jetsarefast2

I'm addicted to miles/points and traveling. Hardly ever (once or twice a year) do I fly for business travel, thus flights have been paid with my disposable income. It's a hobby and I make financial sacrifices, like eating the same type of meal every day. Currently I am an AAdvantage Platinum member, slated to reach Platinum again by the end of next month. Positioning myself with Southwest points to an airport with an AA airfare deal (MR) is how I've been able to reach that level. Now I'm thinking about Executive Platinum. With the American and US Airways merger looming ahead, I'm not so sure of its worth. (Also, the Southwest points are running low and future flights will have to come from Ultimate Reward transfers.) What are your thoughts?

Thank you for your time.

clacko

what will exp do for you other than maybe using swu/evips to ug next years runs?

fandu

More info for the MR please. I have been a DL Diamond (os whatever the highest status was) for the last 7 years and planning to switch to DL Platinum and AA Exec. Platinum.

mathlete

Personally, absent a DEQM, I'm going to let my EXP status drop to PLT for next year and wait and see how things shake out. My feeling is that except for the lack of SWUs, things might actually get better for mid-tiers in a merged program.

clacko

of course, you would have a shot at ug's on domestic runs as exp....

tcook052

The AA forum might be the better place to debate how valuable or invaluable future elite status in a merged airline could or would be.

Duffman

For me it depends on how much extra you have to spend to get there. The 8 SWU's are worth about $250/each. For me if you have to spend an extra $1400 to get it, its definitely worth it (sell 6, keep 2). Also, another benefit that I really, really enjoy is the ability to cancel and change any award ticket w/o a fee. This has proved invaluable to book award seats.

Now if you were spending $3000 to get those miles, I'd of course not do it.

I am just going to let my EXP expire this year, soft land to Plat and then see what kind of MR's are available next year.

jetsarefast2

As you state in a later post, Executive Platinum would allow complimentary upgrades on domestic economy fare tickets, making future MR's more comfortable. EXP would also allow access to the Flagship Lounge, better international loungers, plus priority boarding for Emerald members on oneworld partner airlines.

jetsarefast2

The tentative MR runs after achieving Platinum status are BOS/LGA-ANC over the weekends. Brutal flights but relatively good cpm. In addition, whatever good fares come up in the coming months...

jetsarefast2

Interesting. Why do you think the environment may get better for mid-tiers after the merger? I don't disagree or agree; personally, I believe Platinum could be less attractive if US Airways and American hands out a bunch of evips, making an upgrade more difficult to get than it is now. American could have better and bigger plans though, let's hope.

jetsarefast2

Thank you. I posted the topic here because most of the flights are mileage runs to achieve a certain AAdvantage program status.

tcook052

I understand but the folks on AA forum are better equipped to speculate about the relative worth of elite status on a merged airline which would help you determine whether you even needed to bother with more MR's if the consensus is achieving Exec Plat isn't worth it.

mathlete

Well, at the very least, unlimited domestic upgrades for all tiers in the other major programs. (Yes, yes, we can debate how this hurts upgrade % overall compared to stickers, but I was never going to pay money to upgrade anyway).

Assign a rough $ amount to all the benefits of EXP for the next year. Then look at how much extra you'll spend to get there. Simple as that.

mikelat

I've been EXP for the past 4 years and am already booked on ~50k of travel in CY '14 to get me on my way to re-qual. I'm 99% a leisure traveler, little to no work paid for travel. I look for good fares to places I want to visit and jump on them, preferably with SWUs to get me there comfortably. I've been around 5-6 CPM annually for my re-qual and that works for my budget and amount of vacation.

If the new American changes to require a higher fare on SWUs and has less chance of clearing at booking then I won't worry too much about EXP re-qual and will instead settle for Plat and then burn miles to upgrade Y-J for my reduced number of INTL trips. I'd like to get to LT Plat before really slowing down, but thats at least 3 years away and I suspect AA/US will change the program before I get there. Right now I try to maximize my SWUs and have been booking some great Asia fares for under $1k (or even only $650 SEA-ORD-PEK & return) and upgrading to J.

If the new American keeps SWUs with current 'restrictions', then I'll keep my efforts to maintain EXP. My GF likes the perks and I'm not going to complain. Wouldn't even mind if they did complimentary upgrades as long as companions are at same level as primary. Nice way to save the $30/500 miles flown if possible.

I don't fly just for the benefits. I fly to see places I visit and to get to visit places more comfortably than I'd be without status. I'm sure I would not have flown nearly as comfortably (or possibly not at all) to Tokyo, Shanghai, & Beijing on cheap fares without free upgrades to Business class. And I also would have missed out on phenomenal award redemptions SEA-SFO-HKG & return and even a one-way SYD-LAX on the Qantas A380.

Overall, it costs $$, but it's been worth it for what I've received out of it. Everyone has to make that call for their own situation though.

tcook052

As this seems more of a question of the relative worth of elite status levels post-merger AA/US than a question about MR's themselves I'll move OP's over to AA forum for members there to offer their input on the topic.

tcook052
Mileage Run Forum Moderator