As that wasn't anything that has already occurred, I didn't mention it. But it's certainly the Occam's razor approach to status that allows higher value EP members, whilst still issuing RDM for awards, etc. And it takes no IT work to establish it, as well, other than a very few easily done minor mods.

I think we will likely not see a change that affects us in 2016, but sometime this year they will make an announcement of changes for 2017.

DL and UA made changes so I can not see how AA would not.

Are those changes the cause of increased profitability, though? Yes, they do provide a higher level of recognition/miles to high spenders, but do they bring in more revenue versus just reallocating the miles awarded for travel?

Unless AA can demonstrate that their current program is causing a significant loss of revenue compared to the competition, and that a new program will rake the dollars in, they may find there's not a good reason to change anything.

Once you make a change like UA or DL, it's not going to be easy to reel it back in if you find it was the wrong call and your mid-tier and lower-tier flyers bail on you. AA seems to be working around this now with bonus miles on some fares, and maybe that's the route they'll continue to pursue.

My 2 cents as a Delta DM that flies mostly business class from LAX to Europe, and monthly LAX-JFK, perhaps as a counter point to people on the thread saying AA doesn't have the best product. While it may be true overall, for my travel patterns I would respectfully disagree and as a result, I am considering moving my business to AA next year because of a better premium product.

- AA's new J class on the 77W is the best premium business class I have ever flown between US and Europe in terms of hard product. And the soft product is strong.
- AA's A32T service between JFK and LAX is great in J as well, and if I become EXP, I can again get a shot at upgrades when I fly coach on my own dime (which I can't do on DL any longer). Also the fact that the plane has so few seats makes boarding such a better experience.

A

Hmm, but keeping EQMs for Gold and Platinum? I guess I had resigned myself to an (unfounded by fact) assumption that making the EQP bonuses permanent would mean the elimination of EQMs as a qualification method. (I would view such a change as entirely fair, even though it would likely mean the end of Platinum status for me.) Glad to hear that you don't think that's likely (assuming I'm reading your comment correctly).

In that event, I wonder if the Citi and Barclays cards that now provide only EQMs would also provide EQPs. If not, they'd be worthless towards EXP.

What evidence is available to suggest that AA has too many marginally profitable EXPs? I assume AA has sufficient data points to tell them when revenue from a customer is adequate enough to bestow the benefits of EXP, and if that is out of sync on aggregate, AA will make changes. That being said given changes at DL and UA and Parker not being a huge fan of differentiation I believe changes are coming.

I'm curious about this, too.

No one in their right mind would play UA's games when you have better options with SQ, OZ, TG and several other, better *A carriers to choose from. And often at the same or better price to boot.

I'd take a real premium experience over "premium" miles any day - especially with how UA has devauled them over the last few years.

My main issue with EQP is that flying from smaller airports can be a whole lot more expensive on what would only count as .5 EQP fares. I definitely don't want them to add a fare dollars counter, but I don't know how they reconcile the high fares on 'lowly' fare classes. I think I spent quite a bit to get to EXP for 2016, but it is still closer to 75k EQP.

I think for Y booking domestic road warriors, an EQP focus would discourage earlier bookings especially with the prevalence of corporate travel sites.

Rasheed

Probably not as strong of a perverse incentive for road warriors as tying RDMs to spend, though. I'd love to see the effect that is having/will have (if any) for UA/DL on (a) corporate travel spend/internal monitoring of said spend and (b) corporate contracts.

You bring up some very valid points in this context.

That's partly what segments are for, isn't it? (Since smaller airports with high fares in low fare buckets tend to be served only/mostly with short flights to nearby hubs.)

Those who fly 75k EQPs on 0.5 EQP fares on 1000 mile (average) routes have easily passed the 120 EPS threshold for EXP.

The problem with how AA treats segments is that they're all 1 segment credit per segment, regardless of fare class. Considering that many of these smaller cities have extortion fares, AA should add a segment bonus for premium fares at least (B fares and above). UA credits B fares and above segments at 1.5x, which makes them a bit more palatable.

That would throw a bone to those that qualify on segments, especially shorter hauls that now have to do 20 extra segments per year for EXP.

It ended up being about 90 EPS/75k EQP/100k EQM combination. I think only the actual EQM is counted (not 500 minimum either?, but I haven't watched it closely enough). The spend is about $15k (including all fees/taxes). Others may judge that to not be a lot.

I use PHX/DFW pretty interchangeably, but PHX connections (under 500 miles) have traditionally been priced lower than via DFW as most area residents have found on US's pricing model. But even the higher DFW connect fare is still a .5 EQP class. I see this all the time even within two week buying windows (restrictive fare class, high dollar cost).

Rasheed