cova

I do have one question on the <500 miles upgrades for companions.

Example:

Exec Plat and Companion (Gold) are same PNR and request upgrade for <500 mile flight.

Before - Exec Plat and Gold Companion grouped together for Exec Plat priority and 1 sticker if cleared.

Now - if Exec Plat and Gold Companion on same PNR - does the Gold get Exec Plat priority for upgrade and not need a sticker?

grahampros

So, essentially only minor changes for AAdvantage members with some pretty big changes for Dividend members. Not unexpected.

justinh20

-Yes, you'll need 2 stickers for 501 miles.
-Currently I know you can request upgrade without the stickers but if you don't have any stickers available when the upgrade window comes up you will get passed by.
-They are withdrawn at the time you are granted the upgrade before the flight
-The sticker(s) will not be deducted if you aren't upgraded
-Upgrades and stickers are on a per flight basis

scnzzz

not sure this is entirely accurate. For starters, BA has Bronze, Silver, Gold and GGL. (I don't see GGL as being equivalent to CK - that is BA's Premier level). QR also appears to have four levels, as does QF.

the key is I think assuring a minimum level of qualifying activity for each tier (and particularly, in the case of Emerald, the 100k EQM/EQP type of activity). Adding a fourth tier at the 75k level would be at best another tier that ties into Sapphire. Would not add a whole lot of benefit from an OW perspective for the 75k AAdvantage members were there to be a tier at that level. No way this tier would be grouped with Emerald.

SFOPhD

Incorrect, at least under pre-merger AA unpublished rules. Should be 1 sticker.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...solidated.html

fastflyer

-If a flight is 501 miles, do I need to burn 2 500-mile stickers to get upgraded?
Yes -- but there has historically been a "leeway" of 50 miles. So at 551 miles you will need the two stickers.

-When looking to redeem stickers, when I book a flight, do I need all the stickers necessary in my account at that point? Or at the point of the upgrade period a few days before the actual flight?
The stickers need to be in account at check-in. If there are not enough, you cannot check-in (and at the AA kiosk you will be prompted to buy only the additional stickers needed for the flights on that reservation)

-If you put in an upgrade request with stickers, are the stickers withdrawn from your account immediately? Or after the flight?
Stickers are deducted at check-in. If the flight cancels, they are re-deposited.

-If my upgrade doesn't clear, do they put the stickers back in my account?
They're never taken out unless the upgrade clears.

-If I have a multi-segment trip, can I request the upgrade for only specific segments? Or does it have to be all of them
You can pick and choose segments. Under the new rules, all segments less than 500 miles will be automatically requested, but presumably the check boxes for longer segments will remain.

miffSC

Oh, that's good news... two stickers for 552 miles.

PepeBorja

So there will be Uber Elites and then the rest of the pack (gold/plat) don;t seem much different. Got to play games with stickers.

As a former DL Diamond I enjoyed near 100% UGs. As a DL Plat today I am flying in FC on 3 of 4 flights this week. I am also a a US Plat and I do pretty well in UGs and enjoyed 4 out of 6 UGs when traveling with the LadyFriend last week. That's going to be all gone.

The program does not seem attractive for those of us that fly 90+ but less than 120 segments or can each 100K miles.

I guess we US Plats got the shaft in this deal.

Wish I could say I am excited about the future but i ain't.

abracadaver

Can any AA'ers point me in the right direction on what these "Upgrade Stickers" mean? I'm currently Chairman's on US for 2014. I'll only be qualifying for US-Gold/AA-Platinum next year, however. I'm just trying to figure out what this means for me. If I fly every week or bi-weekly - what do I have to do to get upgraded? It's not automatic anymore?

Thanks.

FLgrr

And they will combine lifetime totals to get people closer or over the any million miles levels they can. Surely these to will be combined soon. It's in the other thread http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...program-3.html

JonNYC

Very glad this was asked and answered-- was quite curious myself!

There isn't-- and won't be-- "lifetime ex plat" so no change there.

I don't expect any major tinkering with the lifetime elite program at this time.

Nor is there any reason to expect radical award chart changes on the heels of this announcement-- as pointed out up thread that adjustment for this "cycle" was made with the introduction of more expensive AAnytime awards, etc., earlier in the year.

scnzzz

Fair enough; there is a very different perspective from each camp. FWIW it never occured to me that a transcon like PHL-SAN could be an easy upgrade. As an EXP I routinely end up duking it out at the gate for something like SJC-DFW so this is quite surprising.

I agree that in your situation it is a substantial devaluation.

For me the loss of F meals DFW-CLT is also a devaluation...I think there are some things that suck about the merger for both groups, and some things that are improved. Hopefully it all nets out for the FF population as a whole, sufficiently so that we don't lose a ton of HVFs to UA/DL and the merged entity succeeds.

Ted S

Switching UA to AA this was a downgrade for me as well. Sure, I was fighting in a long line as a mid-tier elite but cleared an awful lot of the time, well, on some routes -- it was more than AA's cert ratio would cover for sure.

Being forced into it would suck, no doubt, more so if you're well invested in lifetime or the particular routes serviced. I won't hit EXP (thankfully IMO) so I'm still "stuck" with certs though I do see their appeal more now than when I first jumped. You all have a real change & have to decide if this is the Airline / Program for you still. That's totally fair.

jordyn

Honestly, there's AA EXPs that don't see that sort of upgrade rate (mine is probably not much better than 75% this year), so I think going in that's an unrealistic expectation with the merged program and a bigger base of elites.

I do agree that the biggest downgrade is probably the loss of priority over the 50-74K fliers, but US's own upgrade priority scheme would largely correct that particular problem, no? I'm not sure what I think of using BIS miles as a tie-breaker, but it is probably more sensible than date of request, which tends to favor low value fliers over high-value ones. I'd think using something like EQP would probably be the best tie-breaker to reward higher-value fliers within tiers.

tom911

That's a big benefit compared to what UA did after their merger (retitled "lifetime premier executive" for million milers to "lifetime gold" and dropped the mileage bonus from 100% to 50%). They also stopped awarding two regional upgrades each year. That "ehancement" was enough for me to walk away from that carrier after 1 million BIS UA miles. Even if I hadn't left because of that, the upcoming revenue based program, awarding 11 miles per dollar at the 1K level, would have been the final knife in my back. 3,300 miles on a $300 transcon at UA, while AA is giving out 10,000 miles, would have easily made the decision for me.

I applaud AA for not messing with their lifetime programs.