Will UA respond to Reported Changes to AA Program?

No confirmation yet from AA, but word on the AA forum is that there will be substantial changes to the AA program in 2016. See the Wiki here: 2016 AAdvantage Program Changes Formally Unannounced but Reliably Sourced

Cutting SWUs to 4 from 8.

But no spend (PQD) requirement.

Correction: looks like they're following DL/UA lockstep on RDM.

UA only follows DL.

Kacee - It is my understanding that there really is no additional elite RDM bonuses. The 120% for EXP is really included in the 11 miles/$ earning scheme.

Seconding this. the "120%" indicator is just to translate the new bonus vs. GM on a like-for-like basis with the old one.

Looks like AA isn't planning on much of a change, at least from what I read on that thread. AA fliers will still enjoy CPU's (and get them). Did I read that they don't plan to have spend minimums per tier like UA/DL?

Thanks. Guess I read too quickly.

Correct, so UA's top tier bonus is already 120%. Looking at these (speculative) changes, I (speculatively) don't think UA has much to react to. AA did cut the SWU count by half for people who fly exactly 100k, but that was a long time coming since they're so valuable. The sticker change doesn't really matter since UA does CPU. If the AA situation is anything like UA, it's also purely academic since PLTs can't clear an upgrade as it is.

Overall, I think the redemption side changes will be much more interesting. I'm still reeling from last year's partner redemption enhancements, so if AA doesn't gut their redemption chart I'll be jealous / considering a change.

Assuming that JonNYC's report is all true, AA is following in DL and UA's footsteps with 2 differences, the significance of which, I guess, is debatable:

1) AA's 4 SWUs vs UA's 6 GPUs
2) AA will continue with "stickers" ^ vs UA's CPUs

And AA's redemption is simply terrible. I've been trying to book a return award from HKG using OW partners, and it looks like availability don't usually resurface until within a week of travel (I don't plan/book far out in advance). By contrast, there are *A awards available every day for the ENTIRE month. I certainly hope UA won't follow AA in that regard.

It makes zero sense to look at earning, unless you match it to redemption. Bonus % are the same. The question is what you have to fly/spend in order to get the redemption you want.

As to stickers, there are many who favor those over CPU's. With stickers, you get to choose when you are willing to burn them and there may on a given flight be less competition for the dwindling supply of freebie F seats.

Since AA's SWUs can be used on any fare, I'll take a fewer amount of them as opposed to having to play upgrade roulette with a higher fare purchase.

That has more to do with the partners than AA. At least they're not like SQ and block partner redemptions.

That is little to nothing to do with AA but more with the partner airline who makes the awards available (or not available)

A surprising number of seemingly frequent flyers on FT seem obivlouss to that simple fact.
FF miles are not all equal between ffp’s.
Earn/burn/upgrades/award cost/award cash surcharges/expiry are not all equal between ffp’s.

Right, and their partners don't provide many options.

UA's do.

This is true until you run out of SWUs. All things considered equal (i.e., upgrading from the lowest possible Y fare), UA's W-fare roulette becomes a better value at the third long-haul trip. With AA, you would have to decide whether to tough it out in Y or spring for J (assuming that you haven't earned additional SWUs at that point). It's also noteworthy that AA doesn't have the equivalent of RPUs. For me, that limits my options for upgrading LAX-JFK and -Hawaii to stickers only--not good for blood pressure! (I know, I can also use miles, but I think my point is clear.)

When I referred to AA's lousy award redemption, I was thinking of both AA and OW partners. But let's just talk about AA. IMO it's not an understatement to say that AA is stingy--especially in comparison to UA. I mainly redeem transpac awards for my family, so I'll limit my comment to AA's U.S.-NRT/PEK/PVG/HKG routes. Other than DFW-HKG, which has heavy loads (although I doubt it's profitable, but that's OT), it's still very difficult to find award space on those other routes unless you plan wAAy early or just days prior to departure.

As others have noted, I'd rather have 4 GPUs that can be used on any fare than 6 GPUs that are rarely useful to me. Ditto for the e500s, which are more useful than my CPU which rarely cleared even as 1K.

As for AA redemptions, they used to be better than UA though I understand it's become worse over the recent past. That being said, I just booked 4 non-stops on the same LAX-LHR-LAX flights in C for peak summer season in 2016. ^ For only 100k per RT. Try that on UA.