REACTION DISCUSSION: Combined AA/US AAdvantage program announced Oct 2014 – opinions
 

Bump to get this up there.

For my part, I'm sure some will be upset at the 120 segment requirement (AFAIK brought over from US), and many more at the loss of 75k status.

OTOH lifetime miles may now be accrued on all oneworld flights flown in eligible miles-earning fare classes.

I'll sum up my reaction coming from the US side of the house: it sucks. :p

Other than the additional system wide upgrades I agree with you, the new Executive Platinum benefits truly suck compared to the old Chairman's preferred. And for those unfortunate US flyers who won't reach the 100,000 miles/points or 120 segments, it probably sucks even more.

I'm dropping to plat next year. :( So I miss out on the 8 SWUs, and I wasn't earning stickers either. Doubly screwed. :td:

Anyone who was surprised by the stickers, 3 levels, etc hasn't been paying attention.

Ha! Concise!

I've been paying attention and I wouldn't agree there.

Well, the "splitting the difference" over the stickers and the 3 elite levels were both a surprise to me. I thought I had been paying attention for a reasonably decent period of time.

I guess I'm in the minority - I never really thought going to four levels or UDU was going to happen.

I was very concerned that it was going to happen actually. I had DP & Co pegged as the type who would be blindly following DL and UA into the abyss, especially after the catastrophe of the new domestic meals and service products. Perhaps they were taking note on how enraged the AA base was over that change and decided not to further piss us off...

Thus far it seems:
Round 1, Domestic Meals --> US
Round 2, AAdvantage --> AA

What's up next I wonder...

I just cant believe they retroactively screwed the US Platinum's. Dougie must really hate US Platinum's to wait until late October to tell them all their extra flying was worthless. Earn most of the year assuming a benefit for 2015 and then find out it will only last a few months into 2015. Talk about bait and switch. I was going for US Platinum assuming there was no way they could take the level away for next year this late in 2014, wow was I wrong. Thankfully I haven't gotten too close and there is still time to at least only drop to Silver on Delta.

I also really cant believe they went with the anachronistic AA program that is stuck in a 1980's time warp. Stickers?!? Really! US implemented unlimited upgrades a decade or more ago and everyone else has since. AA is clinging;) to stickers and living in the past.

Me neither. Dunno if that was wishful thinking, but I'm pretty happy.

Stickers didn't surprise me since they are revenue positive. Dougie loves any form of revenue/profit. Remember, US tried to charge for all drinks and stuck with it for quite a few months desperately hoping someone would follow before finally caving.

3 levels didn't shock me, screwing the US Platinum's so late in the game shocked me. I thought they would just keep 4 levels in US and 3 on American until the end of 2015 and then combine everything at once with at least 9 months of lead time. It is really unethical to do what the new AA has done to US Platinum's.

You're aware-- I assume/hope-- that AA does not actually call them "stickers"-- that it's an FT short-hand? And, yes, AAdv is "clinging" to the AAdv system-- the smarter system of the two where people have to actually pony up a bit for their free upgrades and thereby hopefully aren't subjected to US Air slop (an experiment tried and, thank god, resoundingly failed) in first class.

One day we'll sit down over some Zimas and I'll tell you the somewhat interesting story of "just how close we came..." (to 4 AAdv elite levels.)

What slop?

I'll bite, what was the decisive argument that swayed AA to 3 instead of 4 levels?