MAH4546

There goes the little AA flying I still do.

I love Alaska, it's like what American was when they were a competitive airline, before Parker ruined it.

artemis

Sadly, I agree. And as an OMA-based flyer, I agree with you about AS's weakness. OMA is currently served by AA, UA, DL, SW, AS, and (for the ultra-cost-conscious) Allegiant and Frontier. While I'd love to fly 737s regularly instead of regional jets, there's no way around the fact that AS can only take me to three destinations (San Diego, Portland, and Seattle), offering one flight daily. Since I rarely need to go to any of those cities, and only SEA is useful for international connections. I'd love to fly AS, but I can't until they actually fly to the places I usually need to travel to. Until then, I'm stuck with regional jets (or WN is I'm desperate for a 737).

rasheed

My guess is AA flight accrual on AS program grew significantly making it difficult for AS to manage the crossover miles. I also believe AS initiated this change.

I am not sure AS got much value of keeping AA redemption option for their members because AA doesn't provide much inventory anymore, but it is good news for AA members.

I think when a program partner's mileage program becomes so different, it makes the whole situation difficult with AS clearly given it sometime until it was decided to not be helpful to the health of ASMP.

So, can we blame another important partnership destruction to AA's massive changed mileage program?

Rasheed

bloxomo

Indeed, indeed. I had been thinking about going back to UA and this seals the deal for me -- AS was definitely useful to me as an AA FF for flights to SEA and HI. We'll see how long UA's MP remains attractive enough to keep me there.

minnyfly

I had a feeling this would eventually happen after AS tied up with VX. They're putting their big boy pants on now, and being best buddies with a competitor wasn't a long-term strategy. I suspect that the AA/AS agreement was negatively affecting AS and their program more than the other way around, so there it goes. With the current state of the generous AS plan and the diminishing AA plan, I bet the AS plan was too often being used to fly AA. AS wouldn't like that.

The most useful aspect for me - being able to book awards on AS - will remain, so it won't affect me that much. But it's still sad to see, and it leaves a big hole in the AA network. It's rare to see two large competing and complimenting airlines work together like that.

scubadu

Wow... just wow... I literally never thought I'd live to see the day that brp (and wife) would yield and fall back from EXP. Wow... hell may have frozen over today...

My wife and I too are rethinking several things and this announcement does change some math for us. My wife flies to the Bay Area on business a lot and AS is adding a non-stop from AUS-SJC in August, so she was thinking about going for EXP for one more year and using that route. Also, my family is in PDX, which AS also serves non-stop from AUS.

I believe we are getting increasingly close to simply paying for premium cabins (or PE) on whatever airline best suits our needs for a given trip and being done with the status game.

Regard

brp

With the degradation in AAdvantage, I've been getting closer. The airline itself is really not too bad but, with us buying more premium, the value of EXP has been declining. We don't need upgrades, we get international Business Lounge access and the EXP desk, while helpful, hasn't been all that needed. so, with LT PLT each, why EXP?

Since we do a fair bit on AS, it still kinda made sense to got for EXP, especially as the EQD ratio is (for now) very nice in AS P/F. Made it kinda easy...which is part of the problem for AA. That and AA Vacations, which is also slowly being reduced in EQD value.

But, yeah, if buying premium or PE, why bother.

I was actually more surprised to see JDiver say that he might also be jumping EXP ship

Cheers.

tphuang

I have no problem with it since I live in ny and have no interest in flying AS/VX at all. If I want a better service airline, I will just fly B6 which is a much better product than AS. And I don't understand if you live in East coast, why you would pick AS's program ahead of AA.

If I were in west coast, it would be quite a loss in short term. But that could just be a short term thing, since AA will probably do some expansion in west coast now that it has to do so.

AS/VX has a lot of ambitions in expanding their networks, so I'm sure the legacies are all nervous about them. And this is just one way to counter that.

ashill

I'm sure AS is well aware that this will cost thme essentially all of their regular customers who are based outside the west coast region. If I were staying in PHL, however, I'd probably continue to fly AS on my several-trips-a-year for which they're viable, though, because I find them much more pleasant to fly than USdbaAA (or any other US airline).

How many routes do AS and B6 compete on, even including connecting trips? BOS/JFK-SEA/PDX, and add LAX/SFO on the west coast end when you include VX. Any others at all? Even if I've missed several, it's a small fraction of each of their ASMs that are in competition with each other.

ETA: I forgot about B6's LGB operation and transcons from SJC etc, so I guess there are a few more, so you may have a choice between B6 and ASVX on a handful of routes, but probably not enough to really affect AS's strategic planning, I'd think. (Scuttlebutt is that AS bought VX largely to prevent B6 from doing so and becoming a real west coast competitor, after all.)

AANYC1981

If I was DL I would be popping many bottles in SEA/ATL today ��

tphuang

This is one part I have to contend against, since I have really felt the benefits of AA's program the past week

I was able to try out CX's Pier first class lounge last weekend, which to me is worth $100+ in value. I got ugpraded to first class from business class on HKG to SIN just because their FC had availability. And this is not the first time I have had upgrade in cabin service on Oneworld airlines. And I will get several more flights with CX the next few weeks, so more upgrade chances and lounge access. I will get access this weekend to JAL's first class lounge in Narita along with seat selection for exit rows ahead of time. To me, these are things that AS program simply cannot provide.

On domestic front, my wife and I have both been upgraded on A321T flight this year which is a couple of thousand dollars in value and AS upgrade simply does not offer premium business class experience.

And while the SWUs have reduced, you can always use them on international flights and do the miles copay. International upgrades to Europe or Asia is not an option for AS.

That's why I think AS program is very overrated on this forum.

From my ny central point of view, lax, sfo, las, sea, san and dallas are all places that I travel to once or twice in the last couple of years. These are all routes that I could consider AS/VX on. So while they don't compete on many routes, they do comprise of a high percentage of domestic flights that I fly on. But now that VX service is going away, it's pretty low on my list.

Reetmafreen

Well, there go the long weekend jaunts down to Cabo from SAN. ��

Most of my leisure travel is spent at the pointy end of the plane where the free beer lives, but with a 1hr 50 flight time from SAN to SJD, I can cope with Y especially with free luggage, free choice seating and AA EQMs on offer. I guess that's the end of that! I don't think I've even seen a AA marketed AS metal flight on aa.com as that route tends to go through PHX and DFW.

Majuki

The two largest losses for me are the Hawaii routes and the flights up and down the coast (SAN, PDX, and SEA). Not all of these carry AA codeshares, and when I'm traveling for work the codeshare is usually not an option as it's more expensive. It was nice being able to credit the miles to AAdvantage because I didn't fly AS enough to have a Mileage Plan account.

I can take Delta on the SJC-SEA route and beyond to the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada. For PDX, SNA, or SAN, Southwest is viable. A more direct routing to Hawaii is perhaps the only problematic area, but taking a connection through LAX or PHX is manageable.

Toshbaf

I didn't think the AS-AA partnership would be gutted until 1/1/2020 at the earliest.

brp

Well, since you quoted me, I'll reiterate that both of us at LT PLT. So, we will always get international Business Class lounges. While not quite as good as F lounges, they're plenty good. Certainly not worth more than a few bucks in difference.

As to the upgrade experience - I will compare AS on Hawai'i routes favorably against just about any AA domestic route for F.

So, while the AS program can't provide these things, the AA program provides them in diminishing numbers, and the differences between EXP and PLT are shrinking, especially if one is buying premium cabin.

But, yes, AA will still work for many.

Cheers.