UAAAPeter

Another One World mess. Mexicana was a really useful option to go to smaller places in Mexico. With AA miles useless on BA this is an alliance on life support especially as other airlines on One World don't seem to give miles unless you hand over your first born and fly F.

Spiff

I'm not quite sure I agree with this assessment, other than MX having been useful for tiny airports in Mexico.

AA miles are hardly useless on BA. I have had very pleasant F experiences on BA; I've flown MEX-LHR, LHR-SIN/BKK/HKG/SYD in F thanks to AAwards. (and help from a friend!) Were LHR not such an unpleasant place to fly through at the moment, I'd have added LHR-JNB/CPT to that list.

Other airlines may be stingy with AAdvantage earning on discount coach, but all give full miles for codeshAAres, regardless of fare paid.

I thought Oneworld was the best alliance of the three before MX joined and was pleased when they did join. Their (possibly temporary?) departure does not detract from being a part of a great alliance. How else does one fly CX F without spending 5 figures? (or paying J and upgrading with AsiaMiles)

kebosabi

AA miles were useless on BA flights between US and the UK due to government restrictions on both sides of the Atlantic and not the fault of either airlines. The reciprocity were true for BA Executive Club members because of this as well; BA miles were not allowed to claim awards on AA flights between the US and the UK too. But that is finally to change starting late this year/early next year as decades long negotiations for anti-trust has finally been OK'ed.

Plus, there while there were restrictions on using AA miles on BA between US and the UK, there was no such restriction between Canada/Mexico/Caribbean-UK. Never had problem using AA miles for YVR/YYZ/MEX-LHR when I needed to.

Doc Savage

Nutz. They had the best service from the Bay Area to Mexico. Free bags, free booze, and pleasant FAs.

HeadInTheClouds

This is quite a blow for AA in Mexico though. AA has gone from a great position to the worst of the big three. With UA vaulting to the #1 spot for Mexico on its own metal with the CO merger, and the DL/AM network remaining strong despite the codeshare fiasco of recent weeks, AA's Mexico reach is taking a hit here. Routes like LAX/ORD-MEX, ORD-MTY, etc. aren't exactly tiny airports, and MX was very helpful to AA on such routes.

I couldn't agree more. I'd even say that somewhere around 65%+ of my AA miles are redeemed on BA flights. In fact, my top two reasons for keeping EXP are AA VIPs & access to BA award inventory. While people here seem to love the in-flight AA experience, I view it as something to have to bear through to get access to those two things - and they're well worth the price!

cieligne

Just another comment; I know many folks have focused on the MX impact to west coast, but AA will probably want to look at MEX-JFK as well. It would be a nice and fairly logical add to their JFK hub where they want to be competitive with DL and soon enough the "united" UA/CO from EWR.

In both cases (DL and CO) the competition flies their own metal to MEX from JFK or EWR. AA has nothing.

Likewise, ORD-MEX, probably not in danger, but you can see where the MX flameout necessitates AA to look at something in terms of filling the remaining holes to Mexico.

AA has its hands full with BA/IB and JL right now, but this is an unexpected situation I think they should respond to. Even if MX comes back in some form, AA would be foolish to rely on MX any more. It needs to shift some planes around and could easily fill in some holes especially to its 4 or 5 cornerstone cities with LAX and JFK being particularly vulnerable. Since there isn't even code share, how many FF'ers are really going to want to coonect over DFW to MEX or Monterrey or GDL or CUN or ???

controller1

CO is reaching out to Mexicana passengers. I wonder if AA will do likewise?

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...assengers.html

FlyMeToTheLooneyBin

Sad to hear MX die. And after OW spent all the effort converting their computer systems.

sdsearch

Perhaps from ORD, but from LAX AA had partner AS flying LAX-MEX before MX joined and still has them now. So for LAX (because of AS being there), I don't think MEX was as important as from "more eastern" cities where AS wasn't a Mexico option.

chanp

Sounds pretty clever to me.

HeadInTheClouds

Yes, but AS is once a day... MX was what, 6x/day? Just commenting that a lot of options are now gone.

wandering_fred

I think in many markets the ability to add (new routing) flights will be restricted by the bi-lateral air treaties - eg JFK-MEX

Wandering to Mexico has just been slowed.


Fred

IC6A

I won't feel sad with the departure of MX if the hard lesson is learnt by dissatisfied AA/BA union members:

Think more for company survival
Think less for union flag

Dallas49er

No idea what you are talking about vis a vis redemption.

No problems here. My experience has ALWAYS been, with flexibility on my part, redemption is easy. SAAver awards over the last 18 months:


1. DFW-PHL rt w/i 4 hours:4 times (medical emergencies)

2. LGA-OTP rt in Y for funeral booked 7/2/10 for 9/2010 travel

3. DFW-SFO-HKG-YVR-DFW on CX in F booked 8/11/10 for 11/10 travel

4. DFW-NRT-BKK-NRT-DFW on AA/JL in F booked 8/15/2011 for travel 12/2010-1/2011

I guess YMMV (without flexibility).

sts603

Ummm. Have you tried redeeming miles on CO, DL or UA? And to a lesser extent US?

Clearly you haven't because your assessment of the relative value of AA miles has no bearing on reality. Most people will say that 2 DL = 1 AA. Their loyal fliers didn't coin the term skypesos for fun. An IAH-based CO PLAT/AA EXP friend says the same about CO miles. And lets not get started on UA's STARNET blocking.