dickinson

OP, please ignore all of the incorrect answers above in this thread. The correct answer is that AA regretfully misses each and every one of its former elites. In fact, these lost sheep are so dearly loved and missed, that AA goes to sleep crying every night.

enpremiere

Duplicate

enpremiere

Exactly, there are no others to speak of and no question that Norwegian is having some real challenges just getting traction into US markets, especially when times are good for airlines. None of the other foreign LCCs have the required alliances to be a serious challenger in the US other than in just limited cities (WOW to DFW just doesn't make the cut and it was pretty surprising that it even came up on American's radar with their home turf DFW/KEF route).

2017 - “Reykjavik has become a very popular leisure destination and we look forward to giving our customers the opportunity to experience Iceland’s unique landscape of geysers, volcanoes and hot springs with our new direct service next summer,” said Vasu Raja, vice president, Network & Schedule Planning. So leisure route, no high business spending, no meaningful OneWorld connections.

Fascinating. This is how an airline must never lose money again!

robertablake

​​​​Here is one data point. I'm EXP with a rolling annual EQD spend that bounces between 55k and 62k. This year, I been upgraded on every flight except one when my wife was with me (3 of the 4 flights she was with me we were upgraded). I've gotten upgraded this yesr on all solo domestic flights.

Antarius

It is a 752 on the route. So a reasonably low cost aircraft to fly on the route.

Also AA is offering garbage fares ex-DFW (to compete with the new carriers) but if you take the flight from elsewhere and go xxx-DFW-KEF, it isn't as cheap. Given the only AA/OW options now are to go via LHR and cut back, and how hot the Iceland market is, this is a low cost flight that could make them money.

KEF is on my list and now its much higher thanks to this flight personally.

carlosdca

I have never been in a IRROPS situation where I had a paid business class ticket and no status. So I wonder. Is that really how it works?

So, if I have a paid business class ticket and another pax is EXP and got a seat with complimentary 500-mile upgrades and there is an IRROPS situation and there is one economy seat left on the last flight of the day. Who gets priority on the standby list for that seat in economy?
Paid J with no status or EXP on cheapest economy ticket?

Uncle Nonny

I would think status trumps the paid J. I base that on the presumption of non-status member is seen as a one and done where your Elites are repeat customers. Might also be economically feasible to switch a Paid J pax to another airline.I'm sure someone will tell me otherwise.

jackonferry

As an EXP last year and this year, my upgrade percentage has increased substantially. It's been pretty robust across routes (that is hub-to-hub routes, high demand and low demand travel days, etc). And, many more upgrades are clearing at the opening of the window or well in advance of the flight. My spend per quarter is fairly high -- $7K to $12K, so I assume that is helping. That said, I can't tell if there are just fewer elites, or if my travel and spend patterns are just keeping me nearer the top of the upgrade list.

MJonTravel

I’m sure they miss some more than others. All airlines have a surprising amount of data on all of us that fly, and they’ve made strides in what they do with it, including who to target for outreach on travel pattern changes. In the last year I’ve relocated from Atlanta to DC and am now a 10 minute Uber from DCA. I am not ashamed to say that I greatly prefer Delta to AA (and I spent 10 of the best years of my life working or AA) and UA, but there’s no way I’m not going to fly AA more this year. I’m not connecting in Atlanta when I can fly there nonstop on AA. I’ll probably hit Platinum this year, could hit Platinum Pro in a stretch, but I will not go out of my way to do it. I know I’m just one guy with an opinion, but travel patterns evolve over time for all of us. I’d bet a crisp 5 dollar bill that for every flyer that’s bailed on AA, someone else has arrived to fill the seat, and the cycle has repeated itself at the other airlines too.

redtop43

If you want to see how irreplaceable you are, put your hand in a bucket of water, and then view the void that's left when you remove it.

The system has evolved and endured for about 40 years. It's more or less the same across carriers, with some tweaks. The carriers have extensive data which they can use to calibrate the program to get the results they want. A lot of it is very likely based on getting individual business travelers to spend more of their company's money to make their travel experience less unbearable.

I've always kind of thought companies should have a policy something like "Our starting point will be the absolute cheapest fare. Then you can spend xx% additional over the course of a year. You can spend it on more expensive flights, upgrade stickers, or whatever the heck you want, because we know that flying cattle class 100% of the time will make you hate your life, and we know that travel is a sacrifice." Of course that would be pretty much impossible to do.

IADCAflyer

Remember also that with changes to the Big 3 programs, there are probably a large number of free agents that were elites on DL and UA as well.

The new spend and EQM requirement tiers have been a big win for the Big 3.