127 bonsai trees for EXP
 

Bought a bonsai tree on ftd.com and got 1575 miles, which I assume will translate into 1575LP. What a world we live in where one can buy 127 bonsai trees and make executive plat with AA. What's even more bananas is that if you were to actually purchase 127 bonsai trees, you'd spend $10,000 less by buying bonsai to make EXP (before shipping and tax) than by flying as an EXP with AA.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...cd40027aed.png

We will likely see all kinds of deals over the year. But only hardcore FT Geeks like us will be seeking these out.

If you put it on an AA credit card you only need to buy 122 trees.

I expect we will see a lot of creative uses for eShopping and SimplyMiles in the future.

I used my Citi AA card! 121 trees to go!

The crazy part is we're all assuming that is correct, I believe it is as well, but we're all just assuming until they actually confirm how the program works, or maybe in March they'll tell us how many LP's we have, but probably not by transaction.

Not sure why you think that's so bananas, the profitability of issuing 200,000 RDM and LP paid for by FTD is likely much greater to AA than the profitability of actually flying you somewhere to earn the same amount of RDM and LP.

I understand the economics of it. AA is just a credit card company that happens to fly planes. It's just bananas that this is the current state of affairs. And while I don't consider TPG, VFTW, OMAAT, and the other blogs as Pulitzer prize winning journalism, they're all reporting FTD as an LP partner.

Missed opportunity for AA to sell this as a Cobra Kai Season 4 promotion. "On today's flight only, you can earn a black belt and executive platinum status. Just imagine, 2 free round-trip ticket to the Caribbean, free checked bags, upgrades, and, you can throat chop that clown behind you who's kicking your reclined seat'.

But you still need 30 segments to unlock the 4 SWUs, which are the best benefit IMHO.

To be clear, I believe your assumption is correct, but it sure would be nice if AA could confirm what counts as base miles in terms of earning Loyalty Points for each partner, it's ridiculous that AA has not made it clear what partner base miles will count for earning LP and we have to wait two months to find out how much we're actually earning today.

My interpretation of AA's marketing material and what's been written on the blogs is that the only partner that has "base miles" are the credit cards. i.e. if you earn 5x miles on eShopping you will earn 5x loyalty points.

This is from the new program FAQ:

I am admittedly putting more weight into what's posted on AA's own website than I am on any third party's posting about this program.

I mean, this is the company that rewarded the purchase of 12,000 pudding cups with lifetime gold status. I think the current state of affairs is perfectly believable.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/david...b0a629c1ab35a7
WOW. To be fair, it seems like it was a Healthy Choice promotion that applied to any airline? But I understand that back then AA awarded million miler points for any mile earned, not just butt-in-seat miles. Is that right? In any event, point well taken. 12,000 pudding cups to 127 bonsai trees, we've come full circle.

Yes up until a decade or so ago any earned miles from any source counted towards MM status.

Good. Because these purchases are contributing a heck of a lot more to AA's bottom line than ludicrous "mileage runs" where the airline loses money on every mile. Super happy to see these financially-oriented changes, which will thin the elite ranks and preserve status for those that actually financially contribute.