UA just went rev based for miles in 03/2015, will AA soon follow??
 

UA just announced rev based earning ala follow DL today. When do you think the new AA will follow? Does anyone think AA will be the lone wolf and stay nonrev based?

lets hope that AA, stays the lone wolf, the DL annoucement is one of the reasons, starting next year, my wife
(dl Gold) is shifting to AA

No. JMHO

Two of the big three kingpins running the oligopolistic US airline industry cartel are now going to be on the same page. Why would AA not follow its cartel kingpin brethren?

This is an industry of lemmings run by and for lemmings. Why wouldn't AA play "copy meet cat"?

It'll happen sooner or later. My bet would be when the programs combine in 2015.

I may be in the minority but I welcome the revenue based program based upon my current flying patterns.

As an East Cost segment flyer, getting PQM's and RDM's is difficult to accrue. I can't remember that time I got a ticket for less than $600.

I might finally accrual some decent miles to use for all that travel on CRJ's

May 1, 2016.

Writing is on the wall. AA *WILL* follow the rest of the industry. If you are a business traveler playing high margin fares and DL and UA dangling more miles for your business, that's one extra incentive to switch over.

I think it's only a matter of time until AA matches, most likely in 2015 when the programs combine. I'd guess either Jan 1, 2015 or March 1, 2015 as the most likely dates.

If AA doesn't match, expect a huge influx of all of us over on UA to be heading your way.


RIP UA.

The smart thing would be not to match initially and see if there is a large influx of desirable customers or other positive effects on profitability. If not, match the others.

If you think about it, a revenue based loyalty program is by far the most sensible approach. Just imagine if a credit card company had a reward program based on the number of charges made, or the weight of goods bought, rather than just dollars spent. Everyone would think it is silly.

Well, let's see:

DL: revenue based
UA: revenue based
WN: revenue based
B6: revenue based
VX: revenue based

You're also talking about a change that helps the bottom line (less RDMs on cheap fares, gets rid of the college student flying cheap fares connecting TPA-MIA-JFK-ORD-DFW-LAX-SFO and back). And which airline in the USA can someone switch to to avoid a revenue based program?

At the moment you have AA, AS, NK and HA. That's it. (If anyone thinks switching to that motley crew of airlines is viable for an AA business customer who doesn't live in SEA/PDX, I'll have some of what you're smoking... and I will bet that AS changes at some point given their extraordinary dependence on partners.)

You do the math.

I have no doubt that both spend requirements for status and rev based earnings will be part of the AA landscape in the future.

I think it'll depend on what happens once UA moves to the revenue model. If AA sees an influx of new travelers, as they did after the UA devaluation, they could be incentivized to remain the only carrier with revenue-based as a differentiator.

I agree it's unlikely under the oligopoly that the US airline industry has become but AA has the "benefit" of the merger as an excuse to defer making a decision until at 2016