ContinentalFan

Agreed. It may be good news for frequent flyers, but this news is bad for the airline.

I think AA should definitely figure out a way to add extra incentives to those who could pay higher fares.

bdemaria

Fair enough - but - in the current economic environment - is there any such thing good news for airlines?

anc305

EXITROW

This kind of statement will probably get you flamed by the FT crowd but I have to agree. Those who say it doesn´t matter will try to put a positive spin on it . There are already threads about how can I get the most and cheapest. Who can blame folks but it does in fact dilute the EXP level and make upgrades harder to come by.

AA Premium travel is down . How about giving your premium travelers a little something like some extra miles for J and F classes. 25% for J and 50% for F . What a joke. During this same time period give 200% and 300% bonuses for the premium cabins.

I am sitting with 4 EXP , Lifetime Plats and they collectively have around $200K of J and F travel during this promotional period. None on AA . They won´t change as they all had hard times using their EVIP awards this year. They were told several times " there are a lot more in the system this year " by the EXP desk. They were using them to upgrade friends and family from Y to J . I was also told the same thing several times this year . As our company has a contract with both AA and BA , 2 of these persons are going to use BA so they can get gold on it and the other 2 are going to try STAR.

This is just a no bulls--it example of AA looking the wrong way . Do you want a $6500 TATL fare or 25 DFW-STL-ORD-SEA milage runs. AA has to use their LHR slots or lose them ( thus the new LHR-BRU-LHR route ) but the ones in the USA they can jsut cut back.

I have been on both sides of this argument over the years . Paying for my own tickets and then having the luxury of paid J TATL . In the near future I will be back to buying my own . That being said , " AA , Keep the Premium Flyers happy , they pay the bills " . The way things are going AA will go the way of Delta and eliminate F class . I still want to have the option to redeem for F and the only way that will happen is if you keep the Premium business flying IMHO.

MM983

Before I start.. just want to say that I really did try to look at this from the outside.


I still think that the EXP level won't increase too much because of the two DBEQM promos. Gold.. definitely yes. Gold this year is really easy to get especially if you were lucky enough to grab some double miles from the other promo. Platinum.. maybe. You can get platinum pretty easy as well if you can score some cheap MRs and have a little extra time on your hands.

Those that were close to EXP were probably going to start doing hardcore MRs starting next month anyways. Those that are little further away, say 40-50k away, will think seriously before proceeding. Not everyone will say "Oh.. what the heck.. it's ONLY 50k more". 50k is a lot... in the sense of doing MRs.

Now, of course, it may be a little difficult with respect to the hubs and "business-travel heavy flights", but that has always been the case. I don't want to claim to be a statistics type person, but with all the flights available on a daily basis, I'm sure the EXP pool gets evened out enough so that an EXP can clear to F with a reasonable and respectable percentage. 100%? Maybe not. But it won't be in the 30% range either.

veganmacrochick

I did the same thing. I'm checking every day and hoping....

NYC1K

Why check everyday? The T&C states Bonus EQM don't post until 6-8 weeks after Dec 15.

MM983

Not sure if that is 100% correct.


"Double elite-qualifying miles will be calculated at 100% of the elite-qualifying miles earned for each applicable flight and will be deposited into the account of the traveling AAdvantage member within 6-8 weeks after travel is posted to your account."

I read that as "take a trip on September 5 and the bonus miles will be in the bank no later than November 5."

Mark_T

From past experience start checking in 6 weeks and don't be surprised if it takes 8 weeks.

The final run is likely to be a couple of weeks after 12/15 though much as it was last time.

El_Chiflero

I went ahead and did the math. I'd end up with around 75K EQMS. So I'd like to invite those in the know about any good MR's I could go for starting from JFK or LGA.

Thanks!

SNA_Flyer

I completely agree with both of you. AA should have done this program with Q-Points, giving incentive to people who pay more for travel. I don't understand their reasoning doing it the way they do. And regardless of what people say here, it does dilute the program. To say it doesn't is ignorant.

ContinentalFan

That one's a head scratcher. It sounds like a Final Jeopardy question to me.

giggy

If they did q points, any status challenge would be at half the points, Thats a no no

3544quebec

AA have another ploy they are using to thwart me.

As no psychiatrist has commited me yet, I bought the following itinerary on AA.com today:

POA-EZE-MIA-DFW-HNL-LAX-LAS-LAX-SYD-MEL-LAX-JFK-GRU-POA

The limitations of booking ultra-mulltisegment itineraries on AA.com meant booking MEL-LAX-JFK-GRU-POA which I was planning on re-routing later to MEL-SYD-HNL-DFW-YUL-MIA-BOG-MIA-GRU-POA.

But here is where AA is sneaky - the website has pre-assigned me seat 38B
on the LAX-SYD and MEL-LAX segments (which don't earn DBLEQMs) and checking the QF seatmaps for the 747 (which these flights should be on)and A380 38B is in Premium Economy. From the seat maps only a 2 class 747 has Y seats in row 38 and these flights are definitely being sold as 4 class.

Now I dare not change my itineray because of the hope that I've scored an upgrade. I can just see myself arriving at check-in and being consigned back to steerage though. It means though rethinking my travels to pick up the extra 4000 EQMs I will llose by flying MEL-LAX instead of SYD-HNL-LAX.

Oh the pain! The pain!

giggy

you forgot the hnl-dfw-sea-syd leg

zman

Just a comment, will see if others agree
1-Mileage is based on fare class booked/ticketed and NOT your seat assignment
2-The double miles MUST be on AA/AE metal and AA flight numbers the way I read the rules


Double elite-status qualifying miles are not redeemable for award travel, but do count toward qualification for AAdvantage Executive Platinum, AAdvantage Platinum® and AAdvantage Gold® status. AAdvantage elite-qualifying double mile offer is valid only for travel on eligible purchased, published fare tickets on American Airlines, American Eagle or AmericanConnection® marketed and operated flights between September 2, 2009, and December 15, 2009, regardless of when the ticket was booked or ticketed. Flights operated by our codeshare partners or oneworldTM alliance carriers are not eligible for this promotion