Sure credit cards points to augment the 75-90 segments and $14-16KEQD I would have expected to fly a year in a non COVID context. No problem there, as far as I am concerned.

AA can structure the program how it sees fit based on its business. I'll evaluate the changes, and decide if it makes sense for me or not. No point in being emotionally entangled with a loyalty program.

And as I said - giant thread already where these issues have been discussed ad nauseum. No need for a splinter conversation here.

I know this is the direction we have been headed for a while with loyalty programs and status based on spend rather than flights/stays. But this seems to take it to the next level and it is no longer a frequent flyer/traveler program but is now a frequent spender program. The AA Advantage program does not care if you ever set foot on an airplane as long as you use their branded credit card. A lot.

Some have said that this will make it easier to earn status, "All" you have to do is spend a bunch of money with their card. For those of us who do not spend nearly that much in a year, let alone on a credit card, it seems that programs like this are no longer interested in our business. I do enjoy the perks of status for airline/hotel/car rental, but this removes the incentive to give AA (or whoever) my business on a regular basis if I am not going to spend big bucks. They will gain some big spenders who will earn "status" through spend, but how many customers (like me) wiill they lose simply because there is no incentive to remain brand loyal unless you are a big spender?

I disagree. This is a new paradigm for ff programs. The main thread is addressing how to deal with the changes. I am criticizing the changes as a new model, which shifts ff loyalty from actually flying to credit cards.

I'd consider the failure to receive an email from Alison Taylor a big positive.

Frequent spender program instead of frequent flyer/traveler program
 

It is all about chasing the $$$. The new model is we want big spenders to use our branded credit card and we don't really care if you fly our airline.

I agree! It is no longer a frequent flyer program, but instead is a frequent credit card program.

I did a check of the formula, it works. The only thing that it does not have is the amount of taxes if you book AA. So the formula above calculates the break even amount of the fare, without the taxes included (on an AA fare), which should be added to the break even amount from the current formula, to find the true break even amount of the fare. Unless I am missing something.

I’m gonna be honest that I’m not disappointed by the changes.

I normally hit the EQD waiver with CC spend and fly enough to get low level gold status.

I also do use the dining program and shopping portal here and there.

These changes might actually make it easier for me to hit higher levels of status but I do see how many are disappointed by them.

YMMV

Oh? What airline values passenger flying?

It is what it is. Cash is king. Miles flown mean nothing.

The only true frequent flyer program left is Alaska, which could work if you're a primary west coast flyer. Otherwise all FF programs have been revenue-driven and not mileage-based a long time ago. Good luck with your sanctimonious outrage. Next time use the main thread and let's not clutter the forum with these useless posts.

Alaska's program is a dinosaur as far as FFP go--in the view of the company. I know people have told me "the CEO has said they won't change the FFP...yadda yadda". Get ready it will change and/or be acquired by AA or someone else. It's just a matter of time.

This is very handy on 1-1 comparisons between AA and an AA partner. Thank you!

But can anyone help me with calculations and approach on mixed tickets? i.e., AA code share + AA partner. Example: IAD-DOH-JRO booked through AA. IAD-DOH is an AA codeshare operated by QA, while DOH-JRO is QA.

It's easy enough to pull out both the LP earn if booked through QA in this example (total miles X cabin bonus X elite%), and also the portion of QA LP earned if booked through AA (DOH-JRO).

But I don't know where to start on total LP booked through AA. AA.com doesn't display award miles on mixed tickets, or display the ticket price broken down by segment. So how do I know how AA will price the IAD-DOH AA codeshare segment from my total ticket price? For example, If I purchased a $5K ticket, and AA decided the codeshare segment was only $2500, I would be significantly shafted on earn. If I'm understanding the LP calculation correctly. (Perhaps a big IF)

Thanks for any help, as I try to come up to speed on stuff I didn't pay much attention to before and the new program.

I guess it's always been this way with mixed tickets when it came to RDM. But I always made higher on EQD than I could possibly qualify for on EQM, and there was always points coming in on RDM between bonuses and any credit card spend and vacations and flights that I didn't worry about maximizing it, because I already had 500K miles sitting in my account. Or even trying to figure out and understand at low details where it was coming from and how it was calculated. My focus was mostly on earning the EQMs, mostly through cabin bonuses.

Yes, this is only based on what is published right now. I agree that they are likely to tweak some of the bonuses especially if they see a lot of tickets getting booked away.

Yes this is definitely a better way to generalize the formula and as you noted is functionally equivalent. I am lazy and forgetful and was trying to keep it to one variable :D

That being said, we shouldn't be really booking fares close to the break even point, but rather quite lower than that, and on partners, if we are going to be optimizing this...:)