cstead

The problem is, there are far too many biz travellers in the US, especially the domestic market, that have either a Y-only, or even worse, a cheapest-only, travel policy. In Europe, you have a higher amount of business travel taking place in the front cabins, which justifies both the larger capacity premium cabins than domestic airlines and the higher quality products because they are consistently being paid for. Intra-EU flights tend to have adjustable cabins too, so the only change is in the catering really.

If US airlines were to get rid of upgrades all together, they would probably have to configure their domestic aircraft with 12-18 premium Y seats (basically UA E+ with meal service), and the rest would be Y- other than a few very specific markets like the LAX/SFO/BOS/JFK/IAD/MIA transcons. I have a feeling that on international fleets, the number of seats is a little more right-sized, but we do know that UA reduced premium capacity by a significant amount across the fleet in their refurb, and AA stated that they were keeping the cabin the same size so that elites could still upgrade. Basically, there is no shortage of demand for Y travel, even mid and upper Y fares, but there isn't that same level of demand for premium travel. This is being exacerbated by the current economic conditions, with slashed travel budgets and more policies being amended PE and Y travel that used to be J.

Efrem

As I read it, it wouldn't affect elite qualification at all. The bonus miles being eliminated are redeemable miles (toward awards), not elite qualification miles.

Tango

. . .and if you order a alcoholic drink and a mixer, you get charged twice!

AndyAA

There are plenty of eviler things to do to try to earn revenue and encourage certain behavior, like baseing everything off of EQP's, and processing upgrades firstly by fare class (full fare, discount, deep discount), and then by elite status.

Gandhi90s

I think the poster was referring to lifetime status.

aaupgrade

I see #3 happening to a greater degree in near future with additional reduced capacity. AA has big motivaiton to sell every seat they can. If there are destinations where paid seats are unavailable close to the departure date, this is a good thing for AA as it will allow them to increase the price of paid seats. The end game on AAward availability is that long term planning will be your best bet. Even then, I am sure award inventory will be reduced, and awards closer to departure will be very rare on any route remotely popular. Fortunately this is already my SOP for mileage upgrades on any type of popular route (in my case Intl, Transcons beginning/end of work week, and EGE). Other trips I will continue to use stickers and see what happens. Less inventory makes EXP even more important than before. Unfortunately YUP prices have increased 50% $1300 to over $2000 on my favorite BWI-HNL route. I also anticipate the oneworld ATW and CirPac products will probably have a nice price increase come July 1 as they did last year; JUST A GUESS.

ESpen36

Folks, I don't think we should be even talking about this issue! We don't want to tempt AA mgmt to consider it! (and we know AA monitors this forum)

If we discuss it, or discuss alternatives, we show that we are open to it. Bad idea! We should just outright refuse to accept it, as many on the US Airways forum have said.

Plato90s

The question is how big a part of the total value proposition the mileage program represents.

For USAirways, I don't think it's as large as AA. American was the airline that pioneered the FF program, and they have a lot of partners. This is a core value proposition for the airline - not so much for USAir.

brp

I hope you don't believe that:

a) they're getting ideas from reading this thread that they have not already thought about- especially given that one of their competitors just did it.

b) they give a damn whether the few people here on FT might "accept" it.

While they do read FT, and have done things based on reading here, or working with some of us off line, I don't think they're looking here for revenue ideas or acceptance

Cheers.

giggy

I agree. fee's, capacity cuts, and fare increases will make most of the kettles go away. That leaves FFers, messing with us would be very dangerous in the long run

jcrossen

This would be very dangerous indeed. American, and really all of the legacy carriers, have lost any advantage of being better in terms of service, amenities, and planes. The LCCs like Jet Blue, F9, Virgin, etc seem to have better in flight amenities and newer planes. But none of them, IMO, can compare with the value of AAs FF program and AA needs to keep that alive and strong ... otherwise what really puts them ahead of other airlines in competitive markets?

brp

So, let's say that they did eliminate the bonus miles for elites. I'd still be able to get free domestic upgrades, something I can't do on WN (don't know about the others). I'd still get my eVIPs and be able to upgrade internationally. I'd still get additional help during IRROPS. I'd still get my free snacks on Eagle

All I'd lose is the extra RDM.

While I'd prefer that this not happen, the EXP benefits I get would still be there, and It'd still be better for me than the LCCs, not substantially different than it is now.

Cheers.

giggy

OTOH less cap will mean less UGs,So an alternative to a FF program with status could be: flying Lcc's for half price all year, and using the savings to just out right buy intl biz seats for long hauls

Pickles

One upside of them eliminating bonus miles is that I wouldn't feel any allegiance to AA on transpac to Japan and would switch to JL without feeling like I'm leaving miles on the table.

Right now, when I fly paid transpac I fly AA and use the accumulated miles + bonuses in JL J or F.

cstead

It is funny that once a thread, someone warns everyone else not to give airline XYZ any ideas Then again, with the way we perceive airline management, it probably wouldn't surprise me. I mean, if I had the choice between throwing darts at a board or FT for figuring out how to run my business, I know what I would pick!