guv1976

I'm sure that things can get worse, if AA tries hard enough.

As Elaine once said to Jerry,

“You know, sometimes when I think you’re the shallowest man I’ve ever met, you manage to drain a little more out of the pool.”

moondog

IMO, DL is clearly a better managed airline than AA (and, UA as well). But, AA's loyalty program remains close to best in class. Assuming AA follows DL's lead on the dynamic pricing front, I will reconsider my loyalty, and may well end up buying tickets on second rate airlines at times. I'm honestly not all that bothered by these developments; things change, and markets adapt to the changes.

Antarius

I agree. The downside is AA needs a better FF program to compensate for their God awful operational issues and Oasis mess right now.

while the cut from 8 to 4 SWUs wasnt ideal, 8 SWUs in NGBC <<< 4 SWUs in 1-2-1 lay flats with FL. Lose some, get some.

Geordie405

cova

The service difference is minimal. Just sat on a 77W - first bulk coach row behind PE. There is no curtain. I had much more leg room and was much more comfortable than the passenger in PE in front of me, who's leg room was real tight. Same beverage cart and same plastic cups. Same food cart except a few rows of the cart had PE meals - with china dishes - but food not that great. Of course not much to the Y food, so better than Y food, but not much. When the pre-landing snack food was served - the PE customer did not think much of it - even ask to see what was being served in Y.

Yes it is a different class but minimal. The SWU is supposed to move your from Economy (be it regular Economy, MCE Economy, or PE Economy). I had to tell the FA in my case - setting in MCE Economy as a EXP - that I got free drinks beyond the wine and beer served in coach on international. The FA did not have his handheld - but knew of EXP benefit - but really did not know about MCE benefit. The seat marking on the overhead door clearly said MCE.

SAT Lawyer

AA can do whatever it wants. For example, I suppose AA could only allow passengers including its top tier elites to reserve middle seats in advance and then provide that SWUs are to be used to allow an "upgrade" from a middle seat to an aisle seat or a window seat. Or, AA could block off exit row and bulkhead seats in economy and provide that SWUs are to be used to "upgrade" to an exit row or bulkhead seat.

But doing that would be stupid and not competitive.

AA already is at somewhat of a competitive disadvantage vis-a-vis UA in that UA offers its 1Ks six GPUs + six RPUs upon qualification, while AA only affords its EXPs four SWUs upon qualification. The advantage AA has is that its SWUs are usable for economy to business upgrades on any revenue fare class, while UA requires a purchase of W and up fares for its GPUs and doesn't refund the W and up fare premium if the GPU doesn't clear.

But if AA does something stupid with its SWUs such as only allowing an upgrade from economy to premium economy, while its competitors still allow theirs to be used to go from economy to business, then its EXPs will surely flee in droves. AA has already cut the allocation of SWUs in half, from eight to four.

For what its worth, like enviorian in post #45 and cova in post #65 , I don't see premium economy as much of an improvement over the good bulkhead and exit row seats on most of AA's widebody fleet. As such, AA hypothetically turning SWUs from instruments that move the holder from economy to business to instruments that only move the holder from economy to premium economy would effectively sap them of their value, at least in my eyes.

Geordie405

I think that's where you and I have a different perspective, but I do see your point and where you're coming from. MCE is simply a designation for additional legroom seats within the Main Economy Cabin, albeit with the perk of complimentary beverages. I don't view MCE as being a separate class of service in its own right. However, I do see PE as being a distinct, separate, higher class cabin. I definitely don't see it as being a subset of the main cabin.

Again, I totally understand your point of view and you make some good points. Whether or not you or I or @cova or @enviorian feel that there's a big enough differential between Y and PE to justify them being separate cabins for the purposes of an upgrade is probably moot (and very subjective) although AA definitely seems to view them that way, at least from a pricing and revenue perspective.

I am also not sure EXPs would flee in droves though. We already have enough people stating they'll never fly [insert carrier here] for whatever reason, and we read constantly of ever decreasing availability for upgrades (whether based on status, miles & copay or SWU) but AA still seems to fill its planes. I think that if such a change were to happen then you may just find people purchasing P / W tickets instead of Y. To be honest, on the last few occasions when I booked Premium Economy there really wasn't that much difference in the price!

GTITAN

+1. I agree completely. It does not have as much leg room as a full out exit row. The food is nothing to write home about and could care less about a printed menu. The service is just economy (not blaming line employees for that). Only reason I tend to get it is for 1.5 EQMs and the difference in price is often minimal. Were that to go away, I'd never fly it.

Safe Travels.

beachfan

ryan182

Delta might be behind AA in deployment of PE seating but that has nothing to do with FF programs. Most of the recent "enhancements" that AA has bestowed upon us from a FF program standpoint have been a copy/paste of things that DL did first ie. EQD, Earnings by $ vs distance, dynamic awards, and I'm sure there were others I'm forgetting.

Zacnlinc

[QUOTE=GTITAN;31158465]
I agree completely... if pricing is nominal, I will be more inclined for PE just for the sheer fact that the 1.5 EQMs are there for me on my TPAC flights. But I do think giving up the Y exit row aisle option for a middle/window PE seat just doesn't feel the same for me as I'm 6'. Will be making this same decision in a couple weeks as I was just tasked to get over to HKG and LHR within the next three weeks. Down to LAX I go! Don't know why AA.com keep pointing me to DFW though... LOL

rasheed

I believe the removal of discounted MCE seats for Gold was also a DL mimic. On that one, I don't complain too much because I think AA is selling less MCE seats as such and with Group 9 so big (if they are willing to save $10-$20 on the fare, they won't pay for a seat), seat revenue seems to really be useless for anyone in the program. Maybe this is why they have talked about some sort of coupon program for better seat assignment.

It does seem possible if we are in a guessing game that MCE at booking for Plat could face a threat. I am also still unsure the PPRO level will remain so similar to the EXP level for domestic upgrades and other benefits.

FlyingEgghead

What plane has 9 across in PE?

Antarius

have noticed this, group 9 seemongly continues to grow. On the last several flights, it seems to be 30+% of the boarding group.

Cledaybuck