Can't justify A-List Preferred ...
Jan 29, 2014, 5:56 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: La Jolla, California
Programs: KrisFlyer Gold, SWA CP
Posts: 1,123
Can't justify A-List Preferred ...
I'm A-List Preferred now. I can't justify spending the money necessary to get to the A-List Preferred tier for 2015. I don't think that the extra money I need to spend to get to ALP is redeemed by the 100% match on points.
I think I'll slum it next year as a mere A-Lister. Am I missing something? Has anybody done the spreadsheet?
I think I'll slum it next year as a mere A-Lister. Am I missing something? Has anybody done the spreadsheet?
Jan 29, 2014, 8:58 pm
#4
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Nashville, TN
Programs: WN Nothing and spending the half million points from too many flights, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 8,043
I don't understand. A List Preferred is still 50/70K. The TQP's for flying have not changed, have they?
I will grant the bonus points have lost value but that does not change the difficulty achieving status.
I will grant the bonus points have lost value but that does not change the difficulty achieving status.
Jan 29, 2014, 9:00 pm
#5
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 751
You no longer earn points on the excise tax. It is now only earned on the base fare.
Jan 29, 2014, 9:19 pm
#6
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: SJC, Northern Cal.
Programs: SWA RR BIS 6.2M, A+'20, CP'20, AA, UA Gold, Hertz PC, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 909
Jan 29, 2014, 9:24 pm
#7
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 751
I wouldn't call is an oversight. After all, their advertised formula was (base fare + excise tax) * earning rate, and redemption was advertised similarly.
Jan 30, 2014, 3:42 am
#8
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Nashville, TN
Programs: WN Nothing and spending the half million points from too many flights, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 8,043
Did more digging.
Points are earned based on the advertised one-way fare (segment fare multiplied by the fare coefficient plus the excise tax multiplied by the fare coefficient then rounded at the fare component level and at the excise tax level). The resulting totals are then added together to arrive at Rapid Rewards Point accrual.
So, which is it?
Found here.
Last edited by InkUnderNails; Jan 30, 2014 at 3:54 am
Jan 30, 2014, 5:35 am
#9
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: St. Louis, MO
Posts: 1,413
Ink,
See this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...stockpile.html
What was believed to be a glitch at first now appears to be a permanent change, reducing TQP's earned. The rest of the website hasn't caught up with the change that has clearly impacted by TQP's on flights that I took in the last 3 days.
See this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...stockpile.html
What was believed to be a glitch at first now appears to be a permanent change, reducing TQP's earned. The rest of the website hasn't caught up with the change that has clearly impacted by TQP's on flights that I took in the last 3 days.
Jan 30, 2014, 6:28 am
#10
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2000
Location: RDU
Programs: AA LT Gold, DL SM, HY Disc, Marriott LT Gold
Posts: 12,507
I'm not trying to renew A+ this year after having qualified the last few years on points. Three main reasons:
1. AT fares have gotten prohibitively high for me for anything longer than 400 miles, which is forcing me to change my trip generation patterns back to pre-2009 approaches,
2. The Devolve seat is bad for anything more than 90 minutes. It used to be that I preferred the WN seat over the legacy seats due to nearly 33" of legroom and a better physical seat. Now I find either the DL or AA extra-leg room seats better. AA I get for free with status, DL I have to pay a surcharge at ticketing after March 1 as I didn't retain status with them. I'll still fly WN on longer redemptions while I have lots of points, but I am thinking more strategically about getting empty flights with the seat next to me open.
3. I still have enough points racked up that all of my domestic travel on WN is still points-redemption and thus not helping me requalify on segments.
So I'm probably going to make regular A-List on segments because there are still a lot of AA CR7 routes (such as ORD-IAH) and because I have a couple of clients where the lack of change fees is a necessity. But the days of being 95% WN are gone, it is now more like 35%.
1. AT fares have gotten prohibitively high for me for anything longer than 400 miles, which is forcing me to change my trip generation patterns back to pre-2009 approaches,
2. The Devolve seat is bad for anything more than 90 minutes. It used to be that I preferred the WN seat over the legacy seats due to nearly 33" of legroom and a better physical seat. Now I find either the DL or AA extra-leg room seats better. AA I get for free with status, DL I have to pay a surcharge at ticketing after March 1 as I didn't retain status with them. I'll still fly WN on longer redemptions while I have lots of points, but I am thinking more strategically about getting empty flights with the seat next to me open.
3. I still have enough points racked up that all of my domestic travel on WN is still points-redemption and thus not helping me requalify on segments.
So I'm probably going to make regular A-List on segments because there are still a lot of AA CR7 routes (such as ORD-IAH) and because I have a couple of clients where the lack of change fees is a necessity. But the days of being 95% WN are gone, it is now more like 35%.
Jan 30, 2014, 8:25 am
#11
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: SJC, Northern Cal.
Programs: SWA RR BIS 6.2M, A+'20, CP'20, AA, UA Gold, Hertz PC, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 909
You don't get any noticeable points booking super low fares like a $69 WGA without status. Those extra points from taxes eased the pain a little for those that book that low a fare and then see what they "got" in points return.