I think more the point of the wording here is the life time of the program..not YOUR lifetime. Airlines have already gotten sued on this difference. Lifetime will continue, what remains to be seen is what level you're grand fathered in under the revamped program.

Better put than I did. Thanks.

Jim

If the elite levels change their names, they will most likely state something along the lines of... the AAdvantage Gold level will now be called AAdvantage Silver, and so forth. So every lifetime AAdvantage Gold will become a lifetime AAdvantage Silver, for example.

It's at risk because UA changed the terms of its million miler program after the merger, and those terms were not good for those of us that held 1MM status already. Over there lifetime Premier Executive, which had 100% bonus miles and 2 regional upgrades each year, plus an initial 3 systemwides on qualifying, became UA Gold and the 100% bonus miles became 50% bonus miles. The regional upgrades were eliminated. The lifetime status was no longer as valuable as it was before. None of the promised benefits there exist anymore.

From my letter from UA on reaching 1MM (actual BIS miles there) in 2010:

I don't have any of these benefits now. The changes at UA were the sole reason I stopped flying them 28 months ago now.

If AA were to come along and retitle AA Platinum to AA Plutonium, they could do exactly what UA did. Will they? The jury is out.

Of course the Million Miler program is subject to alterations. Just as the elite levels and benefits are. But I seriously doubt that it is subject to be terminated.

Not everyone on the UA forum holds that point of view. One argument there has been that the million miler program is distinctly different from the Mileage Plus program and is not subject to alterations or to the rules of the Mileage Plus program, so they have to abide by the marketing material sent out over the years and the benefits offered there. There is litigation ongoing over promised lifetime benefits so it's not over yet. I did not agree to let them take my promised benefits away.

And where is the million miler contract that both you and UA signed?

Yes. I'm aware of their claims. But that is total BS. Where do you think UA was tracking the information on how much people flew to qualify for million miler status? What program do the regional upgrades come from? What program do elite bonuses come from? What program did the Premier Executive program come from? There was nothing offered in the million miler program that wasn't being offered to fliers in the Mileage Plus program. The million miler program is very much connected to the Mileage Plus program. Which the airline has the right to change with very minimal notice.

We'll see. The litigation is still active and was not dismissed by the first judge it went past. All the other issues you raised are best discussed on the UA forum thread.

You're playing with semantics. It's not hard to imagine "alterations" being put through that make the program considerably worse than it is now...possibly to a level where they may as well have terminated it.

For someone who just made the US 1MM mark, I am very curious to see how the merger plays out in this regard. US only counts BIS on US metal towards the 1MM, while AA until fairly recently has counted all miles earned in the AAdvantage.

So after the merger, I wonder if they will be going back and counting miles on an equal footing for both airlines? If that were to be the case, I probably would have 3MM if you count the 100% CP mileage bonus, credit card spend, and my approx. 0.5 MM on AA from the past... maybe just wishful thinking on my part?

The point here is that no matter which school of thought you are coming from, it appears that the MM program can be changed with relative ease

We have to remember that AA did give all miles but you really need 2MM to get 100% bonus and club access on international flight (Platinum). To me those are the nicest features.

With UA you need 1MM BIS miles for club access on international flights. When UA and CO merged many UA members were given some pretty good bumps in lifetime miles.

I was EXP in their first year 1998 (points only back then) and left for NW in 2002 after a big issue with AA that made me think my future with them. I was EXP from 1998 to Feb 2003. I do have 3MM miles with them and would be pretty confident that I have well over 1MM BIS miles.

DL has worst program. There you need 1MM BIS miles for just silver. You don't even get there extra legroom seats until 24 hours with silver. You can be platinum with Starwood and get almost same benefits or their Amex card. I have 950K BIS miles there and gave up, after their meger everyday it seemed they were changing something for the worst, their awards are so ridiculous that I left them.

Not necessarily and that is why the UA litigation is still active. If a company makes certain representations about its product or services, it can be sued if it fails to deliver. Of course, corporate lawyers will put in disclaimers saying that we can change anything, at anytime for any reason, but they doesn't inoculate them from liability. My company warns us all the time about making certain representations or agreements even verbal agreements. If you don't follow-through on it, you can get sued. The UA case has legs and I think United is likely to settle or lose. However, the plaintiffs lawyers need to get paid and they will take half or more of whatever gets doled out. United is stupid for not settling out of court or just throwing Premier Executives a couple mostly worthless RPUs.

Hahaha! You're funny. The judge would have struck down the claim that the MM and MP program are separate if that claim had no merit (or, as you put it, "is total BS"). He didn't and the case is well underway. As for the rest of what you're going on about, that is UA-specific and should be discussed in the UA forum.

I don't think this has been brought up, but before moving to DFW I was CP for many years, but obviously switched over to AA.

What will they do with pax that have significant lifetime miles on US and AA? Already 2MM on AA so that's not the issue unless they start tweaking the total miles required.