I need to figure out how to put SWA into my name! I am seeing less value in American Airlines and the ability to get rewards travel. The flights never line up for the time I need and always with a connecting flight. I think hotel points (Marriott) is of much more value. I will either buy a ticket or fly SWA and fly direct at the time I need.

Smart move, especially if you switch to UA. It's all sweetness and light over there lately.

Why is it a good time to switch? If "loyal" to the airline and a frequent traveller, you would have status plus the credit card points are good for awards

ChicSWAgo? or ChicUAgo? :)

This hasn't been a program for the vast majority of AA members before the changes were announced, and this still isn't going to be a program for the vast majority of AA members even after this announcement. This change just makes it more difficult for all AA members to achieve MM levels and/or lifetime elite status. That's why I'm not sure why a benefit that the vast majority of AA members will never enjoy should be considered a good news item for them, particularly when the news item just makes it more clear that their chances of getting lifetime elite status are on the decline.

As someone grandfathered in with at least lifetime Platinum status (for the life of the AAdvantage Platinum level), this change has no substantive negative impact on me other than the reduced SWU earning pace. If anything, for those in my kind of situation, this actually may have some positive aspects (e.g., a published program may be less likely to have its benefits pulled and/or be eliminated; the change may act as some kind of restraint upon the number of AA Golds and/or Platinums "competing with me" for some benefits). My bigger concern is the devaluation of AA miles earned from flights being used for flights, and that's something that hits a much larger pool of AA members than the MM program, whether FTers and other AA members pay enough attention to recognize that issue or not.

I agree with the original poster. I am EXP and fly AA evenm when fares are higher in large part over the years for the march toward LTP. I don't really care which airline I accumulate the miles for award fares on. It was the total accumulation that I have been aiming at over the years. So supplementing EXP BIS miles with CC etc made sense. Now the bonus miles are gone from lifetime so who cares if next year I switch and generate the miles on SA. I can even call and talk my way into elite on another partner or spread the miles a little to be treated well everywhere. 1.4MM - now nowhere's land.

Amen to your entire post. You said what I am thinking.

I like it too, but....not gonna happen. :(

+1000

I hope AA is still following this thread and values opinions shared here. Some of us are not the highest contributors to AA's bottom line yet, but many, especially the younger GLD/PLT folks, can potentially be a significant part of AA's business for decades to come. I suspect most of us knew about LT status and many had it as a reasonably achievable goal - and we're the ones most adversely affected by the recent change.

You're right, thanks for correcting me.

Completely agree with this point in particular:

• Let elite and bonus miles count towards lifetime accrual.

I hadn't been planning to pursue CC churn, or any other approach to LT, just BIS+Bonus miles. So the promotions for Doube/Triple-miles made that much more sense for me - like someone else suggested, with less regard for price differences with competing airlines .... along with maintenance of Plat/EXP (for the +100%).

I was figuring on about 6 1/2 years from now (at about 250K/yr pace, 100K BIS+150K Bonus) for LT Plat ... but certainly no longer interested if it's going to take 16 years from now to achieve (at 100K/yr pace), or twice as long at Plat miles pace. Since that pursuit is over, it's a reasonable time to reconsider priorities, and have a closer look at airlines with more competitive airfare on the routes taken.

And if the Plat bonus miles no longer apply to LT status pursuit, do I really even need that? Sure, there's value there, but maintenance of Gold for seat selection may be enough. Maybe I'll just be on the lookout for Business Seat Specials to replace the benefits of SWU's?

Who knows, maybe after receiving and using my first SWU's, I might forget the LT scenarios. But in the meantime, this "promotion" ONLY seems to be welcome news to folks that would like to limit the field of competition for status - "I got mine, don't worry about his"

guys be careful what you wish for you just might get it

If they do count bonus miles toward LT status then they just may reduce the bonus miles you earn

for me, I would like RDM as is more than I would like RDM at a lesser earning rate but counting toward LT status

I'd actually support it because GLD getting only 25% elite bonus while having both PLT and EXP earn 100% bonus miles is too awkward IMO. Would make more sense if it were:

GLD = 25% elite bonus miles
PLT = 50-75% elite bonus miles
EXP = 100% elite bonus miles

US does it, UA is going to do it and soon if AA & DL follow, this may be the new standard.

Right, the ambiguity would be removed if they hyphenated: "1,000,000 Million-Miler miles". Hopefully it is just grammatical faux pas, otherwise there really would be something to complain about in this thread ;)