Most of them don't. Spoke to a friend of mine who has spent $80K in airfare in the first 10 months of this year -- flying business/first and he does not care much for status, SWUS, etc. Have spoken to half a dozen people who spend well over $20K a year -- the category that would benefit from the program chances and none of them really care about SWUs, RDMs, as much as the FT community.

So people that don't care for these perks as they can easily afford them are the ones AA is rewarding and people who were running the extra few thousand miles to qualify for a status, is the one AA is making it hard for them to qualify.

I think to some extent it is a misconception that rich people don't care about free stuff (miles, SWUS, etc.) or money, they do, probably more than the average person. I also vaguely recall a surprising survey that most rich people actually fly economy, to save money, or something to that effect.

But anyway, regardless, I believe AA just tries to save money by giving out less RDMs in total. They don't really care who gets them, they just needed a plausible excuse and scheme to just reduce their total RDM liability.

Who says that someone spending 80k on airfare is "rich"?
More likely they work 365 days a year.

Giving out more RDMs to OPM flyers is a brilliant strategy twofold.
a) It encourages higher spending, and thus revenue to AA, since its OPM, why not wait another day to book that ticket to see a client, or why not pick the more expensive 9am flight instead of the cheaper 11am flight?
b) OPM flyers most likely fly for work, when/if they get time off - they are less likely to want to get on a plane, or to redeem their points on elaborate long haul F cabin routings/trips. More likely to redeem their points on merchandise/etc than the average flyer who likes to "maxmize" value. Easy come, easy go mentality.

And as for handing out less RDMs in total - arent flying RDMs just a drop in the bucket that is credit card mileage?

It seems that AA is aiming at cutting down the number of members who earn EXP and PLT status cheaply doing MR during weekends in Y class at $ 200.

May be a new approach for earning status that is AA is adapting: if you want status you have to earn it dearly!

I would like to understand what you are seeing. Can you provided specifics? From/to. Thank you.

I've been surprised by how many folks jump right to this type of analysis. But a real bright spot in the old AAdvantage program was crediting flights from OW partners. CX, JL, QF, QR, and onwards. No need to worry about AA codeshares when booking premium flights on those carriers -- and for many of these carriers, on many routes, there a few to no codeshares. In the old program, 66K of front-cabin QR flying yields AA EXP, 8 AA Systemwides, and ~200k AA RDMs valid on the favorable old chart. In the new program, the same flying still yields EXP, but now only 4 Systemwides and a much less favorable award chart. Maybe better to credit towards another OW program?

How so? Status earning remains the same (mileage based) and unlike DL/UA, there is no qualifying spend requirement. May not be rewarding in terms of RDM's as before, but if you primarily care about status, you can still MR your way there on cheap fares.

People who pay the airfares that you list here get little to no additional benefit with FF benefits. J and F class passengers are given all of the benefits EP are given. The only difference would be number of miles earned but redemption award increases are going way up(good luck finding the saver awards).

If you only fly only on full J and F class tickets, loyalty programs do nothing to promote loyality. What matters the most are flight schedules and departure/arrival times.

A business class traveller on a more expensive business class ticket gets the same benefits of status as someone on a cheap one; e.g. as a OWE member gets the additional baggage allowance , 1st class check in, 1st class lounge access

To be fare here (see what I did there ;) ), Jan 10 - Jan 16 (Sat vs. Sun) is $3401.

Etihad, which can be credited as AA, is $4,485 on your exact dates.

This comes back to the same thing... you are paying AA a lot more for the privilege of flying AA. How can that be worth an extra $3000?!?! That is double the going rate for business. Even Cathay is $1000 less, on your exact dates!

Hey, if your employer lets you pay the premium, then no problem. But, how long until they question $6500 vs $3400-$4400?

I am not discounting that other airlines may be cheaper - the AA price was the same 16th and 17th - I just mentioned 17th to avoid a "there may be cheaper fares staying a week" argument

People assumedly do purchase tickets on AA - if AA was unable to sell tickets at the prices it charges, it would lower them I would suggest.

Someone purchasing a ticket for travel on AA will be paying the price that AA charges.

e.g. For someone who is required to fly on a US carrier , the EY price is irrelevent

Would I personally choose to fly on AA where decent airlines exist - no - if the journey time was not impacted greatly. Would I be inclined to fly ORD-AUH-HKG ( 11014 miles ) vs ORD-HKG (7794 miles ) - if it is within corporate policy to take the expensive non-stop , yes I definitely would ; travelling 41% further is not something I would choose to do on a business trip

Once again, all valid points Dave.

As for the distance, it comes down to preference and landing time... I prefer to land in the am and have the day to acclimate, thus, via Europe/Middle East works for me. And the extra miles are a bonus.

I've always been under the impression that there is a large amount of people who fly for business and their companies spend the amounts you mentioned on them flying. When these people go on holiday with their families (or alone), they use the miles and really appreciate the perks, such as lounge access and upgrades. At least here in Finland.

So people here are accusing AA that is just copying DL and UA by using the same RDM system, etc. The sinister explanation is that they are not just innocently copying each other, but rather that their new revenue-based reward programs were "fixed" in some kind of secret agreement a long time ago. Which makes you wonder how far is "price fixing", for which US airlines have also been accused in the past, and how closely they should be monitored by consumer protection authorities.

Come on now... lets be reasonable. The other carriers did it and did not suffer 'catastrophic' adverse effects, so of course AA adopted it. No need for any collusion.

As for price matching, 100% they all do it. But again, no need to collude to make it happen. The internet makes everything happen at lightening speed. A simple app tracks all prices real time.