Book 'em while you got 'em!

I'm actually in the process of doing just that. 325K miles left to allocate, theoretically tonight.

Already booked flights to PPT, JRO, and MLE, that I actually planned out real trips around over the last couple of days, prior to hitting the 'buy' button.

I'm trying to decide & nail down between the rest of my "drafts" before purchasing. At least get them a bit closer than the tentative SWAG state they are currently in, just in case. Which feels somewhat like throwing darts at a moving covid map while blindfolded. 😁

Not sure what's happening but reading through this thread, it looks like 2021/2022 will be the only year I qualify and hold AA EXP. I'm not speculating anything, but what a waste of collecting AA miles and status this year. Didn't book one single Y flight and score one free upgrade lmao. YYC-DFW-YYC J full month+ out. The RDM crediting to AS is almost double flying AA paid J and the benefits between AA from being EXP/AS75K is so little when flying paid J. Nice redemption options on AA but so does AS. and AS has a CDN credit card.

I'm happy to have experienced EXP Desk and the access to Flagship First check-in, but any further devalue makes this program considerably worse. Especially for Canadians that take a massive hit on EQD w/ conversion. With cheap J fares on AA and limited time/flying this year, it is so hard to hit EQD as a Canadian. AC gives 50% off for US residents for EQD. Delta doesn't even have EQD for Canadians, and I would have hit United's PCP requirement by triple...

Flying on AA nowadays 10k-20k EQM in J credits to $600-1000 EQD right now. For most my routes. Having to buy more expensive J tickets to qualify status is an absolute joke. I also don't have time. No company has policies like that, it's always been book cheapest J for me. I only hit the EQD for EXP after booking a stupid MR to Cairo on BA. It was booked just for EQD. Waste of time. It looks like I'll continue to fly mostly AA all next year but exclusively credit to AS. Which in itself is stupid, but the way she goes. When they re allocate their domestic widebodies to international, I'll have to seriously look at who I want to fly. It's sad but might have to go back to flying UA again lmao. AA still the best option with the domestic lie flats as it's what I value the most but ughhhh there's no way I'd credit to AA earning barely any RDM compared to AS if AA J fares are cheap next year too.

What routes are you mostly flying? Why did you finish chasing EXP if you weren�t seeing benefits?

PHX/LAX. ORD/ATL/NYC for east coast. INTL right now is Caribbean, Central and South America. Rare Europe. AA rules the widebody market on all these. Company will pay for cheapest J, which is AA for my routes. I chased EXP mainly because I was super impressed with the deployment of widebodies on domestic routes and for the potential UG into them as EXP. Plus, historically it is the most prestigious status to have. Burn some AA miles on redemptions I never had access to. It's my first time with EXP. but I can't even clear out of YYC so now I have slight buyers remorse lol. I should have just fully credited to AS instead. I didn't realize this until I started to track every flight, as I was booking cheap J. I guess I'm not the only one haha. whoops. And not tracking UG inventory. Now that I have been, being a Canadian AA EXP out of YYC is not as glamorous as I thought it to be... Either way, I am still choosing to fly AA J because it's the best option. I will take a lie flat over ANYTHING. Too bad that it doesn't make sense to credit to AA. I'd like to ideally be top tier in the airline I fly the most. I want to keep finding reasons to stay� Cant believe im having issues because of cheap J fares. Lmao. I guess it�s a good problem to have.

Anyone know if aa.com has a (publicly accessible but hidden from plain sight) staging area we can access where some digital assets might be stored prior to the switch being flipped?

Really not understanding how this is news - AA (and UA) are already both "frequent spender" (or high spender, as it were) programs, and not frequent flyer programs. On UA, if you do the math, the spend requirement is vastly more difficult to meet than the segment requirement, unless you're flying infrequently and spending vast sums of money on tickets.

What this boils down to is that these programs are already revenue-based. A devaluation of benefits, or increase in requirement to obtain status, could certainly happen, but this doesn't change the structure of the program.

There's also no benefit at all to most customers to drop/reduce the mileage/segment portion but increase the spend portion - if you're spending more, you'd be hitting those mileage/segment requirements anyway, again with the except of the less frequent traveler dropping a lot on flights.

I'm also struggling to see how people who consistently pay for business class find much value in loyalty programs, as others have mentioned. There are certainly some perks, but if you're already paying for the biggest ones, why would you care much about status? This is directly connected with EQD requirements that are too high - the airline has to figure that there is a sweet spot where individuals are paying "a lot" but can still obtain good value from earned status (e.g., a person buying main cabin very frequently) - that person could qualify for status, and get upgraded from time to time. If AA prices status so high that you'd essentially have to already be paying for the services that you'd get free for status, then how would anyone see that as a winning proposition? A $25,000 EQD requirement for EXP just doesn't mathematically or logically make any sense, unless we're talking inflation-adjusted dollars in 2040.

I have very little experience in the status game, but have been researching which to pursue in anticipation of a lot more travel in 2022 and freedom with who I book it though, but as I research things, AA is simply cheaper to qualify for: It costs $15,000 to qualify for EXP vs $18.000 for 1K (in addition to mileage/segment requirements). This could, of course change, but that's the bottom-line math, and that math is revenue-based.

Finally, I'm also not understanding those who are using this as an example of how AA is any worse - don't others (save, Southwest and budget carriers) all have revenue-based requirements? Isn't American's cheaper? How is any of this news, or - if it is - bad news?

Having status allows you to earn a SIGNIFICANT amount of more miles than basic member. It�s always been about the mileage earn and redemption for more better products, no? That�s the whole reason why I joined Flyertalk. And flying is the only way to collect a lot of AA miles for me as there�s no AA CC for most Canadians. AS has a CC. AA just doesn�t make sense for Canadians. Delta has no EQD for us. AC gives 50% off. I�m showing you exactly why AA is worse.

Most people on here are speculating that redeemable miles will go to a variable structure based on the cost of a ticket, which, very much does impact anyone engaged with the program.

Exactly. this happened to AC recently and it completely destroyed any good value for redeeming AE on domestic AC J. There used to be excellent options for short haul at 25k in J, 15k in Y. Those tickets can now be 40k-60k. Only good thing is you can now book award tickets that count as revenue because it basically is, so you can upgrade those flights. But it�s still not worth the structure change for just FT types like us. We fly to earn and burn for better experiences. It�s not about sitting in AA, it�s about earning enough to sit somewhere much better

im just ranting though. I want to like AA more but it�s hard. I really do appreciate their cheap J fares and plentiful lie flats. Ugh. But it ends there. But those are the most important factors for me when flying. Lol

Nope. :-)

If you're a frequent traveler there are two perks I can think of that make status important. First, lounge access. OWE grants access to lounges that are better than the standard business lounges. Of course, this will only apply again once lounges across the world open up again. Second, status gets you better support during IRROPS.

Totally get it, and to the others that have replied to my post - thanks. I definitely understand the other benefits of status and see how they'd be helpful. I also see how some people may value different parts of a loyalty program more than others. For example, I use a Chase Sapphire Reserve, and prefer to use those points to book flights so that they qualify as a paid flight therefore earn revenue. And because I would need to use most of my flying time actually earning status rather than redeeming award flights, AA points earned are of relatively less value, to me personally.

To clarify my comments, my comment of "how could this news be worse" was mainly directly at the idea of going to a revenue-based program, rather than any devaluation of earning/redemption. I certainly agree that any such changes could very much affect how certain people find value in the program.

The IRROPS and lounge access benefits, as someone mentioned, would definitely be valuable. I do also have access to the Centurion Lounge, so unless the higher end AA lounges are better, would probably spend more time in those lounges anyway.

I have an admittedly noob question for those more experienced please.

If I make a speculative booking for a route I know I want to fly in the future, will I be able to change date/time without repricing the award post devaluation?

My own example is flying Finnair J (57.5K AA) from HEL to N. America in late May, early June 2022. My understanding is that AY doesn't release J space to partners until 60 days out, hence making a booking for the mentioned dates would mean search starting late March/early April, which would be post devaluation.

I read this article from FM: https://frequentmiler.com/spending-5...nge_them_later

"Can we lock in awards now and change them later?

If you have the AA miles and you know now where you want to fly, and if you can find available awards, then it makes sense to simply book what you need now in order to lock in the current pricing.

I think there’s a reasonably good chance that this will work. View from the Wing explored this question the last time there was a major devaluation (in 2016) and he reported at that time that the following changes would be possible post-devaluation:

- You can change date and time without repricing the award, while keeping airlines and routing constant.
- You can change routing without repricing the award, while keeping the airlines constant, with a few caveats. Basically you cannot break the fare. You cannot add a stopover. You’re going to have to stick with a legal routing for the primary carrier on the itinerary.
- You cannot change award types, which means you can’t go from American only to flying partners. You can’t go from extra mileage award to saver award without a redeposit of miles and re-issue.

Basically, if things stay the same as with the last devaluation, we should be able to change travel dates and make minor routing changes as long as we keep the flown airline the same."

The above argues that it is likely that I can book AY J for some future random date with availability, then change to my desired dates come late March/early April 2022 for the dates that I DO want, WITHOUT it repricing. Worst case if not I can simply cancel for free. Does that make sense?

Appreciate any input

If #209 above is the commonly held opinion of the AA FT experts, then it's a game changer for me. I've been agonizing for days and continuing to spend countless hours nailing trips down, including preferred accommodations available, current covid requirements, etc.

My assumption has been, if AA is devaluing, it is done. To utilize the miles as ticketed, you're locked into the dates you've got. Covid surges and changing entry requirements -- too bad. Changes in circumstances --- too bad. Basically, that if the ticketed flight goes, either I'm on it, or my miles are redeposited for probably slimmer pickings later at also higher likely miles.

If forum folks think they'll be latitude on date changes, I'll can finish booking my city pairs in 30 minutes and go have lunch. and a happy drink.