View Poll Results: My plans for dealing with the 2016 AAdvantage changes:
I'm actually benefitting from this - good deal for me.
46
6.80%
I'm neutral - I gain some, lose some. I'll stay.
132
19.53%
I'm not happy, but stuck with AA / oneworld at this point.
176
26.04%
I'm unhappy & will use AA & other airlines opportunistically.
274
40.53%
I'm outta here! Bye, American.
48
7.10%
Voters: 676. You may not vote on this poll
AAdvantage Changes for 2016 - DISCUSSION, REACTION & POLL
Nov 17, 2015, 2:59 pm
#121
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Seattle, WA
Programs: AAdvantage Gold, AS Gold, SPG Gold, Emerald Club
Posts: 237
I think what we'll see isn't a mass migration, but more a mass divorce from loyalty in general. There's absolutely no point anymore if you're not a frequent biz traveler and/or a jet setter.
Nov 17, 2015, 3:00 pm
#122
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: NYC
Programs: AA EXP (LT Plat), HH DIA, Hyatt DIA
Posts: 456
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_11_1) AppleWebKit/601.2.7 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/9.0.1 Safari/601.2.7)
When you include the credit card spend waiver in the lack of a minimum spend really that big a deal? It seems like AA decided to "innovate" in that regard. ...I wish they would have copied the minimum spend and thought more about the other "enhancements."
Safe Travels
Originally Posted by Madone59
At least there is no minimum spend for status!!
Safe Travels
Nov 17, 2015, 3:04 pm
#125
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,391
Not to mention the fact that WN arguably helped start this migration to revenue-based mileage earning with Rapid Rewards 2.0...
Nov 17, 2015, 3:10 pm
#127
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
Except it's not just USA-based airlines devaluing their charts, so that fails as an explanation. AC? Check. BA? Check. AF/KL? Check. LH? Check. AV? Check. NH? Check.
That's a lot of airlines that aren't AA/DL/UA who've devalued their award charts.
As for the ME 3, since a lot of people think that might be a saving grace... tell me, what EQM/RDM do you get on deep discount EK Y? (I'll help: not a lot.)
The whole industry is moving away from a model of "buy a ton of cheap Y and we'll treat you like royalty". The salad days of FT being a way to turn $99 transcons into Krug and caviar are going behind us. C'est la vie.
That's a lot of airlines that aren't AA/DL/UA who've devalued their award charts.
As for the ME 3, since a lot of people think that might be a saving grace... tell me, what EQM/RDM do you get on deep discount EK Y? (I'll help: not a lot.)
The whole industry is moving away from a model of "buy a ton of cheap Y and we'll treat you like royalty". The salad days of FT being a way to turn $99 transcons into Krug and caviar are going behind us. C'est la vie.
The US airline program loyalty market has had more competition until it came down to just the US3 for the most part. Those non-US airline program markets you bring into the discussion (and I've had an account with all of those for years too) have had less competition for far longer (when it comes to airline loyalty programs party to Oneworld/Skyteam/StarAlliance) than the US.
Less competition amongst loyalty programs --> worse devaluations for loyalty program customers? More so than not. And now AA is making that more clear too via this official announcement about the program changes next year.
Nov 17, 2015, 3:14 pm
#128
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Seattle, WA
Programs: AAdvantage Gold, AS Gold, SPG Gold, Emerald Club
Posts: 237
This would be a really good time to nix the restrictions that prevent non-US carriers from flying domestic routes here. The extra competition is needed now more than ever.
Nov 17, 2015, 3:16 pm
#129
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: NCL
Programs: UA 1MM/*G. DL Gold for one more year.
Posts: 5,305
Well they have been expanded. You need to fly a lot further to earn miles!
Nov 17, 2015, 3:18 pm
#130
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,391
The frequency, scope and scale of the devaluations has not been consistent over time. Nor has it been consistent across different markets.
The US airline program loyalty market has had more competition until it came down to just the US3 for the most part. Those non-US airline program markets you bring into the discussion (and I've had an account with all of those for years too) have had less competition for far longer (when it comes to airline loyalty programs party to Oneworld/Skyteam/StarAlliance) than the US.
Less competition amongst loyalty programs --> worse devaluations for loyalty program customers? More so than not. And now AA is making that more clear too via this official announcement about the program changes next year.
The US airline program loyalty market has had more competition until it came down to just the US3 for the most part. Those non-US airline program markets you bring into the discussion (and I've had an account with all of those for years too) have had less competition for far longer (when it comes to airline loyalty programs party to Oneworld/Skyteam/StarAlliance) than the US.
Less competition amongst loyalty programs --> worse devaluations for loyalty program customers? More so than not. And now AA is making that more clear too via this official announcement about the program changes next year.
I still maintain the USA is catching up to where most of the world is as far as loyalty programs go; there's no need to treat someone like a god who buys cheap Y like anyone on Kayak, even if they buy it consistently from one supplier, because there's a lot of people who buy whatever's cheapest on Kayak. If you want to buy what's cheapest consistently from us, sure, we'll sell it to you, but don't expect a crown of laurels for it.
Look, this is simple; if you really want to fly the best product and disregard mileage acquisition... the door's open. It's been open for a while (VX, B6, etc.).
Last edited by eponymous_coward; Nov 17, 2015 at 3:28 pm
Nov 17, 2015, 3:20 pm
#131
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Florida
Programs: EXP 18 years running / 4 Million Miler
Posts: 17
My post on AA's Facebook page.....can you say FUMING MAD!!
As a 4+ million miler, who has been socking away miles to use once I stop flying for business, and a 16+ years Executive Platinum member, I am appalled at the upcoming mileage redemption changes just announced. As an example, today a 1st Class round trip award from US to Thailand is 135K miles. With your new award chart, it is now 220K miles. That is a mileage devaluation of over 40%, or a 60% increase in miles required for an equivalent award. Well, come the end of this year I will no longer be purchasing flights on AA, and start redeeming my now pillaged and ravaged 1.5 Million miles that I banked, which are now worth about half of what they were. You have lost a loyal and once dedicated customer.
As a 4+ million miler, who has been socking away miles to use once I stop flying for business, and a 16+ years Executive Platinum member, I am appalled at the upcoming mileage redemption changes just announced. As an example, today a 1st Class round trip award from US to Thailand is 135K miles. With your new award chart, it is now 220K miles. That is a mileage devaluation of over 40%, or a 60% increase in miles required for an equivalent award. Well, come the end of this year I will no longer be purchasing flights on AA, and start redeeming my now pillaged and ravaged 1.5 Million miles that I banked, which are now worth about half of what they were. You have lost a loyal and once dedicated customer.
Nov 17, 2015, 3:24 pm
#133
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: SFO/OAK
Programs: AA EXP 3.4MM, BAEC, UAMP, Skyteam (<10k) HH Gold, IHG Plat, Hertz Gold, GE/TSA TT
Posts: 2,723
new DISaadvantage program (my RDM calc for 2016)
So, I only spent ~$8K to achieve EXP this year. But I earned ~200K RDM. If I were PLT, ditto.
But if I did the same next year, I would earn ~88K RDM, a 56% devaluation.
Worse, if I were PLT, I would earn only ~64K RDM, a massive 68% devaluation from this year !!!
Then of course, the U awards to Europe now cost 15% more, but I'm betting virtually none of those will be available anyway.
!!NEW NAME FOR AA ffp: DISaadvantage
But if I did the same next year, I would earn ~88K RDM, a 56% devaluation.
Worse, if I were PLT, I would earn only ~64K RDM, a massive 68% devaluation from this year !!!
Then of course, the U awards to Europe now cost 15% more, but I'm betting virtually none of those will be available anyway.
!!NEW NAME FOR AA ffp: DISaadvantage
Nov 17, 2015, 3:24 pm
#134
Join Date: May 2007
Location: DFW Texas
Programs: AA (ExecPlat, >2MM), United (Gold, >1 MM), HH (Diamond), SPG (Gold), Accorhotels (Gold)
Posts: 92
