From NYC and WAS, AA does not want you to use their metal. The JV directing you to BA is strong. So far, I've fallen in line, but BA stinks so much I'm not sure how much I care to deal with it.

If one misses the PHL-ZRH flight, they can be put on the later flights to LHR from PHL that day, and then onto LHR-ZRH.

So then I'd have flown: JFK-PHL-LHR*-ZRH, originally (before the NYC market "downgrade") JFK-ZRH (#64, non-stop) to a 2 stop
*Assuming there are open seats.

So, not only do they eliminate JFKZRH, but there's a ppl mover in PHL involved now too? Sorry, but VCE, BUD, ATH as leisure/seasonal routes makes more sense. How do they come up with this?

Dougie and Co. claim they've flown on the 737 Max, but have they flown on BA in any class of service or connected through LHR??? Why invest in an oustanding J and competitive (decent F) only to push pax over to BA?

Star Alliance, and to a lesser extent, Sky Team just makes more and more sense each day...

As for ZRH-JFK (or vice versa) I've decided to move my business to LX. No way I'm going for a connection on such a short flight.

As a WAS flyer I am feeling this push as well; I have started to fly BA to Europe and I am starting to wonder about the whole point of being an AA elite. I had forgotten what J on the 747 was like, though when F was not that expensive it was sort of fun.

And with much more to come.

I'll take that as "the worst is yet to come"...

AA still has a few flts from JFK to LHR (and vv) on AA metal--hence upgradeable via SWUs, will these be removed, leaving the entire JFK-LHR market all to BA*?
PS: Trying tp use miles on BA their fuel surcharges get added.

It's all a shame, especially if it does get worse (in NYC?). I generally like AA (they've all eff'ed me over at some point, even DL-majorly), and I think AAdvantage in combo with OneWorld is pretty good. But they've definitely made it harder to be loyal out of NYC given my flying patterns. My company dropped AA as a preferred carrier, moving from DL/AA to UA/DL, so between that and the nonstop cutbacks it's just become more difficult. Fortunately I just made lifetime Gold, so I'll have something when AA is the best option. But a lot of my EQDs have moved over to DL. Can't say I love that (Skypesos, etc.) but we all just have to weigh a whole bunch of factors in deciding what works best for us. If UA (and EWR) weren't so bad, I'd probably move over to them for Star Alliance.

Thanks for the perspective. Certainly, you're right. I suppose I was lamenting my opinion of BA being such a lousy JV partner. BA's J product is pathetic, the lounges are horrible, on time performance is lacking, and LHR is absolutely atrocious to connect through. Whereas before, JFK was the superior connection opinion for me compared with LHR, when AA had more n/s routes from JFK. Now with the better J class and the lounge situation, to be "pushed" to BA for connections via LHR when AA's service is better all around (never thought I would say that a few years ago) is frustrating.

For international needs ex-BOS, IMO, now it's easier to use Star and connect (if needed) via FRA/MUC/ZRH or SkyTeam via AMS (if needed) then route through LHR with BA.

Perhaps a recent MBA biz school grad assigned to rev mgmt asked to make use of an idle metal came up with this.

As much as I hate UA, I have to give them credits for the new lounges at EWR. Given that my location is closer to EWR, I might be biased. OTOH, I am not asking AA for every Europe destinations, but for some major business cities like ZRH and FRA (include PVG for Asia), there isn't any excuse for taking a connection from NYC. And to be perfectly honest, I like LHR as a destination, but hate the extra time taking the connections. Lounges or wonderful inflight experiences can't make up for my lost time (and hence why I don't go to Europe via HKG ). AA's reasoning is the lower yield pax get worse AC, but 763 for JFK - ZRH is just a joke.

Similarly, if CX moves to *A or introduces lifetime status, I would most likely move my credits to CX.