They really need to tell Joe Sprague or some of his minions to go hang out in the HNL Premier Club first thing in the morning and talk to people. I’m blown away by how little attention they seem to have paid to HA elites and what we might care about.

One more bit of advice for them that doesn’t affect me personally: they really ought to restore HA’s 30/60 segment qualification for the first two status levels. Losing that is going to upset a lot of people for very little benefit.

But...... now you only need to fly 40/80, if you choose earnings by segments. When 100K first arrived and segments were still a metric for qualification, 100K required 140 segments. Today, they are asking you to fly 270 segments for Titanium, whether 100 miles or 5,000miles.

If you are flying by distance, your 100 mile HNL-OGG flight is earning 80% less SPs, and 80% less MM miles. There are many flights in Alaska that are a fraction of 100 miles & BLI-SEA is 92 in the CONUSA.

James

I have a Sub-500 mile flight tomorrow (two of them in fact). What I will be looking for is: 1.) if 2025 Sub-500 mile flights still earn 500 RDMs (before bonuses) and EQMs; and 2.) if they still count towards 500 miles toward Million Miler.

I will report back!

As of today, nothing has changed. The new earning tracks won't be implemented until Later in 2026.

James

Alaska is not a customer focused or friendly airline anymore. They were able to take over a major competitor in the Pacific and are consolidating routes. People have little choice in certain areas so Alasak can do what they want as an airline. These are the consequnces of airline mergers.

factual, but imo not particularly relevant; most of those flights are 2x or 3x daily (1x on the milk runs) as opposed to 8x or 10x or more on most inter-island routes

the travel paradigms of Hawaii residents are radically different from those of Alaska residents

You mean, ATMs in Alaska don’t or don’t sell intra state tickets?

(one of the weird things about this industry rattling around in my head)

Back on topic, but there are people who intra-state travel on a very regular basis in CA, for example.

Suggestions for Using AS for 3X Weekly Super Commute?

Epic commute: I go to school by plane (Aug 2022-May 2023)

To the OP - while every once in a while, a petition might fall upon an ear that sometimes functions, I expect if you find ears at all, they'll be suffering from severe impairment. And here is why.

Although I don't know the OP, and many others in a similar boat (or airboat) outside of FT, the simple fact is that airlines no longer want to treat you like quasi-royalty based upon your spending and travel patterns. I say this as someone who had an excellent 30 year run with various airline and hotel programs (and I limit it to 30-ish years, because the past several years have resulted in substantial diminishing returns). This is not a criticism of people in your boat - for years, I was in a quite similar boat. But the USA had 50 to 100 million less people during much of this period and double the number of "major" airlines. For years, at the MVPG Luncheons, Rick R would repeatedly state how we don't want to devalue our Golds (as the airline grew and higher tiers were added) but we know how that played out. At least back then, there was some sincerity in the spoken words. But you can only be so sincere when you have 12F cabins, and even 16F cabins and keep expanding. And so, the slow moving coup continued.

Today, we have a program that gives us "choice," and what is evident is that the choice is while the airline still wants your money, it doesn't want to give you the benefits that you have become accustomed to based upon your travel and spend pattern. The airline's retort will be that "you can opt for $ spent" credit, which of course, hoses you, and benefits the last minute short hop, often on the company dime, traveler. As someone who is a UA MM and was on one of their planes pretty much every month for a decade, I can tell you exactly how it feels to fall "out of like." No "I'm never flying UA again" tantrums, but just some reality. And reality is hitting many long time (and in many cases, nearly captive) AS flyers. Boo for us. We technically have a fly a mile, earn a mile/point program, but it becomes more de facto spend with every change.

All that said, I wouldn't be surprised if there were some additional carrots for the 49/50 resident travelers. Just be prepared that there may be a stick driven up your other end as they're feeding you a carrot.

Interesting perspective. Congruent with my earlier reply to HI/AK having a carve out for 500 SP minimums in conjunction with a distance or spend track, lowering the segment requirements to 30/60 for Silver/Gold for HI only doesn't seem appropriate when it also affects those in AK, as well as WA, OR, NV, AZ and CA.

Certainly the travel paradigms are radically different between Hawaii & Alaska, but I would argue that access to even basic services for AK residents with infrequent connectivity and possible multi-day delays due to inclement weather is more important than someone from HNL flying to OGG to meet friends for dinner & drinks and having 8-10 options for a same day return or easy reaccommodation for inclement weather. The frequency also allows for segment runs. If HI can requalify on 30/60, should AK be able to qualify on 25/50?

That fact remains that neither aligns with AS's business paradign. If AS finds that HI is starting to spread their LUV, or AK residents are disengaging, those can be addressed through the respective State communities. Perhaps AS will throw me a bone in the Global Community, but I am certainly not counting on it.

James

Yikes -- would not have known this if I wasn't on FT.

Was still planning distance-based but I fly on paid F 95% of the time and if this comes in i'll have to go revenue-based.

I don�t object to the requirements being raised. In fact, it may be beneficial to reduce the number of individuals at the highest tiers, creating greater distinction for those of us who are able to requalify. I will comfortably exceed 135k lp regardless of how they are ultimately calculated, provided that award miles continue to accrue based on distance. My only hope is that with higher requirements, the program also becomes more rewarding

And you are likely not alone. And that is why point was directed at the OP and what I expect are his travel/spend patterns.

My crystal cat says that I'll likely be ok at the Platinum level long term so I keep OWE. I'm not affected by too many 500 minimum flights - maybe a half dozen a year.

I think you will be disappointed. If AS has muddied the waters and the "Status bonus" is simply RPs for having Status then the calculus changes. SFO-JFK is a frequent MR route, 2586 miles. Assuming a $250 base fare and purchased from AS: For a Titanium:

Segents: 500 SPs, 1250 RP
Revenue: $250 � 5 = 1250 SPs, 3125 RPs
Distance: 2586 SPs, 6425 RPs

For anyone on the revenue track, to earn the equivalent RPs as anyone on the distance track, you would need to pay 2586 � 5 = $517.20 pre-tax Does that get you into F? Likely not!

Looking at September 30th, Main is $168.30($142.33) and F is $749.30($683.49)

Revenue Earnings:

Main: 712 SPs, 1780 RPs
First: 3418 SPs, 8545 RPs

Is there likelihood a decision to purchase F is made when on the revenue track? Yes. Is it a rational decision? For those that only fly F, it is moot, for the rest, well, you tied yourself into revenue for a year, is your hand forced?

Of course, the earnings on partner flights purchased at the partner site when revenue isn't known adds another dimension. If they are determined "as a percentage of distance flown," what are the percentages?

James

I completely agree that it's their sandbox and that they're intentionally reducing benefits for a lot of FF types and pushing us toward revenue-based accrual. I see the choice options as intended to reduce the impact of the changes on a lot of lower-frequency flyers but letting them keep most of what they have, but I don't think the program they built does a good job of that, particularly the segment option. That's why I have some hope that they'll make adjustments once the complaints start in earnest (and I'm sure there will be complaints in HI, probably including some of the folks in state government that AS worked with for support for the merger).

Like many of us here, I'm a mid-value customer trying to masquerade as a high-value customer. As you note, that's getting harder. At some point it won't be worth it any more. We'll see over the next couple of years whether AS has reached that point.

I don�t know why you�d say that when they offer soooo many benefits.