If airlines programs continue down this road.. I think I would find myself just looking for the best deal to where I need to go.
As if it was not bad enough when AA when from 12K to 15K in spend, and dropped 4 SWU to boot.
I usually book J for international , and dont travel much domestic , so its not has if I would miss any benefits.

Lets wait and see, with the rumors that Mr. Parker may or may not be leaving... who knows

�FFP�

The question is - what�s the point to a FFP. To incentivize further spend. Folks who spend $$$ on a few flights won�t care about premier status, because J and F come with benefits anyway, and schedule matters most. Wrong target market I think.

what the mileage based FFP does is identify fliers who generate non cyclic cash flow (I.e. fly a lot) � the first F in the acronym.

the second F implies flying. This credit card game going on for several years is insane. American is more like a holding company.

the last letter - P - implies that two are needed to tango. We work together. Reward me for spending my life in a metal tube. If American goes spend based, I�m going cheapest F any airline. in the latter case, as Queen of Coach says��goodbye cruel airline�

The UA approach makes sense to me. But there are a few things AA does better.

Does a paid J international traveler care about status? There is honestly less benefits without a tier beyond star gold. The points based upgrade system at UA helps with that. The first class lounges and fast track as a OWE is a good perk above a J flyer. Generous award points and availability to book vacations with the family work well.

The domestic road warrier cares about status. They generally can book last minute economy fares but not domestic first. Upgrades matter and a spend based system versus a distance based system works. UA even did a segments based discount which at 54 for 1k (with revenue minimum) is reasonable compared with 120 segments for exp. AA prioritizes EQD for upgrades which makes a ton of sense (and was similar to the US approach before).

I think an easy response for AA is to have a second qualification tier, lowering the exp requirement to 50 segments plus a higher EQD requirement.

Though what about people based at outstations like (me) CMH? It's not a hub for anyone, and for my destinations I usually have 4 or 6 segments for a return trip. Incentivizes those in non-hub situations, for sure. Still wouldn't switch to United for myriad of reasons, though....

I am a loyal 1k flyer for many years. I cannot believe United is changing a program that has worked for many years. I even pay for the mile accelerator to gain access to 1k status. I left American after flying 900000 miles to come to United/continental because of poor American service. So 12 years later I now find myself wanted to leave this airline. First they make slight positive changes last month only to postpone it for the real negative change, which is Totally deceptive. When airlines have a bad time (high fuel prices) and need loyal customers what do they want. Loyal customers to stay. For 24000 dollars to get 1k and 18000 and 27 flights what are they trying to do. Why can't they just Raise it to 18000 and 100k. Their rational to change a program not to include mile distance is terrible. They will lose customers and will lose my business. If enough of us complain perhaps they will recant these changes. Because I am going to watch if American or delta stays their course. Small steps to very loyal customers is palatable, and United's change is egregious, greedy and terrible. I am less sure about this airline than ever. Time for a switch

I haven't seen anything that would support that. Nothing on the QF website.

I agree. I'm in an even smaller city. Nearly all my flights are 4 segments. I end up with lots of segments, but often short on miles. UA taking the miles out of the equation might end up mattering to me, but honestly the best combo of price/time usually ends up being AA currently, and that isn't likely to change. I'm basically a free agent, but often end up with low level AA status, I think Free Agency will remain the best plan in the near future, just buy what works, let the chips fall where they will.

Airlines would love to fill planes with nothing but high-fare/premium cabin passengers. And indeed, these are their best customers. But there aren�t enough of them to fill planes.

Loyalty programs were aimed at what were once considered an airline�s second-best customers - passengers who didn�t necessarily spend top-dollar, but who flew relatively often and could be enticed to direct that steady flow of spend into one place. And this makes sense, because premium passengers already get almost all the perks commonly associated with elite status just by virtue of the tickets they purchase.

Airlines have recently signaled that it is not worth their time to attract these sorts of customers. They�re banking on once-a-year flyers paying fee after fee, and also making a bet that business travelers flying coach are going to have to continue to travel, and for the most part have to consider schedule first. This means airlines aren�t really scared of passengers leaving, especially in an industry that has been so heavily consolidated and where the major players essentially copy each other. They�re calling the bluff that the grass is greener.

This will probably continue to work for them, at least as long as the economy remains strong. But frequent flyer programs, in the form that we once knew them, have one foot in the grave.

AA, DL, and UA will all gift status to customers with corporate contracts - seems like that's the most profitable segment. They'd probably like to go to a "profitability score" but it's too complicated and don't want to release it to the public. Seems counterproductive to discourage customers from spending money - my guess is that UA has gone too far. All I can say is good job Spirit, Frontier, Allegiant etc for keeping the environment competitive.

I believe in AA's case as JonNYC and others have long reported about the "Helix Eagle Score". Since my travel tends to be self-funded, mine won't be too high I reckon.

Safe Travels

EDIT TO ADD: See post immediately below for correction!!

Helix score is -not- profitability rating-- AA uses both but only quasi-acknowledges the former.

Sorry about that Sir!!!

Safe Travels

Already there. Living overseas I take advantage of some great fares on different airlines and find it's just as easy getting where I need to go. Domestically, I go with the best schedule and price as there is still some competition left to choose from. AS has become my go to FFP as the earnings are good and requalifying for MVPG75k was easy this year.

Now that all of the meetings regarding what to do about the lifetime AC members post-10/31 are over, AA can get back to the business of racing to the bottom. Plus, the new management team is probably eager to flex their muscle.

My home airport is TPA, I am almost always forced to connect except for a few large cities. So this works for me👍.