adurzi

Hello,
I am starting this thread to find out if it is worth it/possible to go/try for 2 extra SWU's at the 150,000 mile mark. It looks like I will end the year with 130,205 EQM's and wanted to get feedback if it might be worthwhile to go for the added 19,795 miles. Here are the facts; I am based in Los Angeles and my open travel dates are from December 18th to December 26th as I am out of town the remaining days of this year. The budget for doing so would have to be inline with the supposed value of 2 more SWU's. I would appreciate any feedback anybody has on this matter and if it even possible.

Thank you.

lds89

20,000 is quite a lot of flying - you'd need to do a long premium economy flight (probably around $2,000); or 2 domestic first roundtrips to the US east coast (at this time of year, $2,500-3,000); or the equivalent of 4 economy round trips (probably around the same cost as the 2 domestic F ones).

Given that you can miles + copay for 25,000 miles + $350 long haul (many bloggers peg an AA mile at 1.3-1.4c a piece) you're looking at a ~$700 or so copay for each SWU gained. Miles + copay and SWUs are treated the exact same for the upgrade these days - based on your elite status and EQD. Hard to see the ROI including the lost time to me given you can essentially "buy" an SWU for the equivalent of $700 or so, only $350 of which is cash.

If it were 5k miles, that's a different story

bse118

Seems like a lot of unneeded flying.

The question you need to ask yourself, in my opinion, is how does the cost of flying that extra 19,795 miles compare to cost of two miles+money upgrades on the routes you would likely try to use the SWUs on?

I, for one, would not at all consider flying that amount just to get two more SWUs. And I say that as a person who finds SWUs valuable, useful, and generally available when I want to redeem them. YMMV.

SeattleDavid

I was in exactly the same boat a month ago (about 14000 short by end of the year) and made the decision it wasn't worth it - instead of a SWU I can use Miles+Copay and that sets the value of the SWU at around $350-ish. Earning 14000 extra miles for less than $700 didn't seem likely.

As it turned out I hit irregular operations on both my last two flights of the year and picked at 15000 extra EQMs and got my extra SWUs at no cost.

For you I think it very unlikely you can find a worthwhile trip - 20000 EQMs would need a 6700 mile trip in Premium economy or better on a partner airline, or a 5000 mile trip in discount business on AA, or a 3400 mile trip in full fare business on AA. Such distances are not very affordable at this time of year.

mvoight

The value is subjective, starting with what you would use them for and considering what class you would have to be in while flying to earn those 20K extra EQMs, if you are trying to get by cheaply.
I think you need to do a bit of the legwork here. Let's say you are traveling on a 1 EQM per flown mile fare. That means you would have to fly 20K (what kind of seating) in order to gain 2 upgrades that, in most case, would be used for a lot than 10K miles each. I don't see the value, unless you really want to go somewhere DEC 18-26. Logically, it doesn't make sense to me to have an MR to get 2 upgrades for the future, based on how much flying you have to do to get those 2 upgrades. Either you are going to fly in economy, most likely if international, while earning that 20K EQM, or you would use 2 upgrades to get that 20K EQMs to get 2 upgrades. Then, what would the point be?

nrr

I'm almost in the same situation as OP, I have 135,392 eqms. I've found that upgrades from Y to J on ZRH-JFK #65 (non-stop) for $500 are usually available within 24 hours of travel, so in effect I'm getting 2 SWUs for $1,000 vs flying enough within the next few weeks to get 14,608 EQMs (especially since I have no special place to go) the better option. SWUs have a one year lifespan AND can be booked in advance (if there is availability) might be the only plus for going the SWU route.
PS: I've already requalified for EXP until 2019, so I don't want to spend any more $ flying in 2017.

bse118

So can miles + copay upgrades. There's no difference between those and SWUs in that regard.


OP needs to think about if the cost ($, time, and wear & tear of an otherwise necessary trip) of flying more is significantly less than the cost of the miles+copay alternative to the 2 SWUs. Seems unlikely.

For context I also have ~135K EQMs this year. The thought of taking an extra trip just for SWUs has not even crossed my mind.

fedechat

You are around 20k short which means at least 2 flights to EU or 1 to Asia+domestic. It could cost you no less than $900 and I think it doesn't worth your time when you can use copay+miles for a similar amount without spending extra time in Y (doing a MR).

mvoight

Not to mention, if they are flying international, they are going to be either stuck in economy to make it more cost effective or using some kind of upgrade. At that point, what would be the point of upgrading just so you can earn an upgrade, or travel in economy enough to earn 20K EQMs just so you can upgrade from economy on what will probably be less than 20K mile trips

andersonCooper

Exact same boat at 135k EQM and I haven't flown with AA since Oct. To me it's not worth it. I don't really like the idea to gamble/waitlist for availability. If I have to stick with Y for 15 hours, I would have just taken CX to start with.

PaulInTheSky

To me it will not, based on the following:

1. You need to stick with AA for another INTL if you so choose to get two more eVIPs.
2. That is a big climb to get the two additional eVIPs, considering how much more you need to pay.
3. I was just lucky to get up to 180k EQMs this year, but I never thought of doing so just for the sake of getting more eVIPs.
4. Time, money spent on getting two additional eVIPs when they are valued at 1.3-1.4c while mileage co-pay can be achieved for $350 + 25000 miles.

Due to the conditions above, I do not believe this is worth shooting for.


YMMV.

Safe travels.

Carteeb

There’s wisdom in the replies here. I was 3,000 miles shy of my last two swus this year so I upgraded two segments in domestic to first. Cost a couple of hundred bucks, but made the 200000 and got the last two swus. Had it been more than about 5,000 Miles I would have rethought the value. At 20,000 miles it would have been a firm “no” for me. I would go the miles plus 450 bucks route instead for those flights I really want to upgrade.

flying_geek

I am in a similar boat like Carteeb - I would actually have been about 2K short, so my last flight from FLL to SEA is FLL-CLT-DFW-SEA and on the return I have SEA-DFW-FLL - with the first segment in paid J (well - D), cost me about $80 more than the Y fare and of course an extra 3h or so on the outbound flight. I still have one upgrade left from 2016 - so it's clearly not a huge value to me

C17PSGR

I'll be at 192k EQM by Monday .... hmmh, so close but ....

rbAA

20k is definitely not worth it. We are retired and in 2017, only did one international RT, GF and I, on AA (UPG'd of course,) of my four TPAC's. It was fine, except compared to the QR business class RT. SO, I did 150k EQM's, and between the GF (who qualified for EXP the first time,) and I, we have to burn 10 SWU's, so at least 2 TPAC's on AA. It depends on what you like, but too much AA, even the UPG'd HKG-LAX RT's we do, can limit your options for other premium cabin experiences on partners. Depending upon how much time you have to travel.

I used to do all my domestic segments on AA, but since I also did the 1K match, I'm finding that UA can be a good alternative as well, especially on price to and from AA hubs i.e. I have MCO-PHX on UA for about half the price, though I do need to stop at IAH vs a non-stop on AA. Also, it's great where UA has front cabin lie flats on domestic routes instead of those crappy AA Parker Special A321's or recliners on a 737, for example, I did IAD-SFO on UA with a comp UPG to a lie flat 757 business class seat. And, the food is better on UA, though it's still airplane food.

However, I do prefer AA's front cabin seats on the 77W's to UA's Polaris or their 787-900 2-2-2 seating.

Of course, your travel plans and pattern should be the determining factor. With the program changes, being a "free agent" has it's benefits.