upgrades on international flights would be to provide some sort of mechanism for non-EXPs to earn a smaller number of eVIPs/SWUs. For example, one could choose to earn 1 eVIP for 20K EQM instead of 4+4 stickers. This would be particularly valuable to elites who do not do a lot of mainline domestic travel.

AAdvantage - has to be A

Sure there are possible improvements, but compared to any other program on offer it's miles ahead (240,000 miles in 15 months for a spend of only around $6000!), so anything else would be a bonus.

AA itself on the other hand would be lucky to get a C, but that's a trade-off I'm more than happy to accept.

My Grade: A

There are pros and cons but overall, particularly vs the competition, aadvantage is as good as it gets. I hope it stays that way. It's what keeps me away from Delta

Pros
AAdvantage program gets a strong A! It's probably the best program out there.

Cons
The co-pays are over-priced for upgrading.
The fleet itself is getting tired and using smaller and smaller planes for long flights gets a :td: from me.
Would also like to see stickers being able to be used for international.

Program is an A -- best FF program in existence.

Airline is a C -- Especially don't like the poor J product for long haul international compared to true flat bed competitors.

I give it a B+. I have always been able to find an award flight but occasionally have to spend more points than I want to. Now as lifetime Plat, it's even better!

I would give the program an A-. I like how free domestic upgrades aren't given to the lower statuses, which includes me :) because it gives us all a fighting chance. We just choose our battles.

Airline? probably a B+ to B, because flying on JL made me realize that a lot more can be done in terms of food and service. While discrimination against weight and looks can't be made here in the US, there's something to be said about feeling more relaxed when a young female FA asks what you'd like for a beverage over an older hoarse-voiced lady who could be your grandma :D

B+ I wish PLT could upgrade TATL or TPAC without using miles.

The AAdvantage program gets a modest B.

Sure, complementary upgrades (rarely international) and access to first class lounges are a nice perk. But lets be honest, American biz class on these aging birds is nothing to brag about. Even the biz class on 77As is just Ok in comparison to the new biz of UA.
I know that the request was to rate the AAdvantage program and not AA itself nor the OW alliance... but let's face it, they're all inter-related:
What is a complementary upgrade worth if the biz class is just above average?
How good can the AAdvantage be if the OW alliance is too limited?
It seems to me that OW (11 partners) is rapidly losing ground over Star Alliance (25 partners). That concerns me more than anything.

A-

Happy UK based PLAT, AAdvantage much preferred over BAEC.

Would like to see: Some ability to upgrade TATL without co-pay, though I do think that by 500mile stickers would probably be too easy! US based Promos such as bonus miles BOS-LAX being available to me - why not? UK shopping to be reinstated. A better CC deal next month (fingers crossed on this one!)

My Grade - A

Biggest Plus++
Decent award availability
Upgrades are easy to redeem - lots of space to upgrade (ie they fill the cabin and allow last minute gate upgrades)
8 eVips for top elite
Elite program - promises top level unlimited domestic, and they actually have space to deliver
Widebody domestic service

PLUS
lounge access for elite status
decent business class product - (good but not as good as others)

Negatives
domestic lounges mediocre - no free alcohol or snacks
charge for luggage = planes overstuffed with caryon
targetted promos - this Canadian can't sign up for some of the promos advertised on the website (BOS promo, credit card promos etc etc)

PLT can upgrade TATL and TPAC w/o miles using SWU's earned at 2MM, 3MM, etc.

B+

Pros: Definitely the best program among US airlines, especially in controlling free upgrades (limited to EXP), amount of available seats for upgrades and allowing upgrades from virtually all fare classes; never had issues redeeming miles; 100% bonus miles for Platinums; all miles count towards MM status.

Cons: Upgrade co-pays; inability to book mileage upgrades online; inability to view award availability on partner airlines; paid cash upgrades at the airport which diminish the Business Class/First Class experience; elimination of stop-overs on award tickets.

My view, as a GLD who mostly flies domestic.

Pluses:
- Award availability is very good.
- Losing the stopover hurts, but overall, I like the change to the one-way award system.
- "Soft" benefits even at GLD level are useful (reserve exit row in advance for free; group 1 boarding; priority on standby).

Minuses:
- Expedite fees for <21 day booking. (a big pet peeve of mine)
- Upgrade award copays.

Overall grade: B+

A-

Pros:
100% mileage bonus for Plat/EXP
eVIP now usable on all fare classes!!
Flagship Lounge access on international flights
Customer Service (EXP line/AAngels)
Excellent domestic upgrade chances for EXP (90%+)
Free drinks/snacks for EXP on AE/mainline coach
Lifetime elite status possibilities
No checked luggage fee

Cons:
Can't book partner awards online
Can't book OneWorld awards online
No longer allow international stopovers on awards:td:
Poor implementation of free drinks/snacks on mainline domestic (better on AE)
No FL in DFW
TATL flights switching to 757L means much less chance for upgrades:td: and a much worse experience if left sitting in coach :td::td:

B plus. It wouldnt take much for them to be over the top, but the part that really needs to improve is the oneworld part, and I dont know if that is possible.

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98; PalmSource/Palm-D060; Blazer/4.5) 16;320x320)

I give the program A-
There are many pluses being EXP and feeling that someone will always help me when something goes wrong. It makes my travel more bearable.
I wish they would change two things. 1) Allow some of my benefits to apply to my immediate family traveling without me. For example bag fees, UM fees and priority check in among others. When my kids fly without me they just fly whatever is cheaper! I actually feel bad sometimes when I walk by the AA counter. Almost like I'm cheating!
2) I wish we could upgrade an award ticket! I know I could use more miles but why can't I use a VIP or stickers? As EXP I don't mind waiting to see if my UG would clear.

A-

AAdvantage really rewards loyalty to AA.

B+

While I consider Gold and Platinum Status a bit lacking given co pays and paid upgrades, Executive Platinum is hands down the best top tier of any airline.

Pros
1. EVIPS for Exec Plat. (Hands down the best perk of a US airline)
2. Unlimited domestic upgrades for free for Exec Plat.
3. Enhanced award availability for Executive Platinum
4. Million Miler qualification based on miles earned v. flown
5. OneWorld award options

Cons
1. Co-pays are high for upgrades (Which is why I grade B+, not A-)
2. Gold and Platinum pay to upgrade
3. Extreme difficulty with premium cabin awards on Qantas/Cathay Pacific
4. Abundance of regional jets and 757's on long hauls discounts value of Gold, Platinum and Executive Platinum for upgrades and seating comfort.
5. No lifetime Executive Platinum

A-
 

A-

I like the program and the removal of restrictions on EVIPs will hopefully work out in my favor... The only issue that I really have is the creation of a lot more EXPs due to 6 months of Double EQM.. leaving me with over 150k EQM...

I am missing more upgrades due to the flooding of EXPs.. even on tix booked 2+ months out..

I would give it a B+...it would be in the A range except for the following:

Recognition of status by one world partners of status is very poor. This may have little to do with AA, but the lack of upgrade availability on codeshare flights through miles, etc....is really bad for those elite flyers who have relocated to non-AA markets (such as AUS/NZL/HKG).

It is the best US based program, but the partner situation needs to be dealt with because I am now moving more business to *A carriers (through BD) where upgrades are available using miles.