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AAdvantage program changes rumored Oct 2021

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AAdvantage program changes rumored Oct 2021

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Old Oct 3, 2021 | 10:59 am
  #136  
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Originally Posted by donotblink
Historically I’ve used most of my miles for 25,000 / $350 copay upgrades or 15,000 /$175 for Hawaii. I hope that’s not going away!
AA rarely releases upgrade space to Hawaii until a few days before the flight
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Old Oct 3, 2021 | 11:09 am
  #137  
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Originally Posted by fly747first
AA rarely releases upgrade space to Hawaii until a few days before the flight

They do, you just have to look somewhat hard and set up EF alerts.

I booked trips in October and November back in February with upgrades between JFK/LAX/HNL and back. After some schedule changes, I was successful in getting them to reroute me LGA/DFW/HNL.
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Old Oct 3, 2021 | 11:12 am
  #138  
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Originally Posted by donotblink
Historically I’ve used most of my miles for 25,000 / $350 copay upgrade... I hope that’s not going away!
This is the ONLY reason I switched my mileage-running-travel-the-world (Was doing 100k-200k EQMs/MQM's) fun to AA from DL back in 2017.

And LAX-HKG cleared every time!!!!
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Old Oct 3, 2021 | 2:19 pm
  #139  
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Very true, these are the last couple of things American has going for them, the cheap international saver awards and the cheap upgrades. After these are gone, there will be nothing much left to choose them for over the competition....
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Old Oct 4, 2021 | 9:41 am
  #140  
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Originally Posted by donotblink
They do, you just have to look somewhat hard and set up EF alerts.

I booked trips in October and November back in February with upgrades between JFK/LAX/HNL and back. After some schedule changes, I was successful in getting them to reroute me LGA/DFW/HNL.
As CK I have never missed an upgrade to Hawaii but these never cleared before a few days even with EF alerts

AA rerouting you due to a schedule change invalidates your point of AA releasing upgrade space to Hawaii far in advance as it is standard practice to honor an upgrade after a schedule change but the point is that you weren't previously confirmed for upgrades DFW Hawaii before the schedule change
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Old Oct 4, 2021 | 11:28 am
  #141  
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Originally Posted by Kacee
UA caps at 75,000 miles per ticket. At 11 miles per dollar for a 1K/EXP, you earn nothing once fare goes past $6,818.


A common misconception. These devaluations are not about giving the customer a fair return, they're about driving marginal revenue while cutting benefits. It's a win/win for the airline, a lose/lose for the customer.
Fair enough, but I stand by my statement that they shouldn't need to cap earnings in theory. In practice, I guess big corporations will often be greedy if they think they can get away with it. It is pretty shortsighted though - I would think a business would want every opportunity to reward/retain people buying tickets over $6800 - those have got to be pretty profitable customers in general.
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Old Oct 4, 2021 | 11:42 am
  #142  
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Originally Posted by Mr. BoH
Fair enough, but I stand by my statement that they shouldn't need to cap earnings in theory. In practice, I guess big corporations will often be greedy if they think they can get away with it. It is pretty shortsighted though - I would think a business would want every opportunity to reward/retain people buying tickets over $6800 - those have got to be pretty profitable customers in general.
Most people spending over $6,800 on individual tickets likely aren’t paying any attention to miles or status.
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Old Oct 4, 2021 | 12:56 pm
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Originally Posted by js1993
Most people spending over $6,800 on individual tickets likely aren’t paying any attention to miles or status.
You'd be surprised. I have a buddy who frequently flies last-minute transatlantic in J (frequently over $6800, I'd imagine) and he watches the FF programs like a hawk.
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Old Oct 4, 2021 | 1:05 pm
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Originally Posted by Mr. BoH
You'd be surprised. I have a buddy who frequently flies last-minute transatlantic in J (frequently over $6800, I'd imagine) and he watches the FF programs like a hawk.
On his own dime or his employer’s?

The people spending $6,800+ of their own money on individual tickets likely don’t care too much about miles or status, while those flying on their bosses’ dime often have little choice of carrier for last-minute flights.

I’m sure the airline bean-counters ran the numbers and came up with the caps for a reason.
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Old Oct 4, 2021 | 1:06 pm
  #145  
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Originally Posted by pauleeepaul
My two cents is that revenue driven sales calls will come back, for sure.

Internal meetings I am not so sure about.
I could see that. Some are being naďve to not see that there has been a significant paradigm shift...
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Old Oct 4, 2021 | 1:58 pm
  #146  
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Originally Posted by Fanjet
I'm on the side who thinks this "AAdvantage change" has to deal with redemptions, not elite-level requirements. After all, why would you announce new, higher elite qualification minimums in a year in which you've reduced the normal elite qualification requirements due to low business demand? On the other hand, they could introduce (a la United) an option to attain elite status based soley on (higher) EQD amounts. But I would not categorize that as a change that is hard and brutal. In fact, I would consider it an improvement for flyers who can easily meet the EQD thresholds, but have a hard time doing so for the EQM/EQS ones.
I think it's possible that it's both. Changes to elite qualification are almost always announced in Q4 because people start qualifying in Q1. If you have two "devaluations", you might as well group them together so the news outlets only write about it once.
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Old Oct 4, 2021 | 2:11 pm
  #147  
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Originally Posted by nk15
Very true, these are the last couple of things American has going for them, the cheap international saver awards and the cheap upgrades. After these are gone, there will be nothing much left to choose them for over the competition....
Hasn't the entire purpose of these programs been eliminated (I mean awards, not elite status). If tomorrow every airline in the world said "Our mileage/revenue earning program is ending in 30 days, you have three years to redeem and all award levels are dynamic." how would it change the airline industry? Which airlines would lose significant passenger revenue, if any?
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Old Oct 4, 2021 | 3:52 pm
  #148  
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Originally Posted by sbrower
Hasn't the entire purpose of these programs been eliminated (I mean awards, not elite status). If tomorrow every airline in the world said "Our mileage/revenue earning program is ending in 30 days, you have three years to redeem and all award levels are dynamic." how would it change the airline industry? Which airlines would lose significant passenger revenue, if any?
The loyalty program is part of the equation. A lot of us came to AA a few years back when everybody else went revenue based on the status earning side, and AA held up for a couple more years. If suddenly all programs terminate their status, then you will obviously pick airlines on other factors. But this will likely never happen simultaneously, it is all an ongoing dynamic process of change that slight varies by airline.
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Old Oct 4, 2021 | 4:23 pm
  #149  
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Originally Posted by sbrower
Hasn't the entire purpose of these programs been eliminated (I mean awards, not elite status). If tomorrow every airline in the world said "Our mileage/revenue earning program is ending in 30 days, you have three years to redeem and all award levels are dynamic." how would it change the airline industry? Which airlines would lose significant passenger revenue, if any?
AA would lose a ton of credit card rewards revenue and many of us would probably cancel our cobranded credit cards, that's for sure!
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Old Oct 4, 2021 | 6:58 pm
  #150  
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Originally Posted by js1993
Most people spending over $6,800 on individual tickets likely aren’t paying any attention to miles or status.
You bet they are, especially if they’re not personally funding the travel.
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