American Airlines previously offered excellent availability of their eVIPs or systemwide upgrades (SWUs) distributed to elite Executive Platinum flyers. Restricting access to premium space and halving the number of eVIPs given out should lead to more cash with fewer upgrades given away for free. Except it doesn’t work that way.
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The Good Old Days
Prior to the merger with US Airways, American Airlines had one of the strongest elite offerings in the business. Executive Platinum members in American’s AAdvantage program received (8) eVIPs (systemwide upgrades – SWUs) to use each year. Each could be redeemed to move the traveler up one cabin (coach to business, business to first) for one-way and would apply to any coach ticket otherwise eligible for mileage credit.
American had just prior to the merger released the ability to see which routes were eligible for eVIP upgrades before the merger and (8) was the perfect number for a family of four. My family would find the perfect place to burn them, usually on very long haul routes and the three of us could upgrade from coach to business. I would use the other pair on a long haul flight when my family couldn’t join me.
Life was so good in 2013.
US Airways “Merger”
The acquisition of American by US Airways merger between American and US Airways left the US Airways team in charge for many of the important aspects of the day-to-day operations. The same team started at America West where they changed the ticker symbol to LCC (how clever!) before swallowing the much larger US Airways. They wisely left Dividend Miles alone when LCC swallowed US Airways but that was not the case when the new US Airways took over American.
The problem is that the America West team never really understood the client that American (and other majors) catered to. The cutbacks that they have made make sense for a short-sighted approach where every customer makes a decision based on cost and time. But that’s not the case for all customers and US Airways executives may understand this but their actions don’t demonstrate it.
The State of eVIPs
In a popular Executive Platinum Facebook group, the notion of upgrades clearing in advance (or at all) has become a running joke. Not only has availability in advance dried up nearly entirely, but Executive Platinums now earn just four annually.
Over the last two years, I haven’t even been able to use them myself. I let all four – yes – all four of them expire in 2017 and last year I distributed two to a friend and held back two in case of a last-minute trip. I tried to help another friend but, alas they too died on the vine because they would not clear.
They have become the butt of jokes with some of American’s most frequent flyers. What once was the best perk possible (book a cheap coach ticket, fly in business with your family) has now become unusable making them literally worthless to me and many peers.
American Thinks They Make More Money This Way
Giving away the most expensive real estate in the world is a bad way to do business in theory even if it’s to your best customers and on a limited basis. And in the world of Low-Cost Carriers like America West, they may have had a point. The theory is that when a traveler of means is staring down the barrel of a long-haul flight in a packed coach cabin, they may be more likely to buy their upgrade rather than chance it, thus creating more revenue for the company. If they have free coupons to get them out of that coach seat then they wouldn’t spend money to do so. However, if you take away the “coupons” then the only choice left is coach or more money.
But They Don’t
The theory that American sells more premium seats because they no longer give them away is flawed for many reasons. The first is that business travelers, those most likely to be Executive Platinum members due to the amount of flying and revenue required, may not be able to book business class seats due to their company policies. If their company allowed such, they would have booked in business class in the first place. Inexpensive first and business class buy up offers are rare from American, especially in advance of travel so the company is not gaining any revenue from business customers who have decided to buy a more expensive fare because they cannot use their eVIP.
Anecdotally, in the last two years, my family has not purchased a single revenue long-haul flight with American. We have redeemed for one (a miracle in and of itself) but have not purchased one. American is losing out on three roundtrips that would have meant incremental revenue for the carrier. Instead, we booked a comparable flight in business class with a competitor for not much more than the price we would have paid to fly American in coach had we been able to use our upgrades.
Neither Delta nor American have a fare class requirement to use these sorts of certificates, United does. However, American offers the fewest upgrades with the least availability at time of booking. American recently offered free status challenges which suggest to me that elites have taken notice and headed for the exits.
Maybe American will finally see that their pennywise/pound-foolish approach doesn’t work. Then again, maybe they won’t.
What do you think? Does American lose money by customers booking away from the carrier? What about those that decide they have no value and leave the carrier?
These free statuses annoy me so much. I only made Platinum Pro this year, and of course didn’t get any offer to buy my way back up to Executive Platinum. On the other hand, my husband who hasn’t flown American once last year was gifted free Platinum status for a few months. How does that help their business? I don’t understand…
They hope it gets people to try it and then give more business over to AA in order to keep the status, it’s like a free trial.
I’ve been Executive Platinum for 2 years. Before that Plat Pro for years. I am also a for US Airways flyer if that makes for anything.
AAL is just getting harder and harder to stick with. And yes, I was unable to use systems upgrades last year. And I don’t purchase first or business tickets when billing a client, but I do count on the upgrades that seem to be coming less and less.
So being EP these days is nearly meaningless.
How were you Platinum Pro for “years” prior to being EP for the past 2 years? Platinum Pro was not introduced until 2017.
How have you been plat pro for years when AA just initiated that level 2 yrs ago?
When CK started to build EP was devalued, How long before they come up with something just for those who control multinational corporate travel budgets and tell CK’s to get back in line?
The reality though is that with the end of the recession, all the Airlines are devaluing FFB’s, raising spend requirements, reducing availability and charging fees.
Luckily none of the US carriers are as bad as BA for this so far. The insertion of Premium Economy to stop Coach to Business upgrades and charging fuel surcharge on award free tickets being two of their claims to fame.
This airlines does not ever go down in price, even if you try to buy a ticket several months out. Other airlines allow you to save money by buying a ticket a couple of months out. This monopoly is very hard financially.,
If you buy a ticket to a concert a few months from now and days before the show the venue puts them on sale, do you expect a refund of the difference? Other than credit card-assisted purchase protection insurance, where is there another example in the market place of discounts or partial refunds due to fluctuations in price AFTER the sale?
Spoiled “Elites” give me a pain in the rear. “I’m special” and better than you.” Get a life. You got it flying on some body else’s money.
I can’t speak for others, but for myself, last year was the only one in which my company travel has contributed a meaningful amount to my elite qualification. For the last 5-6 years, I qualified for American Airlines Executive Platinum Status or United 1K on my own back. Even last year when business travel helped, I still had to mileage run more 60% of the distance and 50% of the miles to maintain.
I can appreciate that this may be true for some, but there are others that do qualify or have in the past on their own travels. Further, small business owners that pay for significant amounts of travel by which to operate their business have certainly earned the respect they demand.
… the logoc of “on someone else’s dime” is flawed. Yes, the flights are paid for by a company in many cases. But the time away from family, friends, life events, and the stress of negotiating new cities, countries, customs, etc. is all real. An upgrade to a better seat, because your company will only pay for economy on flights of up to 6 hours, is a real benefit that has basically evaporated.
You could argue from the airline’s POV that those seats are still taken upfront, and so revenue is being made by the airlines. But for the average traveler, the price either they or their company is paying might be great, but the whole experience is a big downgrade from 10+ years ago (on some airlines more so than on others).
I’ve been retired for 15 years. It’s been on my dime, bud.
I just flew MIA-HKG return with confirmed upgrades, but this was booked last year. I have 2 trips booked this summer, one to HKG the other to SYD. The outbound upgrades have cleared on both. BUT, if the return looks dicey days prior to departure, I’m bailing & canceling the trips. (I booked as package with insurance)
The eVIP’s value to me has plummeted.
AA has also lost revenue from my cancelled Citi Exec card & my cancelled Barclay’s Aviators card. As per Randall, I avoid AA on RTW’s whenever possible.
And as an aside, my last 3 AA trips have had mechanical problems causing serious delays & misconnects (had to re-route on BA to FCO with no luggage for 3 days, PSP-MIA became a 24 hour trip, and HKG-DFW-MIA turned into BKK-DOH-MIA due to nearly 20 hour delay.
Terry – Caution regarding canceling your ticket booked with “insurance.” Cancelation of a trip with trip insurance for non-medical reasons (either you or immediate family member hospitalized or death) is pretty rare. I am not sure what kind you have but I have yet to see a package that essential acts refundability insurance without a medical or force majure driver.
Like AA will care about your whining. HA!
That’s ok, maybe Terry has already switched to United like so many of us.
American is right, little availability forces me to buy a business seat. However, it is never on AA as for the routes I fly, AA is never the cheapest in business. A recent multi-city trip in the US I paid $1000 less on Delta than on AA for biz to five cities. Deals between Asian and the US are few and usually restricted to out-of-the-way places like to Cancun that adds another flight and wasted hours so it ends up being more expensive than a direct flight on Delta. After ten plus years and almost 3 million miles of flying exclusively AA, I have flown exactly one AA flight in the last three years. You know what? I really don’t miss it.
If you can’t compete on quality or additional benefits, you have to compete on price. Upgrade certs help reduce the price. Will this strategy maximize their revenue? Maybe.
I do know that I am a business traveler who, like many, can buy coach on any airline, but an upgrade is on me. So ability to upgrade as cheaply as possible, whether by cash, miles or certs, greatly impacts my decision to buy on the airline in the first place.
I completely agree with you, AA has become a joke in the loyalty business.
I’ve been an EP for so many years and this is my last year, as I finally decided to let go.
The truth is that no only with AA, but also with any other airline, no longer pays off to be loyal.
Beside availability, the quality of service has declined significantly. Elite status is only in words not deeds.
The One World Alliance partners (specifically in Asia) do a much better job to treat elite partners.
I wish AA would learn from its partners.
I 100% agree, and your assertions about our (EP’s) behavior is correct. I do NOT purchase non-business revenue tickets from AA because I don’t have confidence in being able to use SWUs.
Now, losing the leisure travel of most EP’s really isn’t a big deal for AA, it’s normally a very small portion of that person’s spend. But as you said, people are leaving the program for this and other reasons (reliability, MAX, service, other devalued benefits such as SDFC) and many of those people do buy business class for work trips.
I am lucky enough to work for a company that will pay for Business class; so use the SWUs from C to F on flights to HKG and LHR. I also find it’s an easy upgrade from JFK Transcon from C to F (although that’s not a great value).
I would much rather use these to upgrade Y to C international. The last time I used them successfully in advance was just after LAX-HKG came on the schedule. Was that 2014?
The program still suits me while I am still traveling for business quite a bit. The minute that stops – there is no longer any such thing as a (middle class) leisure EXP. Getting to $15K of spending (even $12K if you use the credit card a lot) is just not realistic.
AA have clearly decided to become a 2 class airline – with exclusively business passengers (whose firm’s pay for J) in the front and everyone else in the back. AA have moved in terms of service offerings and comfort in the back to no better than Southwest; so when I become a full time leisure traveler; I will need to find another carrier for my travels.
I managed to use all 4 last year but that’s based on being very flexible with dates at routing. Though I’m located in DFW, I always have to take the LAX connection to go to asia for any chance to find space. So I’m not sure they lost any revenue from me. But I did buy that $1100 PEK-LAX round trip in J which they couldn’t have made money on.
My wife and I used to be EXP for 5-6 years in a row. Then in 2016 we stopped being loyal to AA and we became free agents. We have been making every purchase decision based on the specific needs for that NEXT flight. The management team at AA ruined AA for us and we are enjoying our freedom.
There were too many anti-consumer decisions made that made being loyal to AA just too expensive.
The acquisition of American Airlines by US Airway has been crossed out. WHY?
Because they call it a merger but that’s not what it was.
Wrong, it was a merger. US Air was looking at its third trip through bankruptcy if the merger didn’t happen. They had nothing to buy anything with and every other airline had said no thanks to the idea of merging with them. As an AA employee I only wish we had told them the same thing.
I think if that was the case, management, legacy systems and approach to business generally would have remained more in the ilk of American than US Airways. For example, A321s used on LAX-CLT redeyes with no main cabin extra, no power, no IFE, and just 12 F seats was unconscionable under American leadership. US Airways management at the helm of American have only recently decided they will add power to some seats and switch to A330 for those flights – American customers simply wouldn’t have frequented those flights enough to sustain them prior to the “merger.” I have taken it once by accident and will fly anyone else instead. That’s the kind of equipment and choices Parker and company made that AA management didn’t before in my experience.
What are you talking about??? No A321 has 12 seats. Not one. And, I’ll add, theA321s are going to 20F starting this summer.
Power is coming to the A321s when they commence the alignment of the A321 seats to the 321NEO configuration.
A330s don’t fly between LAX and CLT. And they’ve not been booked on that route. There is one pairing between LAX and PHL daily.
I stand corrected. The A320s which do not fly that route (but other long domestic flights) have 12 F seats and no main cabin extra (outside of exit or bulkhead seats). Still, an A321 with 16 F seats on a redeye trans-con with 171 main cabin seats (again, no main cabin extra outside of exit rows and bulkheads) with no IFE, spotty or no wifi, etc. is not something American would have flown. You can see their A321B/T models for what legacy American does with an Airbus, not LUS.
You have re-affirmed my statement, there is no power on the LUS equipment and there was no impetus to install it for the first five years (maybe more by the time the NEO retrofit comes in) to upgrade them. Again, that is an LUS-type decision.
And again, I stand corrected. Last year they put the A330 on the LAX-PHL hub-to-hub route (again, 4-5 years into the new combined company replacing A321s with aforementioned terrible equipment) which is way too long to reach that decision. That’s legacy US management all-day, not American.
The old US airways only had 12 seats. I would avoid CLT or PHL because they had those disgusting things that shouldn’t have been in the air. Regional carriers in Asia have better planes. They slowly retrofitted them but I had 3 with no power, IFE or internet on 4hr+ flights last year.
No, you will find that it was the other way around… US Airways was not in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, AMR WAS!
From Wikipedia:
“In January 2012, US Airways Group, the parent company of US Airways, expressed interest in taking over AMR Corporation, the parent company of American Airlines.[7] In March, AMR’s CEO Tom Horton said that the company was open to a merger.[10] US Airways (US) told some American Airlines (AA) creditors that merging the two carriers could yield more than $1.5 billion a year in added revenue and cost savings.[11] On April 20, American Airlines’ three unions said they supported a proposed merger between the two airlines.[12] With AMR under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, American Airlines had been looking to merge with another airline. Earlier in July, a bankruptcy court filing stated that US Airways was an American Airlines creditor and “prospective merger partner”; on August 31, US Airways CEO Doug Parker announced that American Airlines and US Airways had signed a nondisclosure agreement, in which they would discuss the possibility of a merger.”
From my aspect (as a Chairman’s Preferred on US Airways) it was all downhill thereafter. Fares skyrocketed and service has been on a continuous downward trend ever since then…
Unfortunately I am forced to use them as my primary airline – and yes threw away all of my EP SWUs last month..
I don’t disagree with the claims made in your Wikipedia reference, but I would suggest that a merger would have involved more management from both companies and leadership seems to have been pretty one-sided. When the CEO and the COO are both from one company, that will leave little decision making power to the rest of the team. I agree that they left Chairman’s Preferred alone when America West merged with US Airways and it was a great program. I loved it. But the changes since Parker and Co. have come into American have been wholesale poor, performance has dropped, the stock price is stagnant (meaning the market sees it too) while rivals have grown significantly.
And yes, we have all been throwing away what used to be a tremendous value because we simply cannot use them. That is not a problem I had prior to the “merger” even though the head of loyalty remained the same at American for some time after the merger. That means there was a directive to change the usability of the certificates and has had a quantitative effect on business and impressions of the airline from the very best customers.
After the merger I could see the new AA leaders had no clue who was flying on AA. If you were not a bunch of drunken cowboys looking for a free buffet in Las Vegas they had no idea how to handle us. It took me two years to give American up after flying exclusively on them for over 20 years. I loved their loyalty program, now it’s no better than a coupon book on products you would never buy. I made Executive Platinum 12 of those 20, and of course was Gold or Platinum the other years. My advice, break the unhealthy codependency and shop around. Other carriers do offer better programs and you actually get what they say you’ll get. Not the carrot always just out of reach.
Hi I am only a Platinum member, my last couple of flights have been booked as Basic class which means you cannot choose a seat or get any chance of upgrades, they automatically put you in a middle seat when you check in and want to charge you a fee to move to a preferred isle seat. Not a great way to treat a customer who flies over 50,000 miles a year. I had to travel KLM and Delta with a colleague on my last trip, we were treated much better with his equivalent Platinum card., the flights were cheaper as well. It could be time to change loyalty, only when we have all moved will they realise their mistake by which time it will be too late.
How can we make them listen to our thaught sand tell them to make these changes and stop eating people money and give them way we deserve as a loyalty
I just got my gold last year and was thinking about going to executive pro but by reading this I will be completely throwing money at American Airlines
The fact upgrades often don’t clear I feel is a direct indication that this policy is working in favor of American. These planes aren’t leaving empty and there are still plenty of people moved up front on upgrades- just way more people to fight for that limited space. The assumption that this is net revenue-losing is very questionable, especially when it is stated as fact in the sub-titles of this article. Choose flights carefully when looking for upgrade space, anything out of DFW you are going into battle with the other 20+ EPs on your flight.
Their program is now horrible.
They will continue to lose customers and revenues.
I can only take business class via an upgrade. Notnpermitted to purchase.
And now they will not upgrade and even worse.want to confirm upgrade when I do get it at last minute.
I will use up my miles in short haul trips and switch to another carrier and program.
Thus program is useless.
The worst part about American is their % of premium seats. Outside the 777-300 , they are placing a measly amount of business class seats in their aircraft. They are becoming a true low cost carrier for long haul service outside their 777-300. DL is doing the same but not quite as bad. American will have as few as 20 seats in their 787s, where United has get this….36! That’s almost double! UA 777’s also have 60 biz class seats and they are really ramping it up placing more and more premium seats in their aircraft. Although I have to buy a more expensive fare I did clear SIN-SFO, SFO-TPE, SFO-HKG and EWR-TLV all ahead of time. I think its mostly due to lots more business class seats. American reducing business class on almost all aircraft is their message to you: These seats are not for EXPs
I threw away SIX of these upgrades last year (I got the bonus for flying 150K miles). They are worthless, much like the customer service from American.
What a pity. AA’s policy is driving me to buy business – on BA and Qatar.
That’s what exactly I’m doing. Even 4 SWU are too many now, buy business on Finnair, BA, Qatar, and Cathay P. I’ve been EP for more than 10 years, decided that 2019 would be the last year for me with OneWorld. AA didn’t allow to use flagship lounge with 2 grandkids, demanded payment for 2 year old! Now I use Priority Pass if traveling with my family. So, no need to maintain EP, if buying business and using Priority Pass, just shop the best price for the better service.
This makes no sense. Are you telling us that because you can’t upgrade (I’m assuming from coach to business) on America, that you’re booking business on BA or QR? Why not just book business on AA?
I’ve had Platinum status for years but I did have to pay to upgrade from Gold last year. This year I again came up a little short. I don’t think I’m going to pay to upgrade this time around. Their customer service just gets worse and worse. I have enjoyed flying American for years but EVERY time I have to take a competitor, namely Delta, the experience is so much better. Delta is usually pricier but they just get it. They’re just good at taking care of their customers.
Don’t foolishly believe DL treats Diamond any better. You can quickly discover that the GUC and RUC inventory no longer clear in advance either – and is a HUGE point of contention. Who in their right mind wants to gamble on a long haul flight in coach, knowing that most gate agents will still upgrade gateside Non-Revs ahead of those applying Up Certs when no one above is monitoring.
Yes but don’t forget that Delta gives you a choice of elite benefits.
I’ve made Executive Platinum a few years in a row and last year hit 150k to gain even more additional SWU year in those years I have yet to use a single one. They are NEVER available for use. It’s insulting to loyal customers.
How are loads on longhaul flights in Business?
I understand the argument that making upgrade instruments worthless could be cutting into the number of customers paying for an Economy ticket, but if there are still customers paying for Business tickets, why would the airline care?
Showing record profits in the current year seems like a better path for company executives than the promise of customer retention and loyalty from goodwill in the future.
Well for one they are FAR from record profits:
2015 net income – $7.61 billion
2016 net income – $2.68 billion (down 64% from 2015)
2017 net income – $1.91 billion (down 28% from 2016)
2018 net income – $1.41 billion (down 26% from 2017)
You are correct that being profitable is a good path for execs. But those numbers are directly impacted by the retention and loyalty, and willingness of those customers to buy premium products.
I am Platinum and have been for several years. My last two upgrades from economy to business on flights between Tokyo and LA happened like this: I applied early, was told any open seats would be held until “the last minute” in case a paying customer would purchase them and when I got to the airport I would be informed at the gate if I would be upgraded. Both times I was told sorry no upgrade and I boarded the plane and took my seat in economy. About 20 minutes before takeoff a gate person came to my seat and asked if I was still interested in an upgrade and if I was it would cost me an additional $350 and 35k of miles and I needed to deplane so they could run my credit card. Strange way to treat your customers.
You’re missing the much larger source of revenue that AA is sacrificing by making their elite status worthless — all of the revenue from all of the flights frequent flyers take throughout the year in order to qualify for these status levels in the first place. After 10+ years as Executive Platinum on AA (and 10+ years as 1K on UA before that), I have given up trying to requalify years ago, and go out of my way to avoid flying U.S. carriers whenever possible. Instead, I use my AA and UA miles to enjoy the wonderful inflight service, food and sleeper seats on proper Asian, European and Middle Eastern carries (excluding BA of course) who know how to treat their passengers. It’s a no-brainer.
Exactly what I am doing – no mileage running (AA since 2001 gold in first year 6 years as EXP all the rest as Plat) … now just burning miles for J on ME carriers – superb service so far. I used to burn LHR/DUB – HNL each year for daughter – originally 100k return then went up – looked two months ago for me – 167k each way – umm no – that’s 4 J seats to the Middle east on QR.
My Friends… it is very simple: There used to be a sense of loyalty on both sides of the equation. And as AA was loyal to us, I believe that we were truly proud to be loyal to them. It is that basic. Yet as their evident (mis)understanding of this concept has led them to an almost vacuous level of sensible treatment to Elite+ clients, their repeat business, which was essentially “marketing-cost-free”, is obviously now diminishing daily. To not again toss out my SWU’s (I have lost more than 20 in the recent years) I had to very recently beg for help from the Exec Desk, where a kind soul (a fine legacy manager) explained that “clearing” now did not respect my $15K+K and around 120K miles EXP business volume from last year… but that I was actually put at “last on the list” because the upgradeable fare I’d purchased (a standard regular coach buy for int’l in this case) was “at a good price”. And for that reason I had to wait till I was (with her immense work on my behalf) able to get the very last J seat, after all the other SWU’s had long already cleared. Then, before the remaining SWU’s were set to expire on Jan.31, I went to buy an Int’l RT for March with my remaining SWU’s being put on a waitlist; but a fine “Supervisor” said “Sir, you know that if they clear, we will take them from your new year’s supply, as you will have ‘lost your rights’ to the current ones – even if it was impossible to use them”. And for such reciprocity, I have already booked in J for that trip on a Star Alliance carrier. Happily… with a gleam in my eye!
Simply stated… a few years ago my AA EQM’s were at around 250K, 75% on all AA metal, with mid $40’s K in spend. Yet now, by the grace of AA’s foolishness in their treatment of their most loyal pax, I am happily now also Star Gold, SkyTeam Gold, and merely EXP for just above the basic minimum… if I will even continue with them. Oh, what a shame for them as well as for us! But is anyone there listening???
I’ve worked as an fsc or fleet service clerk ( baggage handler ) for going on 33 years now . Not only is there no loyalty or any appreciation for the flying public ? We also are made out to feel asthough we are hasbeens and a detriment or a fault rather than an asset to the company. Who had ” verbally promised ” ( not in writing ) in no uncertain terms . That if employees bite the ( proverbial ) bullet . ” share the pain ” , now ( everything that we had lost 13 years ago through inevitable bankruptcy ( while maintaining an in the black spread sheet of 4.5 billion $$$$ ) ” share the gain later ” ( never has become reality . Sad state of affairs at AA asc any mechanic & or fsc ( baggage handler ) at AA they will most certainly inform you of our plight .
I have been an EP and watching with disgust as Doug Parker and his team have been chipping away at Elite benefits. I fly a lot of routes upto 2 hours, so that means only a cheap snack ( reducing quality and quantity ever so often) instead of a nice meal, fewer business class seats on Airbus 320s and 319s, more restrictions on same day changes (same exact route instead of same origin / destination means I cant fly from ATL to DCA via CLT, even if it means having to spend the night there), half the number of SWUs, with hardly any availability ( have used hardly any in last 3 years), 30-60 wait time for EP desk at the hint of bad weather…. and the list goes on….
There was s time when they made EPs feel special and welcome, now I only get reminders of what the policy does or doesnt allow, I am getting serious about changing loyalties. Clearly I am not being delusional, most EPs seems to be feeling the same…
I bid my farewell to my American EXP status since the introduction of EQD and to this date I am so glad about what I did. AAL doesn’t seem to realize its core advantage lies in its frequent flyer program. People fly AA in spite of their inferior service (compared to Delta) and inferior network (compared to United), and yet the stable geniuses at AA top management feel they can mimic Delta and United. Well, Good Day Sir!
You left AA because of the institution of EQDs? So, where did you switch your loyalty? Both Delta and United have required EQD spends as well.
No. I left AA because of their terrible soft product and inability to clear upgrades. I hadn’t tried UA in a significant way in over 15 years. I tried UA found the quirks with partner miles and PQDs to be a challenge but their move from $12k EQDs to $15k EQDs to be too much and went back to AA. Despite their increase in EQD requirements matching UA’s $15k, the credit I receive for partner flights still makes more sense in AA than UA.
Right, and what you’re telling me is that the grass is not necessarily greener on the other side. Every airline has its FF program quirks.
I recently took Delta on a SLC to DCA flight. Had to take Delta as it was the approved US government fare rate and I was travelling with two USG employees.
Having no status, I was content not to worry about the upgrade list. There were -67- people on the upgrade list. Plenty of people on that flight were likely unable to use a SWU or other upgrade instrument.
True, but that’s necessarily the same situation. I am talking about flights that NEVER sell out in J and are booked well in advance, like the LAX-HKG flight. Talk to anyone who flies that route and they will tell you, that’s the one where you will clear your eVIP (albeit at the gate now instead of in advance) to Asia.
I am not a business traveler so I could never fulfill the EQD requirement. I switched to Alaska, or to whoever has the cheapest premium fares and began redeeming UR with Chase Sapphire Reserve.
No surprise there. I travel well over 200k miles a year, had exec Plat for years, and left American several years ago specifically because the last two years I was there no matter when I tried to use my system wide upgrades was never able too and ended up loosing 8 or so of them.
Add too that first basically turning into a glorified greyhound bus and consistent execution issues.
My team and I only fly them when it’s far and above the best flight option
Just not worth it anymore.
I was executive platinum last year and had 4 systemwide upgrades that were impossible to use when I needed them. So I gave 2 of them to a friend and believe it or not right before they were ready to expire at the end of January, I went down to the airport and upgraded 2 people from Dallas to Narita, Japan. Why give them back to the airline…when I could make someone’s day. The only problem is the people I upgraded might not know that I upgraded them and not the airline. I do agree….American is doing nothing to help themselves, they are not an industry leader…they are just a follower.
I tried to do the same for a friend leaving out of DFW to ICN last week and was told by the gate agents that SWUs must be applied 24hrs in advance over the phone. Is this a new rule? Maybe to prevent a scenarios like yours upgrading random people?
My wife and I have seven million miles with American, qualify for Platinum yearly, and get about nothing in tlrrturn for our loyalty. My friends with Delta laugh at us, they get so many free upgrades and little perks. Why do we stay with American? Time to say goodbye to their inferior loyalty program and resoundingly deteriorated first class service.
Try Southwest
I did
First, if your plans change, you can apply 100% of your fare to the new ticket (within 12 months)
Second, free TV on all flights
Third, no stress about upgrades – all seats are the same (and for short flights, who cares?)
Fourth, you can earn a companion pass with 110k miles (flown or credit card spend). Your companion travels with you for the 5-10 TSA fee. So it halved the cost of travel
Oh, and the southwest flight attendants seem to like their job
I too agree that American is on the myopic path of only revenue. They fail to see the issues that causes with the customer base.
I travel extensively to Europe and Asia as well as domestically and only the domestic is 100% American. The international flights are at best 20% American. Yes I try very hard to make American work then a OneWorld carrier but that usually fails so I am left with what works. You would think that they do understand the economics and when their price is one of the highest and they have empty seats, someone would make the correlation the price it to high and not competitive. I missed getting EP and am P-Pro this year (although I did fly enough to very easily make EP, just not enough on American). I’ve already received a few upgrades on some domestic flights… Very short ones where the amenities are not much more than coach.
My view is, it would go a long way with the customer base to stop being a nickel and dime-ing follower and move away from their low cost carrier competition tactics. Anyone that wants to invite the ‘city bus’ types to join in and lower their price to allow that should also very clearly understand who they are opening their seats to and how/why their loyal customer base starts walking away. Charging more for less is never the right answer.
Kyle, you are correct on many fronts. I am an EP and wondered why there never seemed to be advance availability for Systemwides. Doug Parker does not value frequent flyers, except those who control the travel spending for many (Concierge Keys). I am almost at 2MM miles and next year will abandon the airline. Last year, I spent over $20,000 and flew over 150,000 miles. As USA TODAY’s First Road Warrior of the year, I have been sending messages to Parker for years. The first one was after being US Airways’ highest level flyer for 10 years. I threatened to leave if he did not start valuing his FFs. He didn’t even respond personally or even have an exec reach out. I defected to American. Now I’m stuck but not for long. Airlines that do not value their FFs, do so at their own peril.
Thanks for sending your thoughts to Mr. Parker and congratulations on your award. I feel like stockholders will start to pressure him out of his spot sooner than later anyway.
The thing is, if your SWUs don’t clear that means either somebody higher up on the totem pole (more valuable customer) did, or the seat was sold. I understand the frustration of being unable to CONFIRM an upgrade in advance, but if the problem is the upgrades never clearing, even at the gate, then from a business perspective American is doing something right, as they either sold the seat or upgraded somebody higher status (who arguably deserved it more) than you.
Not having as much confirmable upgrade space in advance sucks, but if they literally never clear, it’s not necessarily bad. If they did clear them in advance, then a last minute revenue customer can’t buy the J ticket they want, or a customer with 3x your eqm as a last minute high fare business flyer is stuck in coach and fumes about not being able to use his SWU. Who do you think AA cares about more?
Your first statement is true for same day upgrades but before the merger I could often search for flights where I would clear at booking up to 330 days out. Those days are dead and gone.
Yes, because AA thinks it’s more valuable to leave that space open for higher fare paying business travelers to pay/upgrade into. Allowing somebody that barely qualified for EP status the ability to confirm a J seat 330 days in advance by paying for a $400 TPAC rt and not having one to upgrade a CongiergeKey with $50K EQD paying a full Y fare last minute (perhaps because J was sold out?) maybe seen as “customer friendly”, but it’s arguably bad for business.
Truth is that Revenue Management is just getting better at their jobs of rewarding high spend customers. Truth is that C space is still frequently opened up at varying intervals up until departure, especially for non-peak flights. It’s just that when the space is opened it’s often immediately taken by waitlisted eVIP and mileage upgrades, so it’s unlikely you will see confirmable space at booking (which would mean no other upgrades are waitlisted). And in this world with as many eVIPs and miles floating around from CC apps, that’s a rarity.
I understand that and agree that Revenue Management is more dynamic than ever. However, revenue management can’t make a profit from flying on American and they are giving away status to lure more high-value customers that have left so I am not sure their new plan is working as well as they think it is.
Giving away status is certainly contributing to the problem. I still think there are too many frequent fliers out there, which is watering down the benefits.
I know United has a different fare bucket for top tier elite confirmable upgrade space. Maybe that’s something that AA should adopt, rather than having C be the space for all upgrades.
Essentially, I don’t think releasing more C space is the answer, and may hurt more than it helps in the long run. But perhaps limiting the number of upgrades given out, either by cutting the number given out to elites or thinning out the elite ranks further (pick your poison) is the best way to ensure the C space that is released is useful for the people they want to reward.
Because Biz on AA is far inferior than BA and especially QR when you have the SWU to upgrade on AA, but there is no availability!!
Shop for the best price for a better service and use Priority Pass for the lounges.
This is one of the worst airlines in the world. My last ‘experience’ with them was 3 years ago and will not use them again as long as there is no dramatic change. Bad behaving staff, delays, ridiculous planes, luggage handling errors, you name it.
They are in the leage now with Pakistan Airlines.
Did anyone consider for a minute the fact that upgrades are harder to use because, with a relatively healthy economy, more and more companies are letting employees fly paid first/business? Did anyone consider that first class cabins are more full because airlines have relaxed the notion that charging $2,000 on a domestic first class fare will not yield but one or two paying customers, but charging $1,000 will yield 7 or 8 customers?
Our company policy is to permit paid first on flights of at least five hours, and when working on other projects, its customer specific. When I’m working on the west coast, and am coming back to the east coast, I book a first class ticket on a red eye because spending $300 on a hotel and losing an entire day of work in transit is not as worthwhile.
Lets face it, airlines have gotten much smarter on the issue of yield management. Many of us are still thinking its 2009…
Many loyalists will also remember when the economy is not so good and loyalty again becomes a two-way street.
This is what happens when non revenue people think they’re smart. You don’t know AA has access to data and surveys and a million other things to determine which is better? You really don’t give them enough credit. Companies arent stupid and if there’s one thing they know it’s what will make them the most money
Airlines and other ticketed enterprises spend a lot of money on revenue management, and it undoubtedly pays for itself plus some, but mistakes of correlation and assumptions creep in nevertheless, and I have seen it be wildly off because of some incorrect assumptions. Just because they are experts and have a lot of data does not mean they are always right. You will also see it provide very different results for flights on competing airlines.
For example, I am taking an international flight on one airline in a couple of weeks that I bought for discount J, while another airline with flights about the same time on the same day is charging over $10K RT and the flights seem pretty empty. I have a hunch what assumptions they made to come up with that price, and I think they are wrong, as does, apparently, the airline I am flying.
Those bussiness/first class cabins are always full , I don’t know what you talking about , I think you are just bitter that they made changes to the plan and now is not working for you !
Full cabins and yet they still can’t turn a profit from flying in a very generous market.
@OfTheWorld
Good for you that with your spend and business class travel are spending the money with a variety of airlines. That’s exactly what we should all do. I fly whatever airline has the best business class international ticket for the price. What’s the big deal about Delta Sky Clubs (they suck), or whatever elite benefits American has, when you get all that with a international business class ticket. It’s pretty clear that American, Delta, and United can’t count on loyalty anymore. We all (should) be free agents to spend the money on the airline with the best price/service. This will cost the majors dearly when a recession hits.
American is NOT a transportation company. Customers are not important. Seats are not important. Planes are not important. Crews are not important. Boarding is not important. Timeliness is not important. Only sales matter. Nothing else is remotely relevant and it is stunningly evident trying to use miles or systemwide upgrades or any other method of purchase. Only sales are important. Ask the former CIO which got more attention, a flight to Paris that was six hours late with 250 people on it or the website being down 10 minutes and they couldn’t sell 250 tickets to Paris. They do not care. They will not care. If you keep paying they will never care.
I don’t disagree with much here except for one thing. Timeliness is perhaps the most important metric to the management team and the D0 initiative. That doesn’t mean they execute on it, but it is a focus for them (though they continue to fail to make marked progress towards achieving their goal.)
I was only 300k short of 2 MM and I left 3 years ago when SWU would never clear and award miles became Dollar based ! Now fly business class with professional international Airlines that are cheaper and value your business. AVOID ALL 2ND CLASS AMERICAN BASED AIRLINES LIKE THE BLACK DEATH !
No question, AA isn’t interested in their frequent flyers. I have been exec plat or chairman UsAir for 8 years until this year when I had plenty of miles but not enough money spent. AA offered to get there for another $2500. Not worth it since they have made it impossible to use SWUs on Europe flights. Now plan to work the consolidators for business class tickets. AA going downhill since merger with USAirways.
I agree with your comments. I do believe American Airlines is loosing revenue by restricted eVIPs upgrades. I have see American’s loyalty program decline over the years. I have been a long time customer, plus 25 years of flying and elite status when the program was started. However, over the last 10 years, even before U.S. Airways and AA merged, I had already started to see the decline in the value of being a loyal AAdvantage participant. I have given up attempts at using any upgrades or awards. If I need to fly on AA, I buy a first class ticket. BUT that is a rare event. I am finding Delta to be a much more attractive carrier. Their employees appreciate people in the loyalty program and the ability to secure upgrades is much easier.. The days of “thank you for being a loyal AAdvantage member,” has gone away. No longer do customer facing AA employees say thank you.
My family (including 4 kids) has gone from 6 ExP to zero in 2020. Being based in Australia, 75% of our travel in international. With the downgrade of SYD-LAX from 777-300 to 787-9, it is impossible to clear SWU. C class is only available from HKG/TYO. We can’t even give them away usually as C class is so hard to find. The ONLY reason I would ever fly AA internationally is to use SWU. This has cost AA a lot of money. We have had at least 6 occassions when SWU cleared but due to screwups on their end, ended up flying Y. Never once did they care that it was their fault. They are an abysmal airline compared to their competitors in the international arena. The increase in EQD was the final nail in the coffin. Domestically in American, they are pretty decent, as long as you avoid CLT and PHL. I used to get upgraded about 70% of flights when flying in the back and regularly had cheapish J flights for the more important legs. It is cheaper for me to pay for J on quality International airlines like Qatar than it is to pay for ExP. I can qualify Oneworld Emerald in 2 programs for the same price as AA and I get free Admirals club access. On top of all that, look at the stupid lifetime program. Pointless. To those left with AA, you have been #Bonvoyed