Apr 8, 2014, 2:44 pm
Last edit by: JDiver
AA Increases AAnytime Award Mileage Costs / Adds Tiers [8 Apr 2014]
AA Award Changes for travel as of June 1, 2014:
http://hub.aa.com/en/nr/pressrelease...light-services
• Explorer Awards (formerly known as oneworld Awards) discontinued (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...pr-2014-a.html)
• AAnytime Awards split into Levels 1, 2, 3
• MilesSAAver Awards remain split into Levels 1 (formerly Off-peak) and Level 2 (formerly Peak)
• Link to Miles tiers and requirements for award travel through May 2014
• Link to Miles tiers and requirements for awards travel as of June 1 2014
AAnytime Award Tiers by Date (note that they vary by regions)
Green = Level 1
Yellow = Level 2
Red = Level 3
CONUS Calendar:
N. America - Hawaii Calendar:
New AAnytime rates, including current Level 3 prices (no more guessing what the * means):
Moderator Note:
We would invite members who are frustrated at this change and interested in venting, or who would like to discuss ways to communicate displeasure to the powers that be, to head to this thread:
Angry about AAdvantage devaluation / vent / what can I do? (April 2014, consolidated)
AA Increases AAnytime Award Mileage Costs / Adds Tiers [8 Apr 2014]
Apr 8, 2014, 10:30 am
#136
Join Date: May 2002
Location: St Louis, MO
Programs: AA L.T. PLT
Posts: 3,304
The repetition of twitter responses is starting to get amusing, with the two below alternating almost every other reply to someone:
"These policy changes ensure we can invest in and deliver the best possible products and services."
"These changes are based on our study of industry trends & policies of our global competitors."
"These policy changes ensure we can invest in and deliver the best possible products and services."
"These changes are based on our study of industry trends & policies of our global competitors."
Apr 8, 2014, 10:33 am
#137
Join Date: May 2002
Location: St Louis, MO
Programs: AA L.T. PLT
Posts: 3,304
Absolutely. Bragging for ever about the 90K "sweet spot" etc just to get people
excited and have them click their affiliate links. That's all it is really, very simple.
Endless selfies from 1st class cabins taken weekly... What can we expect?
Since I started my photo-blog I discovered how disgusting most of the bloggers are.... I had no idea before.
excited and have them click their affiliate links. That's all it is really, very simple.
Endless selfies from 1st class cabins taken weekly... What can we expect?
Since I started my photo-blog I discovered how disgusting most of the bloggers are.... I had no idea before.
Apr 8, 2014, 10:39 am
#138
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: AUS
Programs: AA Ex Plat 2MM
Posts: 14
Wow, this change is truly horrible.
Here is my situation.
I book AAnytime awards. Yes, they cost a lot of miles, but I pay that extra to
get the chose the flights I want with my family. I ain't doing crazy routing with younger kids.
Now,I know that over time, airlines will bump up the requirements for mileage tickets. AA's done this in the past. It sucks, but I can deal with that.
But, what is truly horrible is this new "AAnytime Tier 3" awards where the dates and the mileage requirements ARE NOT PUBLISHED.
Consider this. Before, I knew a RT ticket to the Bahamas was 70,000 miles for an anytime award. (Now bumped up to 75,000 for Tier 2). If there was a seat available, I could book that ticket for a known mileage redemption. I could depend on this. I might delay my booking while my last trip clears.
NOT ANYMORE!
Now, AA has said that certain dates will require more mileage. How much? Not specified! When? Not specified! Will this be dynamic based on load? Not specified!
Now, when I go book this 75,000 mileage ticket, it may suddenly cost 100,000 miles. Maybe 1,000,000?
This is effectively an unpublished, potentially-dynamic, blackout date. This is even worse than a blackout date. At least you know those.
Generally speaking, there is no longer a maximum mileage redemption for any flight. At AAnytime, AA can decide that only tier 3 seats are available and charge whatever they feel like that day.
This is just horrible.
Here is my situation.
I book AAnytime awards. Yes, they cost a lot of miles, but I pay that extra to
get the chose the flights I want with my family. I ain't doing crazy routing with younger kids.
Now,I know that over time, airlines will bump up the requirements for mileage tickets. AA's done this in the past. It sucks, but I can deal with that.
But, what is truly horrible is this new "AAnytime Tier 3" awards where the dates and the mileage requirements ARE NOT PUBLISHED.
Consider this. Before, I knew a RT ticket to the Bahamas was 70,000 miles for an anytime award. (Now bumped up to 75,000 for Tier 2). If there was a seat available, I could book that ticket for a known mileage redemption. I could depend on this. I might delay my booking while my last trip clears.
NOT ANYMORE!
Now, AA has said that certain dates will require more mileage. How much? Not specified! When? Not specified! Will this be dynamic based on load? Not specified!
Now, when I go book this 75,000 mileage ticket, it may suddenly cost 100,000 miles. Maybe 1,000,000?
This is effectively an unpublished, potentially-dynamic, blackout date. This is even worse than a blackout date. At least you know those.
Generally speaking, there is no longer a maximum mileage redemption for any flight. At AAnytime, AA can decide that only tier 3 seats are available and charge whatever they feel like that day.
This is just horrible.
Apr 8, 2014, 10:46 am
#141
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Austin, Texas
Programs: Airline nobody. Sad!
Posts: 26,062
US increases the 90k, heavily blogged about North America-North Asia J award to 110k, but doesn't increase the 60k Y award or the 120k F award for the exact same routing? Bloggers beat the living snot out of posting and bragging about the 90k US Airways redemption. They rarely mentioned the 60k Y, nor the 120k F, on the exact same routing. Which one went up? The one mentioned most by bloggers. It is quite easy to infer the reasoning behind the change.
Apr 8, 2014, 10:50 am
#143
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Austin, Texas
Programs: Airline nobody. Sad!
Posts: 26,062
Apr 8, 2014, 11:00 am
#144
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: LBB
Programs: UA 1K 1MM ★G | Marriott LTT | Hilton ♦ | Hertz PC | Global Entry TSA Pre ✓
Posts: 2,820
It's not too late to status match over to UA... we have had our fair share of devaluation, but not like this.
Join up and at least rest assured that you will not be gouged because you want to travel on a Monday versus a Tuesday on the same award ticket class.
Bad move by AA/US
_______________
2014: UA CPU 11/16 || UA PQM 25,446 || UA PQS 31.5 || UA PQD $5,270 || UA CPM $0.25 DEN|SLC|CLE|GRR|MCI|ORD|BTV|EWR|MSP|STL|IAD|LAX|SB P|SFO|COS|MSN|FAT
Join up and at least rest assured that you will not be gouged because you want to travel on a Monday versus a Tuesday on the same award ticket class.
Bad move by AA/US
_______________
2014: UA CPU 11/16 || UA PQM 25,446 || UA PQS 31.5 || UA PQD $5,270 || UA CPM $0.25 DEN|SLC|CLE|GRR|MCI|ORD|BTV|EWR|MSP|STL|IAD|LAX|SB P|SFO|COS|MSN|FAT
Apr 8, 2014, 11:01 am
#145
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
Exactly - quit whining, all of you. The rules have changed - a lot, as expected. And, they will continue to change in the future, probably negatively. New AA will continue to optimize its rules and regs - including for AAdvantage -- so as to optimize their profitability. Your job is to optimize your own behavior within the constraints they provide. If you don't like it, take Amtrak.
, but it's pretty much spot on, in my opinion.We can't much influence what Mr. Parker and his newer and old minions gin up for us, but we can continue doing what FlyerTalk has always been good for: bringing information and awareness to flyers so they can make informed decisions and use the rules to take the maximum advantage of the airline offers, from the best seats to maximising awards and using the arcane bits to get properly accommodated, etc.
Apr 8, 2014, 11:05 am
#146
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: DCA
Posts: 7,769
Then again, how much worse could it get than what it currently is anyhow? Want to fly domestically? Better get ready to do it on US metal through crappy US gateways. AA hardly releases any SAAver availability on its own metal anymore. International? Forget about it. Get ready to pay BA fuel surcharges or snag one of 1 or 2 J/F class seats that other partners release. Exactly 331 days out or no luck. And the brilliance of pulling things back on the SAAver availability side is that they don't have to be accountable to it. We can't see their back end. We don't know what they're releasing. Everything regarding trends on the supply side is just based on conjecture and crowdsourced data. So AA can play dumb and act like they're not doing anything, while turning up the heat to force people over to the new high AAnytime levels.
Just my guess.
Apr 8, 2014, 11:09 am
#149
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: BOS
Programs: Marriott LTG, HHonors Diamond, Nat'l Exec
Posts: 3,581
I just wonder if this is the mAAsacre/AArmageddon we've all been waiting for... or whether there is more to come. Seems like if they were going to hit saver awards, they should have done it all in one shot, but who knows. Of course, this could be a sign of creeping AAnytime-ization of savers...
Still, could we just get some communication from AA/US on the complete list of changes? People keep finding "enhancements" -- e.g., US has apparently eliminated mileage upgrade copay waivers for US elites without much announcement. How many more surprises are we going to discover today?
I would write a nasty letter, but I'm not even sure what I'm complaining about yet!
Apr 8, 2014, 11:10 am
#150
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: BOS
Programs: Marriott LTG, HHonors Diamond, Nat'l Exec
Posts: 3,581