Your are going to want to keep a low fee CC to keep you account active so miles do not expire. Although I guess you could use the shoppers portal as well.

On the contrary! I am a very small fish compared to some of the flyers here, but my Christmas tickets will cost more than that per person. And I'm a member of FT, which means I pay attention to this stuff. Why would I want less credit rather than more for my upcoming flights? I already spend all the miles I earn every year, and I'm not CK, so more miles and/or credit would be great. Thank goodness this isn't a problem with AA (yet). Hope it stays that way

He owns his own business, so I guess technically both his dime and his employers, not that it really matters. The statement of "those flying on their bosses’ dime often have little choice of carrier for last-minute flights" is definitely not true - most employers allow for some flexibility to pick carriers based on schedule/stops/etc, and last minute prices tend to converge anyway.

Also, the broader assumption that "rich people don't pay attention to the small stuff like this" is a faulty one too. Nearly all of really wealthy people I know didn't get there by failing to pay attention to details that make them money.

Anyone that spends almost $7K on an airline ticket is pretty much big fish in any pond or world.

Knew interns at a consulting firm who had $8K last-minute international tickets. Undergrad interns, not MBA, mind you.

But yes, very few leisure travelers are ever going to spend that much. Most people I know put a cap at around $3K, sometimes $4K, even if they technically could spend much more and not see a dent in their bank account.

And then what? When AA doesn't have enough CKs and EXPs pretty much start issuing EQD credits so that they can get a decent number of pax in their two highest tiers? AA as always, plagued by executives who can barely perform D- work; zero vision and zero analytical skills.

The majority of travelers probably consider a $750 airline ticket cost prohibitive for most circumstances.

Based on history, if AA does get rid of 70k-mile J Award tickets to Asia (devalue/discontinue its award chart) will it be done instantly on the date of announcement?

Or, will they announce that the redemptions are changing on a future date?

My psychological limit is $2.5k for international J roundtrips, assuming there is either an ultra long haul (>12hours) each way, or two long hauls (>8-9hrs) each way. I think I have only paid $2.4k once for 24 hours in the air each way (and got 100kRDMs and 2 SWUs in return). For one long haul and one short/medium haul each way, my limit is around $1.7k

I could see myself perhaps paying up to $2.9k roundtrip, if requalification is at stake, or if it contains one ultra long haul and one long haul on QR each way...Like LAX-DOH-DPS, for example .

My preferred limit is up to $1600, though....

I think they will do it instantly but not really announce it that way. They will just remove the award chat fully and then you will be left to your own to figure out what pricing should be (which is then anything AA wants). Thats dynamic pricing. They will spin it with some initial discount redemptions to cover up the true impact.

In other words time is ticking…

either way if they make a public announcement all good inventory that’s left will dry up quick.

The FAs who so desperately try to force CC applications will have to change their speech when award levels increase and I'll be sure to correct them

The carriers are still under some legal pressure. Notwithstanding the legal language that amounts to "We can do anything we want and if you don't like it you can take a long walk off a short pier" there is still a threshold beyond which they would get people like FTC, DOT, and 50 state attorneys general (remember both Democratic and Republican travelers can get equally ticked off) hopping mad.

IIRC, in the mid-1990's, United basically created "old miles" and "new miles" and you had a certain period of time to redeem old miles on the old award chart. I think on the old award chart, two F tickets to Oz were 120K miles. Today, that would get you dropped off halfway between California and Hawaii on the outbound. If you're lucky.

FYI there are various dates with 35k-38.5k flagship F awards available for LAX-JFK/BOS etc -- I just bought a half-dozen in case of a sudden devaluation

ETA - got some 30k BOS-LAX in January too (Flagship F on the 321)... no FFD on the BOS side but still a good deal