Am I the only one wondering how those 2 statements can properly sit alongside each other?

It had never occurred to me that it was even possible to qualify for elite status without any flying at all and, sensibly, it looks like those days are soon to be over.

How do you think United Airlines can possibly survive when credit card miles don't count towards lifetime status over there? They seem to be keeping the planes in the air and I don't read about flyers leaving because their miles don't count towards lifetime status. FTers that want to redeem miles for award travel around the world are still going to rack up miles with credit cards, dining, or whatever else. It's not all about lifetime status.

Go ahead and leave if you're not happy. Please let us know what carrier you decide better meets your needs and will allow credit card miles towards lifetime status.

And not a single one of those miles counts towards lifetime status at UA (which was devalued this week with only 50% bonus miles after 1 million actual flight miles). How are you doing towards lifetime status there? Any closer than on AA?

You guys beat me to the 700K miles not counting for lifetime status.

I just decided to switch back here to AA from UA/CO. ( and I even live in Houston). Wish I had stayed with AA a few years back (and had known about the secret lifetime deal) I could be a whole lot closer than 200K. (But that is 150k more then I have with UA/CO).

One other thing to remember when flying (which I guess the OP doesnt do much of. Thus still wondering why he wants life time status, but thats another story)...On UA ONLY miles on UA metal count towards the milllion mile deal, where as here any Oneworld flight counts (assuming you buy a high enough fare class on some of the airlines)

OP,

I completely understand your frustration...at being late to the party. Trust me, I've left a boat-load of miles on the table before becoming miles-sentient.

Oh well, move on and don't let it make you bitter.

If I'm not mistaken, the MM program was an unpublished benefit offered by AA and they are formalizing it as of 12/1/2011 and giving us 90 days to top up balances. Technically, I don't think they had to give any notice of a change to a program that is just "something they do".

Link

Miles earned from sources other than flying are still redeemable for reward tickets and miles and copays.

People have said that up-thread and posted to the link, but looking over the benefits the only big differences from AA's program are that it's 4 tiers ratherr than 3 and really poor RDM multiplier for the two middle tiers.

Right now I'm happy with AA, but being SFO-based, I've occasionally thought of seeing if UA would match status and see how things are on the other side -- what am I missing?

50% bonus miles if you fly between 50K and 74K in discounted coach and 75% bonus miles if you fly between 75K and 99K in the same fare class. You won't get 100% bonus miles on every flight at UA until you fly 100K. At AA, 50K upwards gets you 100% bonus miles. That can add up over the years. Now, if you do fly paid business or first, or full fare coach, they have other bonuses that can bring in additional miles.

Also, lifetime status with 1 million flight miles on UA would historically get you 100% bonus miles. Next year that drops to 50% bonus miles. AA has not changed the perks of their million mile program and bonus miles have not changed, so 2MM here still brings in 100% bonus miles. Can you imagine all the heads that would be spinning here if they matched UA and dropped the bonus miles for lifetime Platinum to 50%, particularly among those that have been moving around hundreds of thousands of points and miles?

Also, UA does not offer off-peak 40K awards to Europe and South America and does not have a product like a One World award.

Gotcha - that was the one big difference from AA that I noted in the URL posted above, but hadn't known if the existing mid-tier ("Premier Executive," at 50k, right?) got 100% bonus the way.

Forget the LT people, that would be a big incentive to quite a few earn-PLT-ever-year folks as well - it's a big part of the economics that keeps me paying AA (or mile-earning CX or AA-operated-by-CX codeshare) rates for my Asia travel rather than going with the much cheaper non-mile-earning (or Asiamiles-only) fares on CX.

Which, as I said up-thread, is also a BIG plus in my book for AA keeping partner-airline miles in the MM program. :)

Gotcha. Also pretty big minuses, although is that a change or just an existing difference?

This year they get the 100%. Next year it drops to 50%.

Those differences (One World awards and off peak awards, neither of which UA has) have been in place for years. AA's off peak awards have a pretty wide season. U.S. - Europe runs mid-May to mid-October. Pretty good value for 40K and I've done a few of them to Europe and one to South America. Those alone could make AA very attractive to mid-tier UA flyers who can now accrue miles faster with AA, and then redeem them for off peak awards at less than what UA would charge.

ok
 

time to change credit cards back to the BMI mastercard and BMI american express. good bye AA, hello star alliance.

After reading all these posts about flying miles versus partner miles and folks "working" the system to get the lifetime awards, plus the unhappy folks who do not like the new system for one reason or another and are now unhappy with American, got me to thinking..........

Aftern Dec. 1, American should come up with a new tier that provides extra benefits (above the standard Gold ones) for those with one million "American" miles (from flying). That way it would enourage people to continue flying American, while at the same time not punish those who have made Gold through the old rules (all miles count).

As it stands now, it seems that alot of folks have now made the one million mark through a combination of flying and other ways and they now do not have a big incentive to fly American (since they will never reach 2 million).

What do you think?? Is Amerian listening??

Fees for close in awards
Silver unable to book preferred seats until 24 hours of departure
Fees for same day change - $75 for Silver
1 carry on baggage allowance
Darn near impossible for silver to get an upgrade as even the missus of a top level elite on her one trip trumps silver and gold.

See discussion/complaints here

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...-shaft-mp.html

However, they seem to be hinting at much better award availability for all Premiers.

Do we call them "disAAdvantage Miles" starting December 1, 2011?
 

After almost three decades enrolled in the AAdvantage frequent flyer program, I received an e-mail regarding a recent change to the value of the American Airlines program miles for earning Million Miler status and lifetime elite awards. This change could impact our flying and mileage earning and burning experiences. I personally find my AAdvantage miles valuable and I really like this program.

American Airlines, in announcing their new million miler program writes:

"Starting December 1, 2011, AAdvantage base miles earned by flying on American Airlines, American Eagle® or the AmericanConnection® carrier or any eligible AAdvantage program participating airline will count towards Million Miler status. Also, as a limited time offer, one AAdvantage mile for every dollar spent on eligible purchases using the new Citi ExecutiveSM / AAdvantage® World EliteTM MasterCard® credit card that post to billing statements through December 2012 will count toward Million Miler status*. The Citi ExecutiveSM / AAdvantage® World EliteTM MasterCard® credit card account must be open and in good standing by December 1, 2011."

Due to this program change and, to help eliminate confusion, I think we should differentiate between our old AAdvantage Miles and our new AAdvantage Miles earned starting December 1, 2011. As American Airlines is deleting the lifetime Million Miler mileage accrual elite benefit where you previously earned miles from almost any source, would it be more correct for us to call our new frequent flyer miles, "disAAdvantage" miles?

After a recent program change at Delta Airlines, some flying road warriors now refer to Delta SkyMiles as "SkyPesos" due to the apparent perceived devaluation of the Delta SkyMiles program. However, American Airlines miles seem to be somewhat more valuable than Delta SkyMiles. Accordingly, calling our frequent flyer miles "AAdvantage SkyPesos" doesn't quite make sense to me.

I want to thank American Airlines for continuing to provide their lifetime frequent flyer Million Miler recognition. Their AAdvantage program, which offers significant benefits such as lifetime elite awards with associated bonus incentives, provides an appropriate motivational environment which for me, makes me want to strive to earn and achieve Lifetime AA Million Miler Platinum status as soon as possible.

I'm based out of DTW. I had over 5 MM program miles when NW merged with Delta and over 1 MM on United. I was charter Diamond Elite with Delta, but didn't see any significant lifetime benefits like at AA. After I received LT Gold on AA this year, I tried the AA service to Asia. I thought the service was better on AA than Delta Airlines and because of that, plan to fly more with AA in the future.

To help welcome and give the proper recognition that our new American Airlines AAdvantage miles deserve, what is your recommendation in giving our new AAdvantage miles earned on or after December 1st, an endearing, charming, clever or cute name?

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...-skypesos.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...er-leader.html

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/viewfr...delta-skypesos

http://www.choosynomad.com/2011/08/d...pesos-skymiles

http://milepoint.com/forums/threads/...il-30-nyc.6950

(A moderator said to "please continue discussion in the existing, currently active thread" so now it's here.)
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-1-2011-a.html

How about AAvios?