George Purcell

I'm definitely a bit of a free agent, but lifetime Gold ends up putting a pretty big thumb on the scale for AA still. Free bag + bigger seat selection + reduced or free MCE + priority check in is still a pretty decent package of benefits that would need to be reflected in a cost differential between AA and another carrier.

BearX220

Are you suggesting that paying more than you have to and demonstrating unrequited loyalty is smart consumer behavior, or somehow makes airlines better? Disagree.

In any two-handed transaction or negotiation, the party that cares less has the upper hand. So, yes.

Jimmie Jet

Yes, and no

I am 100% on the lax-Mel , Mel-lax flights

The connecting flights are not 100%

Yyc-sfo sfo-yyc 80%

SFO-lax lax-sfo 30%

Yyc-ord ord-yyc 100%

KnownasEric

Same here, I did a lot of flying to small locations in the midwest/south, it was easy even with connections to get to them using AA...

now, after the merger, it's just not worth it anymore. I'm based in SEA and started flying Alaska. I get UA Silver through Marriott, so they'll be my point-to-point. Even if I don't get UA Gold, I can still transfer the points to Marriott and get something out of it.

econometrics

Does Sun Country still serve burgers on their flights? If so, that's tempting.

Good for you, OP. I wouldn't have done the same, but glad you made a choice that benefits your travel style and needs. ^

catsfroggy1

That is why I said United won't lose business over their antics. People only care about price. You have people on here saying Southwest is a premium airline when they can't assign seats, serve a meal , code share, or even give you a whole can of soda have seat back movies or anything that most other airlines did 40 years ago. It is sad.

I just flew AA to Glasgow and the service was exceptional.

Ber2dca

LCCs win this game because of expectation management. Legacy carriers are compared vs the reputation built up during the 'golden days' and will fare poorly because service has been reduced and the hard product in coach has become worse.

People book LCCs expecting very little. They know the regard airlines like Spirit or Frontier are held in and expect it to be an awful all around experience. So they compare it vs the legacy carriers but not expecting them to be better, it's how much worse they are that matters. Once they're on the plane they realize the experience is actually not that different and feel they scored a real good deal.

I'm personally also sort of a free agent even though I primarily fly Delta/AF/KL. I don't really fly coach though so LCCs are not on the table. I feel loyalty would make me do things I don't really wanna do. Why take some odd itinerary just because it'd net me a few more miles or because that's what 'my' carrier offers? Why accept a potentially worse hard product on a trip? Why pay more for the privilege?

cmd320

This is pretty much the complete opposite of the truth. By continuing to pay one company whatever it wants for a product with no regard for the competition, what incentive does the company have to compete?

It isn't as if AA is offering a better product for their higher price. If it were, then that is a different story.

knit-in

I stopped chasing status a few years ago, and now they chase me (with offers).

I still end up with status, but that's about 99% because of convenience and $$$ in my own pocket.

eponymous_coward

You know what's sad? Basic economy fares on American that say:

- no checked bags without a fee (Southwest gives you two)
- only one personal item (Southwest gives you one carryon)
- board absolutely last and get bad seat selection (you can board pretty early on Southwest if you check in at T-24, no cost)
- can't change or cancel the flight, it's either fly as ticketed or throw away (Southwest lets you change or cancel without fee, funds can be reused for travel for a year after date of purchase)

On a one to three hour flight (which is Southwest's wheel house, the 500-1500 mile flight), I couldn't possibly care less if I got a full can of coke or some mediocre blast-chilled and then reheated mass produced meal, or if I have to line up to board and pick a seat. But I sure DO care that I can cancel or change my ticket and only pay a fare difference, or take a reasonable amount of carryon luggage for $0.

(To be honest, I often don't even care if I get an upgrade on that short a flight. Mediocre free booze and mediocre food? Meh. First class seat? Well, OK, but on a 2-3 hour flight I am fine with coach at the right time over first at the wrong time or with a connection.)

This is why occasional fliers (and even some heavy-duty ones I know) are happy to fly Southwest because in many important respects, they are better than "full-service" carriers. And almost certainly so for someone who flies a few times a year but not enough to get meaningful elite status. No, they're not flying to Bangkok in first class, but less than half the US has a passport anyway...

And now that the majors have dumbed their experience down to Spirit/Frontier levels, the message they send to a lot of the public is "you shouldn't care about service, you're all going to get the same bad product no matter where you buy it, on Spirit or American, so the only thing that matters is price". This is a selling point for Southwest, Jet Blue and Alaska.

Happy

When GCs are mentioned, the standing in line at Walmart is a given, dont you think?

You seriously dont need to do any of what you brought up to earn more miles than flying - the AA shopping portal promotion for example, the generous bonus on a one-day Avis rental in case you happen to have such needs - use Avis than Hertz or National - the basic earning + elite bonus makes that one-day rental a good pay off even accounted for the daily scam fee added - premise is, one-day rental and is what you actually need...

Ever since I realize the advantage of being a free agent, there is no more chasing "da points" on any particular FFPs. Since the last devaluation AA had (2+ years ago?), we have not added any meaningful amount to our AA balances - almost straight burn mode to whittle down almost 2 millions to now less than 800K. We actually could only book a one-way CX F US-HKG with the pre-devaluation rate because we already had several trips booked for the window when the devaluation was announced. But since then, it is a straight burn mode from that point on.

It is the first time in our "history" that AAdvantage no longer has the bulk of our point balances. Still trying to draw it down so would suffer AA's inconvenient schedule in Sept flying home from SLC versus the much more convenient DL schedule.

I never ever thought I would feel DL peso more valuable than the new AA peso but it is the case to us now.

Of course being lifetime AA golds help to less the pain when flying AA domestic coach, just for the benefit of better seat selection T-24, free same day standby, and the Group 1 boarding. We dont have checked bags so that part is irrelevant. Frankly anyone has the right credit card would have all the above benefits, sans the free same day standby.

On another note, the flexible points now are the currencies to be had, with AS miles being the current exception. How long AS miles can stay in such unique position is anyone's guess but my bet is, it wont last too long now many have discovered what we found at least 5 years ago.

carlosdca

I don't think anybody here has said that Southwest is a "premium airline". Perhaps I missed the post.

What lots of folks have said, me included, is that sometimes Southwest works great for the need and at a good price. For example for LAX-SFO, LAX-PHX, or LAX-LAS (in my case).

Other times, AA, Suncountry, or JetBlue will do. The possibilities are endless.

cmd320

Honestly for domestic I think the possibilities are too limited. We need more competition.

brytpa

I essentially abandoned AA a few years ago.

I'd been EXP for several years running, and found myself heading to BCN for a vacation and looking to use some systemwide upgrades for it. Nothing was available to get to BCN for a couple weeks around my vacation dates. Even trying to get anywhere else in Europe (and then taking a train or booking myself a separate connecting flight once there) also was fruitless. The only option was using miles, and even out of those options only partner flights with extremely unappealing itineraries *and* $1000-$1500 in fees and surcharges were available. The entire experience left me feeling like I had a bank full of hundreds of thousands of miles, system wide upgrades, and many years of elite status, and yet I still had to jump through hoops or desperately dig around for some way to try and actually use my miles and status in even minimally reasonable and convenient ways.

Mind you, there were little things I appreciated about the status for some time - almost always got upgraded on domestic flights, priority boarding, etc, etc. But my circumstances changed to the point where I wasn't flying as much, and it also made no real sense to try and go out of my way to maintain status and collect miles with one particular airline when shopping around with all options on the table often meant paying considerably less for each flight I do still take and not having my schedules dictated to me by what hard-earned rewards could be redeemed and when.

inpd

Good for you. It's important to explore your options and I like your metaphor about chasing.

However, all airlines have their strengths and weaknesses and I'm sure Sun Country will disappoint you one day.

I've been having my own love affair with low cost carriers but internationally. I've been loving flying to Europe on Norwegian lately. Spanking new 787, one way fares of at most $500, disciplined crew but I'm sure they'll disappoint.

I think loyalty programs are on the way out.