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Originally Posted by Seabilly
(Post 17009558)
<snip>I will still work on getting my spend for my Citi AA Business Card to get that mileage signup bonus but will then drop all my Citi AA cards (I have too many CCs anyway, and it is a good excuse to clean house). I will likely also still keep my BankDirect account open because I use my AA miles for travel for the kids.
So, sorry I got into the "game" too late, but I did earn a bunch of miles that will not go to waste. <snip> My AA Visa and Amex come up for renewal in October. I won't be renewing them. |
Originally Posted by tom911
(Post 17009973)
I see one long-time AA poster that moved to UA is already talking about coming back to AA if those go through.
I agree that it is worth looking at the rumored changes to Mileage Plus to see if you'll benefit under their new program. If you're a high dollar customer then you'll do well. If you make most of your flights with *A partners then it might not work out as well for you based on how the revenue will actually be calculated. There have been some rumors that partner revenue won't count. If this is true, you'd have to make the revenue on UA flights only. Also, UA only counts lifetime status for flights on UA metal, not its partners. It was inevitable that AA was going to change the Million Miler program at some point since every other frequent flyer program did. Many people took advantage of the program and generated millions of miles through spend which counted towards lifetime status. As an EXP flyer who did mostly BIS but never played the mileage game with churning Citi cards, Bank Direct and coins, this change does little to affect me. Unless there's a real dilution of the AAdavantage program benefits or my future work travel requires a different carrier, there's no reason for me to switch programs. I think the real loser out of this deal will be Citi. I had already migrated away from using my Citi Visa for another card, and I too won't be paying to renew when the fee comes due in mid 2012. |
Rolled the Dice and Won
I called up and asked to redeem 8 500-mile stickers and they posted overnight:
08/27/11 CUSTOMER SERVICE BONUS 0 35,000 35,000 I crossed over the first million mark maybe eight years ago, so was pleasantly surprised....Maybe it's my lucky day and I should go and buy a lottery ticket.
Originally Posted by thehawk75
(Post 17008824)
Warning to members who try this, be prepared for a time consuming and frustrating display of incompetence.
2 calls so far, and my account is a mess. After first call was promised 35,000 miles for my 8 stickers, told to check back in 24 hours to see changes reflected. I log in a day later and see I've had 16 stickers deducted, and no miles posted. Call back, and for half an hour the supervisor seems to think that I never had the sticker balance I claimed to have, so, the 16 sticker deduction was accurate! Finally they found 'something' that let them figure out it was their mistake (they didn't tell me what), but, promised my missing 8 stickers would be returned. Also told that the 35,000 miles will appear in the next 24 hours. Log in today, and... I have only been given 4,000 miles. Obviously they treated this exchange not as the special million miler 8 sticker for 35,000 miles exchange, but, instead as just a regular old swap at a rate of 500 miles given per sticker. This despite the fact being promised by multiple reps I'd be given 35,000 miles for my 8 stickers. Problem is still not resolved, as, customer service is now closed. But, not looking forward to the fact I'll have to call back again. Each phone call so far (2 of them) has been about 45 minutes long. Can't see this next call taking less time. I probably should have waited a couple of weeks before doing this. Clearly the customer service reps are not yet properly trained on how to do this million miler 8 sticker for 35,000 miles swap. I would hope this is something that would improve in the coming weeks. |
I understand why AA made this change but unfortunately the end result is that AA no longer makes sense for me. I am yearly Plat, occasionally EXP, based on paid J-class business travel each year, mostly to the Far East (total cost generally $35k-$50k/year). I also take a few domestic flights per year for personal travel. Up until now, I've chosen AA exclusively as my carrier for work travel even when they haven't been the lowest fare because I enjoyed the prospect of being able to supplement BIS miles with Plat bonus, spending and other miles so that I could realize some tangible benefit even after my current pattern of business travel changes.
I calculated that at my current rate of business travel using BIS miles alone without bonuses, it will take me another 6 years to reach lifetime gold and 20 to reach lifetime plat. Under the previous rules, those numbers were more like 2 years and 7 years. I can't really count on maintaining my current level of business travel for more than a decade into the future, so it's just not worth it to me to remain exclusive to AA under these circumstances. It's a pity. I understand that AA has crunched the numbers and has decided that the cost of awarding me lifetime platinum is greater than the benefit they will receive from the patronage that it takes to get me there under the current program, and that's fine. But this will most definitely have a profound impact on my spending and flying habits. So long, AA! I'm sad I didn't even make LT Gold before this change was made but the chase was nice while it lasted. |
I guess I'm a lone wolf here. I fly primarily to collect redeemable miles. I get Platinum or EXP status to get double redeemable miles and upgrades when I do fly. I find it pretty incredible that people have been flying for the sole purpose of getting lifetime Gold or Platinum status and now all is lost and life is tragic? Very strange. :confused:
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Originally Posted by ILuvParis
(Post 17011179)
I guess I'm a lone wolf here. I fly primarily to collect redeemable miles. I get Platinum or EXP status to get double redeemable miles and upgrades when I do fly. I find it pretty incredible that people have been flying for the sole purpose of getting lifetime Gold or Platinum status and now all is lost and life is tragic? Very strange. :confused:
Cheers. |
Originally Posted by ILuvParis
(Post 17011179)
Very strange. :confused:
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I think AA made a HUGE mistake with this change
Originally Posted by ESpen36
(Post 16986252)
No. If you look at the first line of the paragraph, it says "AAdvantage base miles" (my emphasis).
Only actual BIS will count. No elite or class of service bonus miles will be included in the new MM counter starting 12/1/11. Why would they want to stop rewarding passengers who pay full fare J and F seats? ?? HP |
Originally Posted by HighPotter
(Post 17011219)
Talk about a top dollar, loyalty killer.
Why would they want to stop rewarding passengers who pay full fare J and F seats? ?? HP Are you serious? |
Originally Posted by brp
(Post 17011196)
Well,you're virtually the lone wolf among most people posting in this thread as they've come to complain about the changes. Most people do just as you're doing since they don't know about the MM program. Clearly they're not using the cards for the MM benefits. The suppositions that AA will see substantially reduced use of the cards due to this is very unlikely.
Cheers. I then did discover this forum and the program and raced to do the last 300k before this deadline. I suspect there are lots of folks like me out there. In hindsight, there are A TON of things I did really inefficiently compared to users of this forum. But, I suspect there are a lot of folks like me out there that just didn't know/bother to find out any different for years. |
Originally Posted by izzik
(Post 17011254)
LOL.
Are you serious? Yes I am, or I wouldn't have posted it. Thanks for your response. HP |
First, I want to say thank you to everyone who was so supportive of my post. I've been around FT for almost as long as I've been pursuing my 2MM dream, and was honestly a bit wary about sharing my sentiments and suggestions. But I was pleasantly surprised and wanted to say thank you. FT is a wonderful community where one can learn a great deal about seeing the world. I have learned much here and will be utilizing the resources a great deal more in the future. Right now, I think I will continue to work toward my goal, but it is still doubtful that I will reach 2MM anytime within the reasonable, foreseeable future. I've been doing calculations and spreadsheets and unless I travel a great deal more than I do now, I just can't see it happening anytime in the next decade. And yes, that makes me sad.
Originally Posted by JDiver
(Post 17007252)
Just parenthetically, here's what real million milers looked like in the days or recips:
GG |
8 stickers trade for 35K limited to few
Background: I'm at 1.92 million - and close to the 2 million mark. EXP this year but travel has tapered off for balance of 2011 and wanting to get as close to 2M as possible before the changes.
There was a post from Jailer that said he/she got the 35K in exchange for 8 stickers. The post from AA included a phrase that did say "since January 2011" but based on the experience of other posters, thought I'd give it a shot. Called in to customer service to exchange 8 upgrades for 35,000. Happened to reach a supervisor when I called. She told me that it applied to people who achieved the million in 2011 and I reached my first million in 2006. She put me on hold for about 10 minutes to research and confirm. The second part of the answer from the supervisor was the exchange 8 for 35000 must not be purchased and must be 8 that AA gave to you. My inventory of stickers were purchased as inventory to upgrade work colleagues. That would mean first used stickers for upgrade are those complimentary ones followed by the purchased ones. In other words, there is not "good news" as stated in the AA post, really except for a limited few. |
Originally Posted by Jailer
(Post 17011042)
I called up and asked to redeem 8 500-mile stickers and they posted overnight:
08/27/11 CUSTOMER SERVICE BONUS 0 35,000 35,000 I crossed over the first million mark maybe eight years ago, so was pleasantly surprised....Maybe it's my lucky day and I should go and buy a lottery ticket. I use my upgrade 'stickers' to fly my husband when I can have him travel with me. Hubby miles and hubby upgrades. |
Originally Posted by ILuvParis
(Post 17011179)
I guess I'm a lone wolf here. I fly primarily to collect redeemable miles. I get Platinum or EXP status to get double redeemable miles and upgrades when I do fly. I find it pretty incredible that people have been flying for the sole purpose of getting lifetime Gold or Platinum status and now all is lost and life is tragic? Very strange. :confused:
I have, however, been selecting AA as my exclusive carrier for work travel based in part upon the LTG/LTP benefit and the pursuit thereof. Now that that goal is no longer realistically attainable by me within a reasonable time frame, I have less incentive to remain loyal to one carrier. I agree 100% that the main "reward" for flying is redeemable miles and upgrades. However, I can get those on any carrier. In fact, there may be some advantage to spreading my spending around so that I can get status on a couple of different airlines. I'm not here to whine. Just observing that FOR ME (and I recognize others may have a different experience depending upon their different individual circumstances) there is no longer enough of an incentive to use AA exclusively for me to remain loyal. |
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