EQDsSUCK

Generally, the major airlines have had approximately equal requirements to qualify for elite status. AA's new Lousy Points program greatly changes this.

To qualify for Platinum Pro, or similar status, here are airlines' current requirements:

Alaska Airlines - 75,000 miles flown

United Airlines - $9,000 spend on airline tickets

Delta Airlines - $9,000 spend on airline tickets

American Airlines - 125,000 points ($14,000 spend on airline tickets; OR, $9,000 spend on airline tickets plus $45,000 charged to AA credit cards)

This seems to be the first time in awhile that there is a significant difference between elite qualification at different airlines.

Will the other airlines make their status harder to get, like American Airlines has? Or will AA lose elites to other airlines?

I, for one, will be taking my allegiance elsewhere. Why? I generally fly enough in an average year to get Platinum status. But now, instead of spending $6,000 on airline tickets each year to retain Platinum status, I have to spend $9,400 on airline tickets to get my 75,000 points to retain Platinum status. Platinum Pro's have it even worse, as they have to spend $14,000 on airline tickets (earning 125,000 points) to retain status, as opposed to the $9,000 ticket spend under the old program.

The new program dumps a large pile of crap on all the loyal AA fliers who have been racking up AA miles and upgrade stickers over many years. I guess AA thinks it will gain more credit card revenue than lose current elites' ticket revenue. I hope the new anti-flier, pro-credit card user program doesn't do well. I would be happy if everyone went back to EQMs like Alaska Airlines. :-) I predict that AA will lose many American elites to the Alaska elite program.

dw

The UA requirements you’re quoting are not accurate; they may be based on reduced criteria for 2021.

When UA announced their original 2020 pre-COVID requirements, to get their former 75k level (Platinum, equivalent to AA Plat Pro), it required either a straight $15k in revenue or 12k in revenue plus 36 flights.

At the end of the day, the new AA requirements aren’t that far off from UA’s program

born sleepy

Not this one as AS network is weak for me, but as I'm about to hit EXP on segments (101 so far!) with a few hundred left on EQDs, I'll enjoy that until 2023 when I'll see if UA will match me to 1K. I will never make even PPro under this new scheme without manufactured CC spend. Ticket spend is doable, but the reliance on cards to fill in the gap isn't, and as all my travel is domestic I won't get enough points for miles vs making status via segments like I've been doing for years.

So AA is turning into a bank that also flies planes... this is a garbage program now and I'm probably done with AA.

redtop43

The quirk in the AA program is that the accumulation of airline spend depends on what status you already hold. To make PPRO, an EXP has to spend $11,300, a PPRO has to spend $13,900, a Plat has to spend $15,600, and a Gold has to spend $17,900.

I don't know if this was considered a feature, or a bug, or an unintended consequence. CC spend counts the same no matter what but airline spend doesn't. Looking at it another way, an EXP needs to spend $18,200 but if (s)he falls to PPRO, they need to spend $22,200. I wonder if this is a trick to get more people to buy up status at year end.

I haven't looked at Delta, but I know that United gives credit for CC spend, but it's not close to at the level of AA.

Maybe AA is willing to say that frequent fliers should go to UA or DL, and they will keep the CC whales. And when you think about it, I'm sure there are people who spend mid-6 figures on CC's who are only occasional fliers. Say you had a 1.5% cashback card (not market-leading, but not crazy low either) that you are spending $200K a year on. So you can give up $3K in cashback to get 200K AA miles (which may not be worth their weight in gold, but not a bucket of warm spit either) PLUS likely upgrades when you fly (as the ranks of frequent-flying EXPs are thinned, but if you are spending 300, 400, 500K on your CC you will be in the upper range of EXP's on rolling 12-month loyalty points).

Mwenenzi

AA Plat Pro = OW Emerald (top tier) Until a few months ago was OW Sapphire (mid tier)
In OW AA are unique in having 2 off OW Emerald tier's
Some other OW airlines have a private/invitation high status, based more on influence than flying

https://www.oneworld.com/members/ame...airlines#tiers
https://www.oneworld.com/members/alaska-airlines#tiers
https://www.oneworld.com/members/british-airways#tiers

Comparing EXP (OWE) and Plat (OWS) would give a different result

born sleepy

I can't imagine spending six figs on cards... rich people are buying F/J anyway and don't care about airline status.

You do raise a good point about achieving status from scratch: if I was a newb with zero status flying AA for the first time on 1 Jan, how much would it cost me to make EXP without flying to SYD every week?

redtop43

Different people do different things. First, some put business spend on their credit cards. Second, people value different things. I know people who won't think of slumming it at the Marriott but also wouldn't think of buying F/J air tickets. I have a friend who flies internationally who tells me that he basically gets on the plane and goes to sleep. I can barely sleep in a lie-flat.

To make EXP with no status would mean buying $40K worth of tickets, not including taxes and fees.

I'm wondering if they may have to alter the rules for flights, maybe to give you loyalty point multipliers based on your highest status in the past three years. But that may be more hoping than believing. Or maybe they think that between status buy-ups at year-end and status challenges, they'll have that covered.

As I think of it, the $40K is an overstatement. After you spend $6K you will get gold, with a 140% multiplier. I think Platinum is 75K, so you'd need to spend $6.4K more to get to 75K LP. The 50K LP's to get to PPro will take $6250 in spend at the Plat multiplier. And the last 75K points will take $8300. So I think it's more like $27K.

xliioper

DL waives MQD requirements for Plat and lower status if you spend at least $25K on a DL AMEX Plat or Reserve card. These cards also have MQM Boosts for every $25K (Plat) or $30K (Reserve) of spend (for 2021, 12.5K and 18.75K, respectively -- although it is normally 10K and 15K). If you have at least $25K of CC spend, it's one of the easier programs to achieve Plat status. Diamond Medallion is a whole lot more challenging as the AMEX MQD Waiver spend level is $250K.

Most people (non-FTers) look at convenience first when it comes to selecting an airline program and don't simply chase status of the sake of having it. AS simply isn't very convenient for a big chunk of the country unless the bulk of your flying is to the Pacific Northwest/Alaska. I doubt they are going to gain all that many switchers. Yes, you can still get benefits and upgrades on AA with AS status. But getting AS status is going to be more challenging if the bulk of your flying is on cheaper AA fares due to only earning fractional mileage credit on AS.

aaupgrade

Rich people don't fly commercial domestically or short-haul international. They do spend six figures on CC. But the end result is the same, AA or any commercial domestic airline, may be trying to target the rich but won't be successful as they don't have the hard product or level of service the rich desire. They're really targeting small business owners, business travelers, middle and upper middle class, or others with disposable income, who pay for first or business. The rich do fly commercial for long-haul international travel and undoubtedly choose the best first class for their buck. For Asia that wouldn't be a US carrier as the only one with first class, AA, hasn't invested in their product or service level to keep up with that of the Asian airlines. For Europe and the ME that wouldn't be a US carrier as the only one with first class, AA, hasn't invested in their product or service level to keep up with those of the few European and most ME airlines.

FF programs especially appeal to those who have followed the carrot over the decades. We have been conditioned for it for years, and have forums just like this devoted to it. The airlines rely on this conditioning and feed our addiction. It's kind of like the stock market, don't fall in love with a stock. Look at it objectively and sell when the time is right. The program we choose is our program and it's the best; that subconscious mentality is real. We need to step back and decide what works for us, and what works for me may not work for you. I stepped back from AA FF program a few years ago when they first went to money based and moved my earning to BAEC. I didn't change my flying; I still fly the fares and alliance I prefer with along with a backup alliance.

FWIW, I'm a leisure traveler who flies one AONE3 a year, occasionally a AONE4, ACIR22 or ACIR26 instead, along with 1 domestic roundtrip or one-way. All paid first, with an occasional award flight for positioning, and I am not rich as my annual flight budget is usually under $12,000. I easily qualify for OW Emerald (BA Gold) each year. If BAEC program changes significantly, I'll probably change to another airline's program. I still credit excess mileage to AA, but from partners where I get AA miles based on mileage, elite bonus and COS bonus. Having miles in both AA and BA gives me options to use the best miles for the buck. For example, HND-HKG award in CX or JL J using BA is 24,000 Avios whereas with AA is 30,000 AA Miles, but CDG-HKG award in CX F is 123,750 BA Avios but only 90,000 AA miles, and HKG-LAX award in CX F is 144,250 BA Avios but only 110,000 AA miles, ORD-DCA award in AA J (domestic F) is 15,000 BA Avios but 25,000 using AA miles.

So if you only fly domestic then yes, the only programs to choose from are AA, UA, AS, DL, B6, or WN. But if you fly internationally, then you have many more airline FFP to choose from. FWIW, a plus for getting oneworld mid or upper-level status in an international OW member is you get lounge access when flying intra-North America, which includes US domestic itineraries. One caveat, you have to fly at least 4 flights on the target program's airline in order to attain their status.

So either accept the changes or find another program that works better for your travel paradigm.

IADCAflyer

Define rich? My boss is the managing partner of our firm and probably pulls in $4 to $6 million a year. I don't think he ever flies private unless its a client flying him.

dave_261

Keeping this back on topic.

Yes, right now the programs are diverging. Some people will make out much better with the AA program; others would make out better with other airline programs.

This is usually a copy/paste industry (at least among the big players), so if the AA program shows success in achieving the desired result, safe to assume the other airlines will take a close look to follow.

aj411

Don't forget to look at the value of the miles (not just value of status).
For where I want to travel, I find it much easier to use AA miles and at a better rate (fewer points needed). It seems to take way more miles on Delta. Only thing I miss in AA land is the combination of miles and dollars
I live near a Delta hub and dip a toe in those waters every now and then to see if I want to switch it up and, nope, it doesn't provide what I need at a value, there are so many elites that upgrades are next to impossible to get here even for a top tier.
On AA, I get upgraded. Am often at the top of the list (except maybe in DFW in a normal year) and find using my miles at a good rate easy.

It's all in what works for y ou

LondonElite

To borrow a tired cliché, 'loyalty is for chumps.'

To borrow another one, 'goodbye cruel airline.'

No airline cares much about your loyalty or mine; there is no warm and fuzzy feeling anywhere. Airlines, like most other commercial businesses, care principally about long term stable revenue. This is why no individual flyer is particularly important, and why the 'do you realize I flew 200,000 miles with you last year' argument falls on deaf ears and will never get anybody anywhere.

What is valuable to an airline is a the steady stream of income for a corporate customer who has an agreement in place. That is money in the bank all year round.

The FFP programs are all about revenue now, and I would expect all major airlines (not just in the US) to go increasingly that way.

FrankMorris

Spend to maintain status is now nearly identical to United, not more, it maintaining status, with easier ways to accumulate that spend. Not sure why an elite member would jump ship to United because of this, although American certainly did get more expensive, so attracting new elites may change.

Delta is now hands down cheaper, so I could certainly see someone who lives in a city with similar service switching, but there aren’t many cities who fit into this category. Many frequent fliers live in cities with clearly better service (ie routes, not necessarily customer service) from one or two. For example, my home airport really only makes sense to pursue status with AA or UA.

What the new LP system does not do is simplify things. In a way it does with only spend being required, but with that simplification come a host of new rules. However, after looking just a bit past the surface, it’s pretty easy to see how AA did not become worse than UA overnight. If anything, it’s now a program that actually rewards status with loyalty earn rate more than before.

HNL

It will depend on the dare purchased.