Alex_I

- I have a colleague who flies once or twice a year on business. A few weeks ago he was very happy to find milesAAver tickets for his wife and two children to Europe - all avoiding BA and fuel surcharges. Initially, he was very enthusiastic of taking AA flights to TPA with connection in MIA to get some more miles for future trips. With the overnight changes in AA award structure, he is now trying to convince me to take a cheaper and also more convenient non-stop flight by DL.
Actually, I could join him on DL as well. As SPG PLT and Crossover Awards I will be getting priority boarding, 1 free bag that I do not check anyway, and SPG points for my DL flight that I can still use with Starwood! I will re-qualify for AA EXP by mid July anyway. Since AA is willing to devaluate my miles in an instant, I do not care of getting more miles for my flight as I have plenty already.
It looks like that I just convinced myself to take a DL flight as my way to say that I am unhappy with AA. This will also save my company money and give me more time with my family.
I will still continue flying AA for now but my long-term loyalty is mainly gone and I will take on other opportunities with other carriers. As for my colleague, he is likely to sign for another credit card with another airline and dump AA altogether after spending all the AA miles.

Often1

Bingo. Buried in your explanation is the throw-away, "save my company money and give me more time with my family."

Taking the first part of the proposition, I can assure you that many high-end businesses would look askance at people taking circuitous routings -- particularly on company time, whatever that is -- when non-stop routings are available. As to the latter, time with the family is indeed valuable.

People who are both costing their company money and harming their family in order to line their own pockets are an infintesimal minority of HVC's because by definition they do not advance in the world as their compass points in the wrong direction.

QueenOfCoach

^

josmul123

It took me 10 years to finally earn PLT on American. This is my first PLT year.

Needless to say, I'm thrilled that the mileage runs I did in January and February in an attempt to requalify for next year only worked toward requalifying me into a program I no longer feel I should be loyal to.

I even squeezed into the worst coach experience I've ever had doing ORD-PHX-SEA-PHX-ORD two days in a row on US Airways.

Aside from the fact that <5cpm seems to be a thing of the past no matter what the city pair is, it's nice to see that those miles I put myself through hell to earn can't be used for the ONLY type of award I ever booked (I usually use miles to book an ORD-LHR round-trip in fall with a stopover for a couple of days at JFK on the return).

I should have just stopped when they took away the Citibank AAdvantage debit card.

MDWCommuter

Or Chicago and definitely not in Atlanta.

Btw, the people that need to hear your displeasure are not sitting in Dallas nor are they the people answering their Twitter feed. The real puppet masters (would have used a more salty word, but alas, this is FT) that need to hear it are sitting at 399 Park Ave in NY. They are not going to be very happy to hear that their golden goose is misbehaving.

Often1

Seriously? You don't think that AA doesn't fully brief and obtain at least a concensus with its banking partners?

MDWCommuter

Sure I do. I totally think they sold it thru Citi before doing it. Keyword "sold". What I don't think is that Citi is prepared to hear blowback that reflects negatively on them, especially when people throw around terms like "bait and switch" and "deceived".

All I'm saying is if you're going to tell someone how much you've been wronged, tell Citi and not AA. I'm sure they'd be the *most* interested party in this deal. Far more than either Ms. Rubin or DUI Dougie.

Andaz5

When booking award travel now, the points needed are no longer listed on the award buttons.... you think they are going to spring another change with out notice and increase the points needed...

What's "OK" mean... ok for now, but we may withdraw more miles from your account later on if needed???

sad now, I no longer trust American Airlines.

Fanjet

I'm sorry. But just exactly how do you word that?

Dear Citi, I have been churning credit cards with you for the past few years. Doing manufactured spend (vanilla just isn't a flavor of ice cream after all ), so that I am able each year to book an F award ticket to Asia/S America/Europe for about $200 in those associated fees. I feel that these changes at AA will question my loyalty to both you and AA going forward.

MDWCommuter

Who said anything about churning? Citi is a bank that would like you as a customer. One of the ways they tempt you to join them is by offering mileage credit cards backed by (now devalued) miles purchased from AA. Making their credit card less valuable makes Citi less interesting as a bank to a bank-shopping and credit card-shopping customer.

Again, all I'm saying is if you want to complain to someone about AA's devaluation, feel free to yell at AA but also tell Citi. They have a lot at stake here and a teeth-gnashing phone call from Citi will mean a lot more than a tweet from me or you.

HatAndJacket

...could be worse DP could pull an Anderson (Gd forbid) and go revenue-based

Fanjet

And how did that work out with Chase when the angry UA fliers e-mailed in to them after their devaluation? Or with AmEx when DL did theirs? The reality is that most people who sign up for an airline affinity cc, do so to only get one. And moreover, they're looking to get a free domestic award... in Y. Which is how they happen to market them to the consumer. But so far, at all of the three carriers, those reward levels (at the Saver level) have managed to survive the current devaluations. A bank very much places a "value amount" on each of its customers. And the customer who pays them the most in fees (i.e. interest charges) has more value than one who buys a lot of Vanilla Reloads. Which I think they will factor in when reading a lot of these complaints.

Alex_I

- That is a very good point. From the City perspective, they have purchased a whole bunch of AA miles but last week AA decreased the value of the miles by making changes to the AAdvantage program. The City should ask for a lower price next time!

Alex_I

- I am sure there are many examples of this.
In my case the difference between AA and DL is in just the MIA fees ($12?). As an EXP I will be having some good chances of flying in F while paying Y on AA and then having some work done when flying. There are obvious AA EXP advantages for standby and handling flight interruptions over just a passenger on DL. In the past, I will not be considering DL even for a larger price difference and paying my own money.
The family would then benefit from having enough AA miles to fly in F to Hawaii. This is how it worked in the past.
However, the rules of the game have changed overnight.

Andaz5

It's just not harming your family or costing your company money.... flying is unhealthy... Sitting for long periods of time... when the seat belt sign is on and you have to hold it... and those TV dinners served in first class... not good for the body.