Visconti

LMAO....Of course, it'd have to involve PVG. It's like the results that pop up in my Skymiles account--250K!

Smiley90

Its the Air Canada strategy of "you can either have fixed dates and book air Canada for 400k or have flexible dates and book a partner for 75k".

They can claim this new pricing drastically raises availability, at exorbitant prices (which they obviously never mention, just some handwaving "it COULD be cheaper in theory!")

xliioper

DL can still occasionally have decent deals, but you have to keep your eyes open. Sometimes they are announced 48 hour flash sales and sometimes they are unannounced. There are currently last minute unannounced roundtrip D1 awards from US to various EU cities from 153K roundtrip with Amex 15% discount for travel through May 8th (someone noticed these levels and posted to DL forum last week). As with many of these awards, a roundtrip booking is required (two one-way award bookings will price out higher -- although you can mix them with lower class of service in one direction and still qualify for lower roundtrip award levels for D1).

rrgg

That'll be great. Citi Strata can refer to these AA flights as Strata-spheric Awards to reflect the price.

moondog

I thought the whole point behind "AAnytime" awards was that they could always be used as long as seats were on offer for cash. I only availed of them a handful of times myself and felt a bit guilty for doing so, but in hindsight, 2x the SAAver rate might not have been such an awful deal. I'd happily continue (not paying) 12.5k miles for DCA-BOS if they retained the two-tier, easy-to-understand, and transparent award chart.

travelinmanS

It's simply not worth it to play the loyalty game anymore. Book biz on the cheapest airline for the route you want, if you prefer business class.

If you fly economy then book the cheapest and pay for exit row plus get a credit card that allows you lounge access.

There is little, if any, value in these programs anymore.

For me, flying premium economy overseas with an Amex Platinum/chase sapphire seems to be the sweet spot at the moment for lounge access, comfort and speedy security lines.

golfer20

Several routes out of LHR have gone down, and I can now find LHR-DFW for as low as 65k in J (previously never saw below 78k). Finding long-haul U awards on AA metal has never been possible to begin with.

NA-Flyer

OMG I just booked a First Class award on AA from ORD to DOH via JFK for 75k miles and $11
That's the best first class deal I have ever picked. The ticket has been issued.

Visconti

You know, all things considered, 153K for that itinerary isn't terrible. However, I recall a time when this would have been around 70K?

javabytes

So DL�s value proposition is essentially �if you pay attention really close, you can find the super secret limited time �deals� that only cost near double what they did before we took away award charts�� and those are the moments we live for now�

GUWonder

Arsene Wegner is not I, but I will note with regard to the above response to my words that what has transpired with DL SkyMiles may very well be indicative for AA miles too: devaluing the miles via more dynamic mileage ticket pricing did anything but kill DL’s SkyMiles business with Amex; but it also was followed by a big increase in the number of Amex Platinum accounts in the years that followed and by DL+Amex having to spruce up the DL Amex products. In other words, customers seem to have diversified bank card holdings a bit more in response and ended up with more choices than before — even outside the DL+Amex, AA+Citi and UA+Chase combinations.

Arguably, AA had already devalued the program enough and was on course to devalue it more that they ran into this LoyaltyPoints scheme — counting toward elite status — as a way to keep the hamsters running on the program hamster wheel for it.

Centurion

You are bragging about a flight to DOH? I think even Vegas has more class than DOH

Brandinho1

Well not if you can wait until 2 days before a departure and don�t mind switching airports 😄

AirborneLocksmith

I find it strange that itineraries involving partner flights are cheaper than all-AA itineraries.
My experience from UA is the exact opposite.

moondog

Dynamic pricing is more difficult to implement for partner awards (but, apparently Delta is trying).