Fanjet

What would be the problem with 4 tiers and OW? 1st tier=Ruby. 2nd tier=Sapphire. 3rd tier=Sapphire, as well (which is what someone right now who flies 75K EQMs with AA has). And 4th tier=Emerald.

nall

AA would not be the first OW airline to have more than three tiers. Pretty sure JAL does.

Stripy

I don't believe I said that there would be a problem with it - I was suggesting that I thought that comparing AA's FFP to other OW carriers may be a more logical way to look at things rather than comparing it to other US legacies with whom they have little relationship other than as a competitor.

Fanjet

AA's biggest competitors are going to be UA and DL. And it needs to market itself with that in mind. Having 4 tiers does nothing to change the dynamics of AA in OW, unless they did something like make 3rd tier (out of 4) be Emerald. Which they won't.

nkedel

That's too customer-friendly; my bet is on:
1st tier = no oneworld status
2nd tier = ruby
3rd tier = sapphire
4th tier = emerald

Mind, that's purely on pessimism, not on any set of evidence, just as my present operating assumption that the 4 tiers are going to be "Gold, Platinum, Something, Something" and not "Silver, Gold, Platinum, Something."

I'm rather confused by the interaction between JAL Mileage Bank and JAL Global Club; it looks almost like they've got two sets of tiers.

BA has a 4th level, but it's invitational.

They also name their no-status level (so technically there's 5), as do several others.

Qantas has 4 earn-able levels, although Platinum One looks wickedly hard.
LAN has 4, as well. In both those cases, both 3rd and 4th tiers are emerald.

More details on all of them here:
http://www.oneworld.com/ffp/my-oneworld-tier-status

If the 4th tier was a formalized "super-EP" at 125k EQP or something, it might make sense to make the top two Emerald. There's already precedent for that with Qantas and LAN.

Stripy

Based on this why would AA change anything? My understanding is that AAdvantage is widely considered to be the best domestic FFP so why would AA feel any need to change what they already have to mimic what are, by extension, inferior offerings?

nkedel

The best from which perspective? It's certainly the most customer-friendly, but does it in fact do the best job of encouraging loyalty from a revenue perspective? UA and DL didn't go to 4 levels, and didn't add a spend requirement for their elite levels, just to piss people off. They did it because they thought they'd make more money, either by making the remaining incentives more valuable for the remaining customers (thus increasing demand/loyalty) or because they thought that the incremental revenue saved would be greater than the loss in demand.

Ditto AA's decision, years back, to add copays to upgrade cheaper fares on miles, and their more recent one to formalize the Million Miler benefits and limit those to BIS miles. Both made the program less valuable to many people, and thus a "worse program" by most standards, but AA clearly believed they were worth it.

matrixwalker2012

If AA adds a super EXP tier, they really should call it AADVANTAGE AADMIRAL. Anyone agree? It'd go well with giving every AAdmiral complimentary access to the AAdmirals Club, a club for AAdmirals and anyone else who wants to pay

nall

75k tier seems most likely, given US already has one. Unless they decide to go five tiers...

But I agree, if a 125k tier was added, club access would probably come with, ala Delta.

EDIT: But either way, I expect there will be more ways to earn EQM than there are now.

MiamiFlyer

ROFL, and if they are also Concierge status with AA, what's above AAdmiral?

JDiver

My guess is AA may well add a 75k level (e.g. Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum - or Silver, Gold, Platinum and Chairman's, hmmm, or the like), and if they retain MM levels the whatever-50k-will-be-called lifetime folks will be at a disadvantage with 75k and 100k ahead of them for upgrades, etc. (After all, UA and US have them already; DL is the only one with 125k, so this could be marketed as an "advantage" over SkyMiles / Medallion status.)

I also don't think they will add a 125k level because if they do it will be in conflict with what oneworld offers; 75k will have all the benefits 50k have, lounge access, etc. but will earn some additional perks within the AA program. I DO think they may well add a minimum revenue requirement for each tier, and they may end the concept of US members "buying up" to status - well, depending on what their internal accounting shows.

I think Darren at Boarding Area (see here) is not too far off.

It's all speculation, but these changes would not surprise me. Some AA flyers might move their FFP to Alaska for MVP status, not to mention earning qualifying miles with Alaska (of course) as well as Aeroméxico, American, Delta, Emirates, KLM and LAN, and some status recognition on AA and DL.

AA_EXP09

Revenue requirements only for American addresses, like others is what I expect.
I do have documentation in 3 other countries that I can move the account to, though.
(Then again, this is ALSO at a cost because many promos are for Americans only-unless I can move the address out of America BEFORE the end of the year but AFTER the promotions!)

Stripy

Losing OW Sapphire and/or 100% RDM bonuses would be significant devaluations in the MM program but I agree that one of them will probably go. It's hard to say which would be the lesser of two evils - losing OW Sapphire would probably be a bigger blow to international travelers while not such a big deal to those who travel on mainly domestic itineraries (although it would still be a blow).

ak333

I don't think lifetime PLTs will lose OW Sapphire Status; AA could be open to law suits for that one, but I do think we will go down from 100% RDM to 75%.

JDiver

I don't think the second tier (50k EQM/EQP) will lose oneworld Sapphire status - that would be too much "in your face" to oneworld and disruptive. But I do see a 75k with Sapphire and some internal / AA extra goodies to make it seem like a genuine status level.

Unfortunately, one of those will be precedence for upgrades, etc. over the 50K and 25K levels. So unless the Lifetime status thing gets changed, the 50K will at least lose some traction on upgrades.